A veteran hotelier from Singapore, Dr Justin Matthew Pang is passionate about nurturing the next generation of professional hoteliers in Vietnam.
Dr Justin Matthew Pang is a Senior Lecturer of Tourism and Hospitality Management at The Business School, RMIT University Vietnam.
Before becoming an educator about 15-20 years ago, Dr Pang had a long and illustrious career working in hotels and resorts across the US, the UK, the Caribbean and the Asia-Pacific.
He sees Vietnam’s booming hospitality industry as a wealth of opportunities.
“In Vietnam, the people have always exuded a sense of hospitality, warmth and friendliness. But what we really need is to have consistency in service,” he said. “We want to build up the professionalism with standards and regulations that hotels can adhere to.”
Dr Pang believes one of the barriers is the cultural perspective in Vietnam and many other Asian countries towards the service line.
“The service line is not something that many people want to do, especially because they might be seen as being a servant,” he said.
“But that is not true, especially in Europe and America, where the hospitality line has professional accreditations and certificates.
“So, we need to change the mindset of people. People who are in the service line are professionals.”
Learn more about Dr Pang’s views in our video:
A veteran hotelier from Singapore, Dr Justin Matthew Pang is passionate about nurturing the next generation of professional hoteliers in Vietnam.
Hospitality is a booming industry, especially in Vietnam. As an educator, I want to build up the next generation of hoteliers to be at the highest professional levels.
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Dr Justin Matthew Pang
Nurturing the next generation of professional hoteliers
My name is Dr Justin Matthew Pang. I'm a lecturer with the Tourism and Hospitality Management discipline here at RMIT Vietnam.
Before becoming an educator about 15-20 years ago, I had a long and illustrious career working in hotels and resorts across the US, the UK, the Caribbean and Asia-Pacific.
But to start off, being a hotelier was never my first choice as a profession. I actually went to OCS - Officer Cadet School in the military and came very close to signing on as an officer of the Singapore Armed Forces. But due to a bad injury, that plan had to change.
I came to study hotel management, and I fell in love with being a hotelier and doing hospitality. I was able to draw a lot from what I learned in the military and applied it to hotel management.
As I moved on into my career in the hospitality line, I realised it is a fantastic line because it is really multifaceted. You have your operational departments, rooms division, food and beverage, concierge. You also have your admin and general departments, such as accounting, human resources, and marketing. And given all this, it really gives you an encompassing business.
But every day also, having said that, in the hotel line, it's not the average run-of-the-mill job where you work behind a desk. You have different challenges every day and you just solve them.
Services are really a part and parcel of our lives. And with regards to hospitality sector in Vietnam, it is really skyrocketing.
The hotel market is expected to grow by about 2 billion USD between 2021 to 2026 at a compound annual growth rate of about 14%.
Going forward, one of the most important things is to get the service standards up in Vietnam. In Vietnam, the people have always exuded a sense of hospitality, warmth and friendliness. But what we really need is to have consistency in this service.
We want to build up the professionalism and service with standards and regulations that hotels can adhere to and to deliver that service.
Right now, the cultural perspective in Vietnam, like many other countries in Asia, is that the service line is not something that many people want to do, especially because they might be seen as being a servant.
But that is not true, especially in Europe and America, where the hospitality line is professionalised. They have professional accreditations and certificates.
So, we need to change the mindset of people. People who are in the service line are professionals. We want customers to say that these people, especially the hoteliers, are playing host to us rather than servicing us.
Especially after COVID, wellbeing has been a big concern for many people. We need to ensure that hospitality professionals see this career as an opportunity to have sustainability and something that can give them a balanced lifestyle.
We don't want people coming to the industry who are young and enthusiastic and finally they burn out because they've got too much on their minds.
We need to make sure that they have sustainable development, and have a consistent outlook to looking after themselves and also with their careers.
Hospitality is no longer just about a business. It must encompass the community, the family, in order to have sustained growth and good development for its people.