WHAT ’ S HOT
OPERATIONS
WHAT ’ S HOT
OPERATIONS
TIGHT
Walking the
It ’ s hard to find workers willing to scrub bathrooms and wash pots and pans . With the U . S . national unemployment rate at a 50-year low and properties opening every month , hotel operators are scrambling to recruit workers and keep them engaged . Shortages for housekeepers and kitchen staff are acute .
“ The availability of staff , cost and retention are our primary operational issues ,” says Michelle Russo , CEO of asset manager HotelAve . Managers are raising the hourly rate for entry-level jobs , improving back of the house and establishing channels for workers to provide feedback and suggestions . At the same time , they ’ re introducing technology to get by with fewer employees , such as vacuuming robots and online check-ins .
Competition for labor is coming from all sides — from IT to fast food . The influx of new hotels makes it difficult for operators to raise room rates , which would make it easier to improve pay and benefits , says Laurence Geller , chairman of Chicago-based Geller Capital . Hotels benefited from a labor oversupply for years , so now there ’ s a lot of whining , says Geller , whose firm owns and manages luxury properties . “ We ’ ve had it easy . I refuse to call it a crisis .”
“ Managers need to use every tool at their disposal — good hourly rates , benefits , working conditions and treating people well ,” Geller says . “ You have to do a lot of it .”
Rates are going up so quickly in some areas that it ’ s difficult for operators to keep up . In Washington and Oregon , hourly rates , sometimes mandated by local laws , are rising at twice the rate of the 3 % -to-6 % increases managers are used to paying , says Brian Latture , senior vice president of operations at The Hotel Group , based in Edmonds , Washington . Latture recalls opening a new property in Idaho and offering a starting
It ’ s better to invest in your staff instead of always being on the hamster wheel of finding new associates .
MICHELLE RUSSO , CEO , HOTELAVE
46 hotelsmag . com June 2019