I used to work for the luxury brand of an international hotel group. Most of my work was in Australia - and reasons why I viewed it as more of a career than a job was:
a) It paid well. Like, really well. While the hours were long, at the end of the week my paycheque was probably as substantial as most of the people who stayed at the hotels. I've worked in hotels in America and the pay rate is a huge drop - even when I depended on it, I felt uncomfortable accepting tips. My base rate in Australia as a waiter was $30 per hour, with paid lunch breaks etc. and only went up with different positions.
b) The people were great. Hospitality in general, especially in the upper echelons is made of well-travelled, open-minded, intelligent and resourceful people. It became very easy to build an international network and plenty of my former colleagues are now valuable connections to have as lawyers, executives, engineers etc. Ever since I've been in tech/corporate work, I find the people much more dull.
c) Opportunity for advancement, transfers (including international) were plentiful.
d) The benefits. Why would you need more money when you barely have to pay to travel? :P I could never bring myself to pay more than $100/night for a 5-Star hotel room. The group also had a "points system" whereas if you were ever personally mentioned on Tripadvisor/internal surveys etc you would get points, which could be redeemed on an online store like frequent flyer points. Got a blender, juicer, toaster and kettle out of that. Also discounts at the Apple Store and a tonne of other retailers and even other hotel chains.
e) Easy access to a lot of sex & drugs
f) The work was ultimately rewarding and I learnt alot of transferrable skills - everything from IT maintenance, service, food, wine, logistics and management have been critical in my later life. The annoyance for me was that (by design) guests/customers never got to see how much work was put into even the smallest details.
I missed it so much I even bought a restaurant a couple of years ago and always love it when I get a chance to go and work there!