Types of Degrees Majors Are Getting

The following table lists how many general hospitality administration/management graduations there were for each degree level during the last year for which data was available.

Education Level	Number of Grads
Bachelor’s Degree	6,180
Associate Degree	1,262
Master’s Degree	886
Basic Certificate	871
Undergraduate Certificate	265
Graduate Certificate	96
Doctor’s Degree	33

What Majors Need to Know

People with careers related to hotel & restaurant management were asked what knowledge areas, skills, and abilities were important for their jobs. They weighted these areas on a scale of 1 to 5 with 5 being the highest.

Knowledge Areas for Hotel & Restaurant Management Majors

This major prepares you for careers in which these knowledge areas are important:

• Customer and Personal Service - Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
• Administration and Management - Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources.
• English Language - Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
• Personnel and Human Resources - Knowledge of principles and procedures for personnel recruitment, selection, training, compensation and benefits, labor relations and negotiation, and personnel information systems.
• Mathematics - Knowledge of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, statistics, and their applications.

Skills for Hotel & Restaurant Management Majors

hotel & restaurant management majors are found most commonly in careers in which the following skills are important:

• Service Orientation - Actively looking for ways to help people.
• Active Listening - Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
• Management of Personnel Resources - Motivating, developing, and directing people as they work, identifying the best people for the job.
• Speaking - Talking to others to convey information effectively.
• Social Perceptiveness - Being aware of others' reactions and understanding why they react as they do.

Abilities for Hotel & Restaurant Management Majors

As a hotel & restaurant management major, you will find yourself needing the following abilities:

• Oral Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
• Oral Comprehension - The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
• Problem Sensitivity - The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing there is a problem.
• Written Comprehension - The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
• Speech Clarity - The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.

What Can You Do With a Major?

People with a hotel & restaurant management degree often go into the following careers:

Job Title	Job Growth Rate	Median Salary
Food Service Managers	9.0%	$54,240
Lodging Managers	4.0%	$53,390

Who Is Getting a Bachelor’s Degree in ?

This major is dominated by women with about 70% of recent graduates being female.

Racial-Ethnic Diversity

At the countrywide level, the racial-ethnic distribution of hotel & restaurant management majors is as follows:

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Grads
Asian	481
Black or African American	446
Hispanic or Latino	993
White	3,079
International Students	875
Other Races/Ethnicities	306

Geographic Diversity

Hotel & Restaurant Management appeals to people across the globe. About 14.2% of those with this major are international students.

How Much Do Majors Make?

Salaries According to BLS

Hotel & Restaurant Management majors often go into careers where salaries can range from $58,960 to $62,270 (25th to 75th percentile). This range includes all degree levels, so the salary for a person with just a bachelor’s degree may be a little less and the one for a person with an advanced degree may be a little more.

To put that into context, according to BLS data from the first quarter of 2020, the typical high school graduate makes between $30,000 and $57,900 a year (25th through 75th percentile). The average person with a bachelor’s degree (any field) makes between $45,600 and $99,000. Advanced degree holders make the most with salaries between $55,600 and $125,400.

Amount of Education Required for Careers Related to

Some degrees associated with hotel & restaurant management may require an advanced degree, while others may not even require a bachelor’s in the field. In general, the more advanced your degree the more career options will open up to you. However, there is significant time and money that needs to be invested into your education so weigh the pros and cons.

Find out what the typical degree level is for hotel & restaurant management careers below.

Education Level	Percentage of Workers
Less than a High School Diploma	16.5%
High School Diploma - or the equivalent (for example, GED)	37.0%
Post-Secondary Certificate - awarded for training completed after high school (for example, in agriculture or natural resources, computer services, personal or culinary services, engineering technologies, healthcare, construction trades, mechanic and repair technologies, or precision production)	3.2%
Some College Courses	14.2%
Associate’s Degree (or other 2-year degree)	1.5%
Bachelor’s Degree	25.8%
Post-Baccalaureate Certificate - awarded for completion of an organized program of study; designed for people who have completed a Baccalaureate degree but do not meet the requirements of academic degrees carrying the title of Master.	2.4%

Online Programs

The following table lists the number of programs by degree level, along with how many schools offered online courses in the field.

Degree Level	Colleges Offering Programs	Colleges Offering Online Classes
Certificate (Less Than 1 Year)	0	0
Certificate (1-2 years)	99	8
Certificate (2-4 Years)	2	0
Associate’s Degree	226	29
Bachelor’s Degree	15	4
Post-Baccalaureate	0	0
Master’s Degree	44	12
Post-Master’s	0	0
Doctor’s Degree (Research)	10	0
Doctor’s Degree (Professional Practice)	0	0
Doctor’s Degree (Other)	0	0

Is a Degree in Worth It?

The median salary for a hotel & restaurant management grad is $58,960 per year. This is based on the weighted average of the most common careers associated with the major.

This is 48% more than the average salary for an individual holding a high school degree. This adds up to a gain of about $381,200 after 20 years!

Majors Related to

You may also be interested in one of the following majors related to hotel & restaurant management.

Major	Number of Grads
Hotel/Motel Administration/Management	2,122
Tourism and Travel Services Management	1,133
Restaurant/Food Services Management	915
Meeting and Event Planning	915
Other Hospitality Administration/Management	659
Hotel, Motel, and Restaurant Management	444
Resort Management	220
Casino Management	13
Brewery/Brewpub Operations/Management	1

References

*The racial-ethnic minorities count is calculated by taking the total number of students and subtracting white students, international students, and students whose race/ethnicity was unknown. This number is then divided by the total number of students at the school to obtain the racial-ethnic minorities percentage.

• College Factual
• College Scorecard
• National Center for Education Statistics
• O*NET Online
• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
• Usual Weekly Earnings of Wage and Salary Workers First Quarter 2020
• Image Credit: By Bblackpsu under License

More about our data sources and methodologies.