Hospitality & Travel Recruitment

Hiring for hotels, restaurants, banquet venues, travel companies and airport operations across India and the UAE, front office, housekeeping, F&B, kitchen, revenue and travel operations.

Overview

Does Mars Consultancy recruit for Hospitality & Travel?

Mars Consultancy recruits for hotels, restaurants, banquet and catering businesses, travel agencies and airport-side operations across India and the UAE. We fill front office and guest relations, housekeeping, F&B service, kitchen brigade, banquets and MICE sales, revenue and reservations, and travel operations roles, from executives on shift to property leadership.

Hospitality hiring is not a database exercise. Most of these roles are rostered on split shifts, run through weekends and peak on exactly the days the rest of the city is off, so a candidate's home address and the last local train back from Andheri East decide the hire as much as the CV does. A brilliant Front Office Manager who lives in Dombivli will not last six months on a property in Colaba, whatever the offer letter says.

The other half of the work is judging what a title actually means. Hotel designations travel badly between a 5-star chain, a business hotel, a standalone restaurant and a banquet operator, a Restaurant Manager running 60 covers and one running a 400-cover banquet floor are different hires. We screen on property type, covers, room count, brand standards worked to and the specific cuisine or department, not the designation printed on the CV.

Typical turnaround: 7–30 days
Where we've hired: India · UAE
Candidate fees: None, ever

The hard part

What makes hospitality & travel hiring difficult?

Split shifts and rosters rule out most of the commuting map

Hospitality roles run split shifts, night shifts and weekend rosters, so a candidate who finishes a banquet at 1 am cannot be relying on the last train home. Practical catchment for a hotel or restaurant is far smaller than for a 9-to-6 office job. We screen on where the candidate actually lives, whether accommodation or transport is provided, and how they will get home after a late shift, before the interview, not after the resignation.

Season and banquet-day peaks arrive faster than a normal hiring cycle

Wedding season, the festive quarter, MICE-heavy months and long weekends push occupancy and covers up sharply, and the extra front office, service and housekeeping headcount is needed weeks before the peak rather than during it. That is a volume drive with a hard date, not a set of vacancies. Briefs that reach us with lead time get staffed properly; briefs that arrive in the middle of the season get whoever is free.

A pre-opening property needs an entire brigade in place before day one

Opening a new hotel, restaurant or banquet venue means hiring across every department at once (front office, housekeeping, kitchen brigade, service, sales and reservations), all trained and on the roster before the first guest arrives. The sequence matters: department heads first, so they can sit on their own team's panels, then the line. Treating it as a single large requirement instead of a phased one is where most pre-opening hires go wrong.

Guest-facing screening includes things a CV does not carry

For front office, guest relations and F&B service roles, spoken English and a second language, grooming, and how someone handles a complaint are genuinely part of the job specification, not an afterthought at the interview. These cannot be read off a CV. We assess them in the screening conversation and are honest with you about where a candidate sits, rather than sending a strong operational profile that will not hold a lobby desk.

The sector loses trained staff to retail, aviation, cruise lines and overseas jobs

Hotel-trained candidates are actively recruited by retail, quick-service chains, airline ground handling and cruise operators, often for better hours or a much higher CTC abroad. That means good hospitality candidates hold several options and drop out late. We keep contact through the notice period and flag hesitation while there is still time to act, rather than presenting a pipeline that empties on the joining date.

Roles

Which hospitality & travel roles do we recruit for?

Front office & guest experience

Front Office Manager
Duty Manager
Guest Relations Executive / Manager
Front Desk Executive
Concierge
Club Lounge Executive
Guest Service Associate

Housekeeping

Executive Housekeeper
Assistant Housekeeping Manager
Housekeeping Supervisor
Floor Supervisor
Laundry Manager
Room Attendant

Food & beverage service

F&B Service Manager
Restaurant Manager
Banquet Manager
Assistant Restaurant Manager
Bar Manager
Captain / Senior Steward
In-Room Dining Supervisor

Kitchen & production

Executive Chef
Executive Sous Chef
Sous Chef
Chef de Partie
Commis I / II / III
Pastry Chef
Banquet Chef
Kitchen Stewarding Supervisor

Sales, revenue & reservations

Revenue Manager
Sales Manager, MICE
Corporate Sales Manager
Banquet Sales Executive
Reservations Executive / Manager
E-commerce & Distribution Executive

Travel & airport operations

Travel Consultant
Tour Operations Executive
Visa Executive
Ticketing Executive, GDS
Holiday Sales Executive
Airport Ground Staff
Airport Customer Service Agent

Use cases

What does a hospitality & travel brief usually look like?

Common shapes of requirement in this sector, and how each one is run. These are illustrative patterns rather than accounts of specific engagements.

A business hotel in the airport belt refilling front office and service roles

Leadership Hiring

The brief: Front Office Manager, duty managers, guest relations and F&B service executives for a property running high midweek corporate occupancy, all on rotating shifts including nights.
How we run it: Mapped candidates living within a realistic late-shift commute of Andheri East, Vile Parle and Jogeshwari, screened on property type, brand standards worked to and spoken language ability alongside the operational experience, and staggered shortlists so the panel could interview around the roster rather than in one block.

A banquet and catering operator staffing up for wedding season

Volume Hiring

The brief: Service captains, stewards, banquet supervisors and kitchen support in numbers, needed on the floor before the season starts, at multiple venues across the MMR.
How we run it: Run as a volume drive against the season date rather than as open vacancies, pipeline built ahead of the peak, drive-day coordination, and follow-up through to joining, with the shift pattern and venue location stated up front so candidates were not withdrawing after the first roster.

