Employers worldwide place the responsibility of ensuring that graduates are employable on institutions of higher learning. This study was conducted to determine the employability attributes of hospitality management students from private Higher education institutions. The study adopted a qualitative research approach using semi-structured interviews. Purposive, judgement sampling was used to gather hotel managers' thoughts, knowledge and opinions. The findings suggest that hotel managers require eight knowledge sub-domains, and seven skill sub-domains, and a wide range of competencies from hospitality graduates from private Higher education institutions. However, private higher education institutions, hotel managers, hospitality graduates and human resources personnel have a great responsibility to ensure that graduates are competent, competitive and valuable and can make meaningful contributions to the hotel industry. Data was only gathered from hotel managers from 4 and 5-star hotels, therefore the findings cannot be generalised to all hotels in South Africa. Consequently, the findings cannot be generalised to all the tertiary institutions in South Africa. Suggestions are made that can assist higher education institutions, hotel managers, hospitality management graduates, students and future researchers, particularly now in this time of globalisation, knowledge economy, and rise of technological advancements.