Sparkling hotels and restaurants. Louboutin heels tip-tapping across polished marble floors. Silver trays balancing bubbling glasses of champagne. The smile of a concierge as they hand over the keys to a luxury suite.
That’s what you probably think of when we’re talking about a hospitality degree.
You wouldn’t expect something like toilet cleaning to be on the list… but hospitality graduate Sonali Prakashbabu says that’ll be one of the first lessons you’ll be picking up.
From the right way to wiping down a toilet bowl, to polishing and removing marks and stains, and how to apply the right cleaning solutions — these are inescapable parts of a hospitality degree.
Before settling on a hospitality degree, Sonali Prakashbabu considered a culinary degree, but it meant being in the kitchen most of the time, which she didn’t want. Source: Sonali Prakashbabu
Hospitality degree: The choice for ‘charismatic’ students?
Hailing from Coimbatore, India, Prakashbabu was 15 when she first moved to study away from home.
“I joined a boarding school in Ooty, and it was the best experience of my life,” says Prakashbabu. “It was a very diverse school, and had many expat children, so I had the opportunity to talk to people from different races and cultures from a very young age. I liked talking a lot.”
But after completing her A Levels, Prakashbabu faced a dilemma that many others her age were familiar with – she wasn’t sure which degree to pursue.
“I knew I didn’t want to do anything academic like engineering or medicine, or whatever typical course that Asian parents would want me to do,” she said.
“But I believed that I was quite charismatic – and many people around me said the same thing – and I thought to myself, maybe I should look at industries that could show that side of myself.”
Through that, Prakashbabu discovered hospitality and event management, which fit her requirements to a T.
“Honestly, I didn’t know much about the industry when I chose it,” she confesses. “I just knew I wouldn’t hate it.”
Eager to start her journey, she headed south to join the Management Development Institute of Singapore (MDIS). The institute offered a programme that would allow her to study in Singapore for two years, and then go to the UK to complete her final year.
Hotels, tours, restaurants awaited – but so did the less glamorous side of things, like cleaning soiled bedsheets and toilets.
Prakashbabu spent two years in Singapore and one year in the UK for her bachelor’s degree. Source: Sonali Prakashbabu
The truth about hospitality degrees
Prakashbabu knew that studying abroad in a foreign country would open up exciting opportunities for her to meet new people and make new connections.
What she definitely did not expect, however, was that one of her first lessons in a hospitality degree was about cleaning and room maintenance.
“When I first went into the course, I had a lesson about room maintenance, like cleaning sheets and toilets,” she says. “I’m not kidding – I remembered thinking to myself, why was I paying so much to learn how to clean toilets? Lowkey, at that moment, I was regretting my decision.”
But it made sense. No one would like to check into a hotel, enter a restaurant, or board a plane with a dirty toilet; hoteliers, managers, and even flight crew have to be the ones maintaining the cleanliness of the place.
Thankfully, on that same day, she had another lesson that revolved around the management side of hospitality and events. Her relief was immense – “I was like, now that’s what I’m talking about!” shares Prakashbabu.
Pursuing a hospitality degree in Singapore had other perks, too.
For one, Singapore is big on sustainability, and Prakashbabu had the opportunity to visit local hotels who put the SDGs to practice.
“There was also an expo where vendors and hotels from all around the world came to showcase themselves and the services they want to sell to different hotels,” she adds.
“They would come into the expo and showcase themselves to big hotel brands so that they could sign a contract with them. So I had the opportunity to go look at all that and how they sell themselves from a managerial point of view. It was super interesting and valuable.”
Three years later, having freshly graduated with her bachelor’s at Manchester Metropolitan University, Prakashbabu is confident she made the right choice – toilets and all.
“I chose hospitality because it’s extremely versatile,” she says. “I had choices, and anyone taking a hospitality degree will too. For me, I’ve always been someone who wanted to start her own business and become an entrepreneur, and my hospitality degree and experience will help me with that.”
