I am currently considering an offer at a pretty high end luxury hotel in Kyoto. This would be a career change for me, though I have experience in retail/customer service. How was your experience working at a Japanese hotel, overtime, would you recommend, etc?
ETA: position lists cleaning, front desk, concierge, and restaurant waiting responsibilities. It’s a small place with few rooms.
9 comments
What kind of position? Front desk, reservations, accounting, concierge, bar, kitchen, HR, maid, chef ? There are dozens of different jobs you can do in a hotel and working conditions can change a lot. You should be more specific.
I worked at Hotel Sunroute and New Sanno in Tokyo. How long do you want to work there?
I have some ryokan experience pre pandemic.
It was fine. Mostly just the go-to for foreigners and standard check-in/show to room and explain room functions. Didn’t work much OT or anything.
I feel like cleaning, FD, concierge, and restaurant waiting might be a bit too much though even if a small hotel. I personally wouldn’t take a job like that unless the pay was good (luxury hotel =/= good pay. They all tend to pay the same more or less until you get into GM/AD territory). Each one of those at most properties is it’s own individual job. I wouldn’t want to do the job for 4 different people unless the pay was exceptional. That just screams cheap and understaffed which = poor work environment.
I have several friends who have worked in hotels, and I must say, the hotel industry can be a challenging environment with endless night and long hour shifts, shitty bosses, and low salaries.
I have worked in this industry before. Really low pay for the work you have to do. Even the most luxurious hotels don’t pay well. I studied hotel management in Paris and interviewed, work with some 5 star hotels there but then quit because of the harsh working condition. Go for luxury retail instead, like sale consultant for brands like LV, Dior, Gucci. The working hours is better, great commission as well.
I’m in Kyoto and know some people in the industry. It’s not worth going full time or looking at it as career, even middle management positions in luxury hotels are overworked and underpaid. You’re better off doing baito for a minpaku management dispatch, similar pay, flexible hours and no corporate bullshit.
Are you up for the outrageous customer service standards in Japan? First and foremost the customer service level has to be elite and top tier and that is a very basic requirement. Some foreigners not raised with this norm and expectation have a hard time dealing with this.
I washed dishes at hotel Okura if that counts …
You’ll be paid shit money and it will be absolutely miserable work.