Hospitality

Types of Degrees Hospitality Majors Are Getting

The following table lists how many hospitality 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	7,942
Basic Certificate	2,087
Associate Degree	1,858
Master’s Degree	1,226
Undergraduate Certificate	686
Graduate Certificate	218
Doctor’s Degree	59

What Hospitality Majors Need to Know

People with careers related to hospitality 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 Hospitality Majors

Hospitality majors often go into careers in which the following 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.
• English Language - Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
• 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.
• Mathematics - Knowledge of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, statistics, and their applications.
• Education and Training - Knowledge of principles and methods for curriculum and training design, teaching and instruction for individuals and groups, and the measurement of training effects.

Skills for Hospitality Majors

The following list of skills has been highlighted as some of the most essential for careers related to hospitality:

• Speaking - Talking to others to convey information effectively.
• 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.
• Critical Thinking - Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions or approaches to problems.
• Monitoring - Monitoring/Assessing performance of yourself, other individuals, or organizations to make improvements or take corrective action.
• Reading Comprehension - Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work related documents.

Abilities for Hospitality Majors

As you progress with your hospitality degree, there are several abilities you should pick up that will help you in whatever related career you choose. These abilities include:

• 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.
• Deductive Reasoning - The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.

What Can You Do With a Hospitality Major?

People with a hospitality degree often go into the following careers:

Job Title	Job Growth Rate	Median Salary
Business Professors	18.0%	$83,960
Compliance Managers	8.0%	$107,480
Food Service Managers	9.0%	$54,240
Gaming Managers	2.2%	$74,700
Gaming Supervisors	3.9%	NA
Lodging Managers	4.0%	$53,390
Loss Prevention Managers	8.0%	$107,480
Meeting, Convention, and Event Planners	10.9%	$49,370
Regulatory Affairs Managers	8.0%	$107,480
Security Managers	8.0%	$107,480
Slot Supervisors	4.1%	NA
Supply Chain Managers	8.0%	$107,480
Travel Guides	5.6%	NA

Who Is Getting a Bachelor’s Degree in Hospitality?

Hospitality Management runs middle of the road when it comes to popularity, ranking #49 out of all the undergraduate majors we track. In 2021, about 10,395 graduates completed their bachelor’s degree in this field. The major attracts more women than men. About 69% of the recent graduates in this field are female.

Racial-Ethnic Diversity

At the countrywide level, the racial-ethnic distribution of hospitality majors is as follows:

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Grads
Asian	609
Black or African American	520
Hispanic or Latino	1,328
White	4,062
International Students	939
Other Races/Ethnicities	484

Geographic Diversity

Hospitality appeals to people across the globe. About 11.8% of those with this major are international students.

Amount of Education Required for Careers Related to Hospitality

Some careers associated with hospitality require an advanced degree while some may not even require a bachelor’s. 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 hospitality careers below.

Education Level	Percentage of Workers
Less than a High School Diploma	3.7%
High School Diploma - or the equivalent (for example, GED)	25.6%
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)	4.6%
Some College Courses	10.2%
Associate’s Degree (or other 2-year degree)	5.2%
Bachelor’s Degree	34.1%
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.	1.3%
Master’s Degree	6.8%
Post-Master’s Certificate - awarded for completion of an organized program of study; designed for people who have completed a Master’s degree but do not meet the requirements of academic degrees at the doctoral level.	0.6%
First Professional Degree - awarded for completion of a program that: requires at least 2 years of college work before entrance into the program, includes a total of at least 6 academic years of work to complete, and provides all remaining academic requirements to begin practice in a profession.	0.4%
Doctoral Degree	7.9%

Online Hospitality 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)	234	22
Certificate (2-4 Years)	2	0
Associate’s Degree	426	52
Bachelor’s Degree	33	11
Post-Baccalaureate	0	0
Master’s Degree	79	23
Post-Master’s	0	0
Doctor’s Degree (Research)	16	0
Doctor’s Degree (Professional Practice)	0	0
Doctor’s Degree (Other)	0	0

Majors Related to Hospitality

You may also be interested in one of the following majors related to hospitality.

Major	Number of Grads
Business Administration & Management	395,227
Accounting	84,760
Finance & Financial Management	58,013
General Business/Commerce	57,204
Management Sciences & Quantitative Methods	56,747
Marketing	52,820
Human Resource Management	25,350
Business Support & Assistant Services	16,604
Entrepreneurial Studies	12,707
Management Information Systems	11,695
Real Estate	7,783
International Business	7,505
General Sales & Marketing	5,965
Other Business, Management & Marketing	4,903
Business/Managerial Economics	4,885
Specialized Sales, Merchandising & Marketing	4,322
Construction Management	4,158
Insurance	2,334
Taxation	1,257
Business/Corporate Communications	837
Telecommunications Management	58

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.