I have a better answer.
I think finally the people in the ivory towers, the rich owners are coughing up more. Salaries are improving almost as fast as 'servant attitude' is dropping.
more hospitality professionals want to be paid as professionals and treated as one too, and guess what, because of competition, the owners have to.
Let me try and see if I can predict a little into the future. lets say five years from now.
here is what I see:
- brands everywhere. standalone hotels will only exist in the far ends of the bell-curve. either these will be too small to matter, or too big (read upmarket or higher service levels) to ignore. everything in between will be branded.
that will mean more parity in salaries, more management training and therefore enrichment of the workforce and of course, more bargaining for the employees.
- hotel management institutes with tie-ups with hotels/brands. not the in-house management training programs that are such a waste of time (some of these are called MT programs only because no one was joining), but the more integrated approach to academics with a practical view.
- I beleive and I am willing to bet, more industry accreditation. you will need to be certified for everything and the ones with the certification will make more money.
- last but not the least, I think the designations will change. we will see more Deputy/ Assistant General Managers, we will probably even see AVPs - Associate Vice Presidents. why? because a lot of these branded hotels will be owned by companies where the GM will be President too. These will also make the hoteliers feel a little better about what they do. It works, ask the bankers!
there you have it.
oh, I almost forgot. if you are not getting a 20%+ increase this year, you are way below average. Consider yourself to be a high flier? aim at 50%!
cheers!
p.s. buy me a drink if you do make that raise!