My education journey in New Zealand began with enrolling myself in Pacific International Hotel Management School, New Plymouth. The institute, which leads itself in the field of hospitality, tourism, and management in the country, has helped students like me to understand how a real hotel operates. The course in itself has given me an insight into how the hospitality industry operates across the major departments which are Food and beverage, Front Office, and Housekeeping.
Milan Ashar
I started attending classes at PIHMS in October 2019 for the three-year-long degree course. In my first year, students were taught and explained how a Food and Beverage Department operates for the first six months, after which we were able to go for a paid industry placement across the country wherein we worked in four and five-star hotels in the same department.
The second year, which follows the same curriculum, has certain differences. During this year, students become well acquainted with the Rooms Division Department which consists of Housekeeping and Front Office. During this duration, students are trained for 10 weeks to work as a front office agent or a housekeeping attendant and learn how the departments operate to get an idea of how actual hotels work with the same structures.
During my second placement, I worked as a Night Auditor at QT Wellington which is a boutique hotel chain located right in the capital city of Wellington. I was promoted to Night Manager within the first four months of my placement, which was mainly because of the training provided by PIHMS and what I learned during my initial days at the hotel on how to function properly.
In my third year, our roles became more serious. Managerial skills, aspects to keep in mind during planning, running a shift, etc., are some of the things we had to follow to the t.
The author is Milan Ashar, a Bachelor's student of Applied Hospitality and Tourism Management at PIHMS, New Zealand.
