Purpose
– This paper aims to provide an overview of the field of hospitality management and a guide to the major books, databases, web sites, and other resources that comprise a quality hospitality management reference collection.

Design/methodology/approach
– Following a short introduction and overview, key sources and annotations are presented in categories that will help reference and collection librarians to better understand and serve hospitality management students. The sources were identified through the author's experience, library research guides and web sites, bibliographies, and other standard sources.

Findings
– Hospitality management is growing and maturing as an academic discipline, aided by the fact that the field offers good job prospects. The key sources pertaining to hospitality management are scattered among several different industry sectors, including food and beverage, lodging, meetings and special events, travel and tourism, and theme parks and attractions.

Originality/value
– This paper is the first to systematically identify key reference works for the field of hospitality management. It will be useful for librarians who work with business, culinary arts, hospitality management, or related fields.