A new restaurant opening with a full brigade to build

Leadership Hiring

The brief: An entire kitchen and service team from Executive Chef and Restaurant Manager down to Commis and stewards, hired in sequence and in place before the soft launch.
How we run it: Phased the brief, chef and floor leadership first so they could sit on their own team's panels, then the brigade beneath them. Chefs screened by cuisine and covers handled rather than by title, with the pre-opening timeline treated as the fixed point everything else worked back from.

A hotel group appointing a revenue and commercial lead across properties

Leadership Hiring

The brief: A senior appointment owning ARR, occupancy and channel mix across more than one property, where the pool of people who have actually carried that number in this market is small.
How we run it: Handled as a mapped search rather than an advertised role, candidates identified directly, screened on the scale and mix of inventory they have genuinely been accountable for, and presented as a deliberately short shortlist.

Track record

Where has Mars hired for hospitality & travel roles?

Across India and in the UAE. Our longest record is in the Mumbai region, and these are the belts where we have hired most for this sector. For most roles below management there, travel time decides whether an offer is accepted, so we screen for it.

Talk to the sector desk

Andheri East, Sahar & Vile Parle

The airport hotel belt, business and mid-scale properties with heavy corporate and crew occupancy, plus airline and ground-handling operations.

BKC & Lower Parel

Business hotels, corporate MICE venues and the restaurant clusters that serve them, hiring for banquets, corporate sales and F&B.

Juhu & South Mumbai

Luxury and heritage properties, standalone fine-dining and club operations, where brand standards and guest-facing polish weigh heaviest in the screen.

Navi Mumbai & Thane

Newer hotels, banquet and convention venues and large catering operations, a far easier commute for staff living along the Central and Harbour lines.

Lonavala, Karjat & Alibaug

The weekend resort belt. Roles here usually need accommodation or a candidate already living locally, a daily Mumbai commute does not survive a resort roster.

Services

How do we hire for hospitality & travel?

Volume Hiring

Season ramps, banquet and catering teams, airport ground staff and travel contact-centre drives, where the deadline is the season and throughput to joining is the measure.

Leadership Hiring

General Managers, Executive Chefs, Executive Housekeepers, F&B and revenue heads, where the size and type of property run matters more than the title.

Executive Search

Group-level and CXO appointments across hotel and travel businesses, including confidential replacements at operating properties.

Payroll Services

Rostered staff and heavy seasonal movement in and out of the payroll, with allowances that change by property.

Background Verification

Guest-facing and cash-handling roles hired at speed, where identity and address checks are the ones most often skipped.

Who we hire for

What kind of hospitality & travel employers do we work with?

We hire for branded and independent hotels, resorts, standalone restaurants and café chains, banquet and catering operators, travel agencies and tour operators, and airport-side service businesses, from single properties to multi-property groups.

Discuss a requirement

FAQs

Hospitality & Travel hiring, answered

Ask a question

Do you recruit for hotels and restaurants?

Yes. We hire for hotels, standalone restaurants, banquet and catering operators, travel companies and airport-side operations across India and the UAE, covering front office and guest relations, housekeeping, F&B service, kitchen brigade, banquets and MICE sales, revenue and reservations, and travel operations roles.

Can you staff a new hotel or restaurant opening?

Yes. Pre-opening hiring is phased rather than run as one large requirement: department heads (Executive Chef, Front Office Manager, Executive Housekeeper, F&B lead) first, so they can sit on their own teams' panels, then the brigade beneath them, working back from the launch date so everyone is on the roster before the first guest arrives.

How do you handle seasonal and banquet-season hiring?

As a volume drive against a fixed date. Wedding season, the festive quarter and MICE-heavy months need extra front office, service, housekeeping and kitchen headcount in place weeks before the peak, so we build the pipeline ahead of it and follow up through to joining rather than treating it as a set of open vacancies.

Do you hire chefs, and how are kitchen roles screened?

Yes, Executive Chef through to Commis. Kitchen roles are screened by cuisine, covers handled and kitchen size rather than by title, because a Sous Chef in a 40-cover standalone and one in a hotel banquet kitchen are doing different jobs. IHM or craft-course training and hands-on brigade experience are both weighed; neither substitutes for the other on its own.

Does an IHM degree matter, or is experience enough?

Both count, and which one carries more depends on the role. Structured graduate and management-trainee tracks at branded properties generally expect IHM or an equivalent hotel management qualification, while service, kitchen and housekeeping line roles are far more often filled on craft-course training plus property experience. We work to whichever floor you actually set, and say so when a strong candidate clears one but not the other.

Why do hospitality candidates drop out after accepting an offer?

Usually shift pattern, commute or a competing offer. Hospitality staff are actively recruited by retail, quick-service chains, airline ground handling and cruise or overseas operators, often for better hours or a materially higher CTC. We state the roster and location up front, keep contact through the notice period, and flag hesitation to you while there is still time to act.

Where have you hired for hospitality clients?

We have hired for hospitality clients across India and in the UAE. In Mumbai, Thane and Navi Mumbai that has included the Andheri East and Sahar airport hotel belt, BKC and Lower Parel business hotels, Juhu and South Mumbai luxury properties, and Navi Mumbai and Thane venues. We also hire for the Lonavala, Karjat and Alibaug resort belt, where roles usually need accommodation or a locally based candidate.

Related sectors

Hiring across more than one sector?

Retail & E-commerce

Retail & E-commerce recruitment across India and the UAE.

Corporate & Support Functions

Corporate Functions recruitment across India and the UAE.

BPO / Customer Experience

BPO recruitment across India and the UAE.

All industries we hire for

Get started

Hiring in hospitality & travel?

Tell us the role, the team around it and the deadline. We'll come back within one business day with questions and an honest view of what it will take.

Start hiring