Skills and work in the hospitality sector: the case of hotel front office employees in China

The purpose of this paper is to develop a picture of the skills profiles, work background, educational attainment, attitudes and plans of the employees in front office in hotels in China by means of a survey of employees in four and five star hotels. Results show that the main workforce strength of front office in Chinese hotels consists of graduates from tourism colleges and professional schools. Front office work is a challenging and demanding area of work and oral communication is identified as the most important skill