Sales skills in the hospitality industry

Two surveys were conducted with the intention of increasing insight into the nature of sales in today's hospitality industry. One hundred U.S. hotel sales and marketing managers were surveyed about attitudes within the hotel sales community regarding training, salesmanship, qualities of effective salespeople, and related issues. Also, the training directors of fifteen hotel companies were interviewed concerning their training programs for entry-level salespeople. Presentation of the results of these surveys is preceded by commentary from the literature and from selected hotel sales executives regarding the unique nature of sales in the hospitality industry.