Evaluate your lifetime goals. A doctorate is a huge investment of time - at least 3 years, if you enter with a master's degree. If you enter a program with only a bachelor's degree, it will take you 5 or more years. Be sure that your lifetime goals require a PhD and that the investment is worth the time.
Look into programs. Cornell's School of Hotel Administration is the best-known and best-respected, but that also means that it is the hardest program to be accepted by. Consider applying to as many schools as you can afford to.
Take the Graduate Management Admissions Test. Required by any business program, the GMAT measures verbal, mathematical, and analytical writing skills. To prepare for the test, use any of the widely-available test prep books or take a course offered by a commercial test prep company.
Organize and send your application. You need to construct a compelling personal statement, seek letters of recommendation from professors and employers, collect all undergraduate and graduate transcripts and then send the entire package to your chosen schools. Make follow-up calls to ensure that the schools have received every piece of your application.
Choose among your acceptances. If you are accepted into more than one program in hospitality management, make visits and talk to professors and students to help you decide.
Apply yourself. Completing your coursework and writing your dissertation will take constant, unflagging effort. But at the end of it all, you will have your doctorate in hospitality management and will be well on your way to a successful career.