If you enjoy working with people and thrive in dynamic environments, a hospitality degree can open the door to a wide variety of career options. Hospitality management blends customer experience, operations, and leadership skills that apply across travel, events, hotels, and more.
Here are 15 hospitality careers that highlight what you can do with a hospitality degree, from entry-level opportunities to advanced leadership roles that may require a master’s degree, Master of Business Administration (MBA), or doctorate.
1. Tour Guide
Tour guides lead individuals or groups through destinations, attractions, and cultural experiences while keeping trips organized, engaging, and safe. They share local knowledge, provide recommendations, and help travelers make the most of their experience.
A bachelor’s degree in hospitality management can help build strong communication, customer service, and experience-planning skills that are valuable in this role. Tour guides may work for tour companies, resorts, travel organizations, or operate independently.
2. Sommelier
A sommelier handles the wine program at a fine dining restaurant, cruise ship, or winery. These professionals generally have a hospitality management degree plus at least some coursework towards a master sommelier accreditation. This wine expert sets up the “wine menu” for a restaurant or other establishment, orders wine and keeps it in stock, and helps customers choose the wine that best suits their meal and their taste. Sometimes, but not always, the sommelier also serves the wine.
3. Casino Host
A casino host is charged with encouraging VIP guests to visit their casino and helping them have a successful visit once they arrive. This hospitality job involves making travel arrangements for VIP guests, making sure they are pampered while they are at the facility, offering them complimentary meals and other perks for their patronage at the casino, and encouraging guests to stay at the casino and gamble rather than venturing out to other casinos or activities.
4. Event Manager
As the name implies, an event manager helps party venues, hotels, convention centers, and other businesses book and host successful events. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), career opportunities for event managers are growing fast, expected to rise 5 percent between 2024 and 2034.
JWU Online offers a degree in event management that uniquely prepares students for careers in this field.
5. Wedding Planner
A subset of event planners, wedding planners help brides and engaged couples plan their nuptials. Wedding planners work for resorts, party venues, and hotels. They can also work for themselves and set up their own wedding planning business. Wedding planners coordinate flowers, music, food, the officiant, and other wedding details.
6. Hotel Manager
Hotel managers make sure the property is running smoothly, guests are happy and safe, and the hotel is making a profit. This is a challenging job since hotels operate 24 hours a day and you never know what each day will bring. Managers usually work during the day and are on call in the event of an emergency after hours. According to the BLS, the median annual salary for a hotel manager is $68,130.
Earning a degree in hospitality management from JWU Online is a great way to prepare for a career as a hotel manager.
7. Activity Director
An activity director is similar to a cruise director, except that they work for a land-based company. Activity directors work for parks, schools, nursing homes, and churches. They plan and execute a daily, monthly, and yearly schedule of games, art projects, field trips, and other events for attendees of the facility.
8. Travel Agent
A travel agent is another career you can pursue with a degree in hospitality management. Travel agents help vacationers and business travelers make their travel arrangements. This can involve making hotel and air transportation reservations as well as planning detailed day-to-day travel itineraries, complete with restaurant reservations, sightseeing tours, and spa appointments.
9. Theme Park Manager
A theme park manager, as the name implies, handles the operations at an amusement or other theme park. This can be a large park, like SeaWorld or Universal Studios, or a smaller, local park. This position involves a lot of responsibility, and the manager generally has staff help them with the park management. A theme park manager gets involved with the enjoyment and safety of the guests, the functionality of the rides and concessions, and the profitability of the park. They also participate in the marketing of the park and the planning of special events.
10. Food and Beverage Director
Food and beverage directors oversee a property’s full dining portfolio (i.e., restaurants, bars, banquets/catering, in-room dining). While ensuring every outlet delivers a consistent guest experience, they’re responsible for:
- Menu and concept direction
- Service standards
- Staffing
- Vendor relationships
- Tight financial control over budgeting, inventory, and labor planning
Per BLS data, food service managers earn median wages of about $65,310 per year and have a job outlook of 6% growth between 2024 and 2034.
At JWU Online, the online hospitality management degree with a Food and Beverage Management specialization is a solid fit for leading dining operations, including budgeting, inventory, and personnel oversight). Also relevant for food-focused leadership/innovation is our online food & beverage entrepreneurship degree, offering coursework that covers operations, facility management, and food service financial systems.
11. Resort Manager
Resort managers run large, complex properties where lodging, recreation, events, and multiple dining venues operate under one umbrella. They work to:
- Balance guest satisfaction with profitability.
- Coordinate across departments.
- Lead day-to-day operations.
- Plan for seasonal demand, staffing, and service consistency.
JWU Online’s bachelor’s in hospitality management (with a Hotel and Resorts Management specialization) is built for management-level paths in hotel/resort operations and corporate oversight.
12. Director of Hotel Operations
This role revolves around operational excellence, standards, staffing, and performance metrics that drive both guest satisfaction and revenue. Along with overall service delivery, a director of hotel operations keeps every moving part aligned, including:
- Front office
- Housekeeping
- Engineering
- Food and beverage coordination
- Guest services
JWU Online offers an online master’s in hospitality management, featuring advanced focus on oversight within hospitality and tourism, from financial management to strategic planning to operational management. The Doctor of Business Administration (DBA) – Hospitality Leadership can even further elevate your business knowledge and ability to adapt to the industry.
13. Hospitality Sales Manager
Hospitality sales managers drive revenue by selling rooms, meeting space, events, and group packages to corporate accounts, associations, and leisure partners. Success typically depends on:
- Relationship-building
- Negotiating contracts
- Understanding market segments
- Collaborating closely with operations to deliver on promises
The BLS reports a median annual salary of $138,060 for sales managers and a 5% growth in employment from 2024 to 2034.
At JWU Online, the M.S. – Hospitality Management encompasses strategic marketing and competitive strategy coursework that supports sales leadership in service industries. Another strong option for business-forward advancement is an MBA – Hospitality, with an industry-specific curriculum tailored to hospitality-management positions.
14. Revenue Manager
Revenue managers use pricing, forecasting, and demand data to maximize profitability across rooms (and sometimes food and beverage, spa, or other outlets). In efforts to improve total revenue performance, they:
- Track trends.
- Manage rate strategy.
- Optimize inventory across channels.
- Partner with marketing and sales.
Pursuing a B.S. – Hospitality Management from JWU Online entails coursework centered on revenue management, plus related areas like hotel asset management. If aiming for higher-level revenue strategy roles, the M.S. – Hospitality Management features an emphasis on financial management and strategic planning.
15. Director of Guest Experience
Directors of guest experience design and manage the end-to-end guest journey with the goal of consistent, memorable service that increases loyalty and repeat visits. This entails:
- Setting service standards
- Training teams
- Handling escalation paths
- Monitoring feedback/net promoter score (NPS) metrics
- Coordinating across departments to eliminate friction points
You might consider an MBA – Hospitality through JWU Online to help build leadership depth by blending business management with hospitality essentials.
EARNING A HOSPITALITY DEGREE AT JOHNSON & WALES UNIVERSITY
Johnson & Wales University has been a leader in hospitality education for more than 50 years. JWU Online offers bachelor’s, master’s, MBA, and doctoral degree programs designed to support hospitality professionals at every stage of their careers.
For more information about earning your degree, complete the Request Info form, call 855-JWU-1881, or email [email protected].