Staff shortage has been a major concern for hotels after the pandemic. Many hotel employees were laid off during the pandemic to balance with demand or lack thereof — the surge in guest footfall has now, got many hotels scrambling to hire and retain employees.
To solve this, a few key ideas that come out at the top when you do a basic Google search are:
- improved wages and pay,
- improved employee benefits and
- improved work-life balance
Yet, according to the American Hotel & Lodging Association (AHLA) —
75% of hotels are increasing wages, 64% are offering greater flexibility with hours, and 36% are expanding benefits – but 87% say they are still unable to fill open positions.
And by no means do I think the above 3 should be undermined. That’s fundamentally what the hospitality industry needs to fix.
However, the indifference among young people to join the industry and the subsequent staffing problems coming out of it seem to be the next challenge for hoteliers.
One way to approach the problem is to re-phrase the problem statement from “How do we hire and retain more people” to “How can we allocate limited staff to service all our guest needs at the right time”.
This can be further broken down into 2 more focused problem statements:
- What new staffing models can we explore?
- How can we accurately predict our staffing requirement to support those models?
When you think from this perspective, a few ideas seem interesting to resolve this issue.
1. Staff Network and Interdisciplinary Roles At Hotels
Think of a common pool of 500 hotel professionals including housekeeping, kitchen, front desk and engineering. Is there a way such a pool could be shared between different hotels and properties to service guests?
For large hotel groups, this could mean sharing staff from housekeeping, front desk and F&B teams across multiple properties within the same city.
For smaller, independent hotels, this could mean creating a staff-sharing community with other hotels where participating members pool in funds to train and retain a larger pool of employees.
One question that comes to mind next is that peak season in geography usually means higher guest footfall at all locations — which is where segmentation becomes important.
These hotel networks could be most effective when they have part business and part leisure hotels. The seasonality and even activity-based requirements at such properties differ significantly to support this idea. For example, check-out times at business hotels are usually earlier than at leisure hotels and resorts. Also, holidays aren’t the peak time for business hotels but evidently so for leisure hotels.
Another idea is to train people to take up interdisciplinary roles. Think of a front-desk professional who understands how housekeeping works, what the protocols are and can fill in during housekeeping shortage. This not only helps hotels utilise people’s bandwidth better but also goes on to help employees strengthen attributes across streams giving them better opportunities to progress in their careers.
This could be topped up by utilising services from gig platforms and, especially for small hotels, partnering with local businesses for services like laundry and even food delivery.
2. Activity-based metrics to forecast staffing requirement
Consider a resort that has an average weekly occupancy rate of 70%.
This number might suggest a steady flow of guests, but in reality, the resort could be experiencing occupancy rates as high as 90% on weekends and as low as 50% on weekdays.
By staffing based on the average, the resort may find itself understaffed during busy weekends and overstaffed during quieter weekdays, leading to both operational inefficiencies and compromised guest experiences.
If the same resort begins tracking specific activities like the number of check-ins and check-outs, housekeeping requests, and dining reservations, it can gain a more nuanced understanding of staffing needs.
Say the data shows that despite lower occupancy on certain weekdays, the number of housekeeping requests remains high due to longer-staying guests requiring more frequent services. Or perhaps the weekends see a spike in dining reservations, indicating the need for more staff in the restaurant despite only a moderate increase in overall occupancy.
By analyzing these activity-based metrics, the resort can align its staffing more closely with real-time demand. This leads to a more efficient allocation of resources, ensuring that the staff is available when and where guests need them most, thereby enhancing the overall guest experience and operational efficiency.
3. Adopting Technology to improve staff efficiency
While many hotels are adopting technology, most only resort to essential PMS, revenue and central reservation systems.
For most hotels, adopting technology like chatbots and guest engagement apps at the hotels could serve as a pivotal strategy to improve staff efficiency and guest satisfaction.
Imagine a scenario where chatbots effectively handle routine inquiries, providing instant responses to frequently asked questions about amenities, local attractions, or booking details.
This not only frees up valuable time for front desk staff to address more complex guest needs but also ensures quick and efficient guest service.
Similarly, guest engagement apps empower guests to access essential hotel information, place room service orders, and make various reservations directly through their smartphones. This reduces the need for staff intervention for such routine tasks, allowing them to focus on more personalized guest interactions.
Moreover, the adoption of mobile check-in and check-out processes streamlines guest arrival and departure experiences, diminishing the workload on front desk personnel during peak hours. Housekeeping efficiency is also enhanced through automated notifications, enabling prompt attention to room turnovers and service requests.
Additionally, leveraging data analytics for personalized services, from customizing in-room experiences to offering tailored promotions, not only augments guest satisfaction but can also open avenues for increased revenue.
Overall, the strategic integration of these technological solutions in hotel operations significantly boosts staff productivity, optimizes resource allocation, and elevates the overall guest experience, marking a crucial advancement in the hospitality sector.
In addressing the staffing crisis at hotels, the key lies in an integrated approach that combines innovative staffing models, activity-based metrics, and advanced technology. However, the linchpin of this strategy is a positive work culture, underpinned by competitive pay and a genuine commitment to work-life balance.
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