How can hotels step up their recruitment game?

Developed for Hotel Executive – now shared here on RLAGlobal.com.
Reprinted from the Hotel Business Review with permission from HotelExecutive.com
Written by Roger Allen, Group CEO, RLA Global

The global hospitality industry is forecast to see its labour demand climb in the coming years, but persisting labour shortages and other challenges in hiring and retaining employees could make it very difficult to meet these needs. Hotels should implement innovative strategies to overcome the current barriers to successful recruitment.  

In the following sections we look at some of these issues more in detail and outline market trends and potential new approaches that can help build innovative and effective recruitment and retention strategies. 

Hotel labour demand is forecast to increase  

Workforce demand in tourism is expected to increase as post-Covid growth continues. The sector is forecast to create 90.6 million new jobs in the next decade, boosting its share in all jobs globally to a whopping 12.5%, or 461.6 million, by 2035 from 10.9%, or 371 million, in 2025, according to the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC). Hotels could be a key driver of this long-term labour demand growth, as accommodation accounts for around 10%-40% of all tourism jobs, depending on market, OECD data show.  

The expected increase of workforce needs could further deteriorate current imbalances of labour supply and demand in hospitality, unless operators find ways to improve the efficiency of their recruitment and staff retention processes. Labour shortages seem to be persistent: OECD research indicates that job vacancy rates – or the share of unfilled positions – in the accommodation and food services industries are still above pre-Covid levels and continue to exceed the overall averages of local labour markets. 

The most acute shortages in Europe are in management, sales and marketing, event planning and spa and recreation, the European Accommodation Barometer 2025 said. Low-skill or seasonal roles can be easier to fill, although US respondents in a 2025 survey by the American Hotel & Lodging Association (AHLA) complained about staff shortages in housekeeping (38%), front desk (26%), F&B (14%) and maintenance (13%). 

Why hotels should rethink their HR practices 

Traditional methods may no longer do the trick in resolving the issues hotel operators are facing in human resources management. The list of challenges recruiters often encounter includes finding skilled staff, cutting employee turnover, boosting training and tapping technology to close skills gaps, adapting to new expectations for flexible working conditions, or enhancing employee experience and workforce wellbeing.  

The biggest perceived barrier to hiring qualified hotel workforce in the EU is high salary expectations, with 56% of respondents mentioning it in the European Accommodation Barometer 2025 survey. It is followed by long working hours and work-life balance (52%) and the lack of necessary skills or experience (47%). Certain challenges may be more pronounced in some geographical markets compared to others: for example, job security is the top concern for hotels in Greece (58%), but not so much in Germany (18%). 

Fit flexible work offerings to market traits 

Remuneration still remains the main element of recruitment and retention strategies at most hotels, although it may not be the most effective tool on its own. Raising wages is well behind offering in-house upskilling programmes among the most common actions market players take to ease labour shortages in the Asia Pacific region, the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) said. Research also shows that hotels in France and Ireland find long commutes, unsuitable working hours and limited career growth opportunities bigger challenges than salary expectations. 

Demand for flexible working hours and a better work-life balance is increasingly important for employees in all sectors, including hospitality. Hotels are well aware of this trend – offering more flexible hours, for example, is the second most common tool (19.6%) for US operators behind remuneration (47.5%). Hotels in popular European leisure destinations, including Greece, Spain, Portugal and France, see work-life balance as a bigger challenge in recruitment than high salary expectations.   

Expectations for flexibility are especially high among younger applicants and prospective employees. Hotels should consider implementing practices allowing more predictable work schedules and shift preferences to remain attractive to these cohorts of workers. Some operators are even experimenting with four-day work weeks in some properties as a retention tool, human risk intelligence firm Certn said.   

Having said that, hotels should also take into consideration the characteristics of local workforce, as certain markets may buck the trends. The top benefit travel firms offer to young employees in Asia Pacific is flexible hours (53%), but this ranks much lower on the priority list of the targeted demographic (15%), PATA said. In another mismatch, 33% of operators offer remote work to young workers, but only 1% of this group see this option as the most attractive benefit – maybe as remote work is simply not possible in several hospitality fields, such as front office, F&B or housekeeping. 

Ignore employee well-being at your own risk  

Properties should not underestimate the importance of programmes or facilities that support employee wellbeing, as these initiatives can not only help reduce staff turnover and increase productivity, but also prevent burnout and absenteeism. They also improve engagement, and engaged employees drive customer ratings and sales. Operators increasingly provide mental health programmes, stress management training or other employee assistance schemes to staff members.  

In a recent example of a comprehensive employee well-being initiative, the Intercontinental Hotel Group (IHG) launched the myWellbeing framework in 2022 to support employees in health, lifestyle and workplace issues. Designed to create a holistic offering, the programme includes a well-being handbook, guidelines to managers and financial education materials.  

Lean into upskilling and employee training  

Finding appropriately skilled employees and closing the skills gap is another persisting pain point for hotels. The problem appears to be more pronounced in popular leisure destinations with strong seasonality and long working hours during peak seasons: the share of operators seeing the lack of necessary skills or experience as a key obstacle to recruitment is above the EU average (47%) in several southern European destinations, such as Italy (59%), Portugal (51%), Greece (49%), Spain (48%) and Croatia (48%).  

One of the underlying reasons is that hotels are facing increased competition for skilled workers from non-tourism industries – this in fact shouldn’t come as a surprise as hospitality roles often require technical, communication and interpersonal skills that are highly transferable and very much desirable in other sectors too. Skilled workers moving to other sectors often lead to situations, where inexperienced employees are promoted to higher level positions. The OECD said in its 2024 tourism report that this can amplify the skills mismatch between employer requirements and candidate capabilities, which may ultimately have negative consequences for maintaining the quality of service.  

However, most hotels tend to be wary of taking a chance on less experienced or under-qualified candidates because of the high costs associated with training and upskilling, industry organizations have found. The majority of EU hotels offer structured on-the-job (65%) and in-person training (56%), with bigger chains using a variety of different training programmes at higher rates and more consistently, according to the European Accommodation Barometer 2025. About 17% of independent properties offer no training whatsoever and 18% have no plans to invest in skills development – it is a telling bit of data, as around 80% of accommodations in Europe are small and independent.  

These market trends clearly show that not having appropriate upskilling and training programmes in place – whether provided in house or by outsourcing partners – can raise staff turnover and easily expose operators to the risk of losing skilled employees to other sectors. Additional forms of skills development hotels may consider include mentorship schemes, peer coaching or job rotation, depending on available time and capacity.   

Explore skills-based hiring approaches      

Recruitment strategies need to be tailored to ensure that organizational structures do not depend on any one individual. Equally important is the implementation of skills-based hiring, which shifts focus to actual skills and expertise from traditional qualifications or past industry experience. Employers using skills-based recruitment are far more likely to be satisfied with their hires (82%) than those not using this method (67%), according to talent sourcing and skills assessment firm TestGorilla.  

Deconstructing hospitality jobs into separate tasks and projects and assigning these to employees based on their individual skills, strengths and knowledge can unlock significant value, Dr. Bertain Audrin, assistant professor at EHL Hospitality Business School wrote in a recent insight. He said this method can not only improve organizational agility, but may also enhance employee experience as it gives workers a deeper sense of ownership of their work and may empower them when it comes to developing a career path beyond the traditional corporate ladder.  

Deconstructing hospitality jobs can also support employer branding. It can serve as a differentiator in the competitive labour market and help companies position themselves as an innovative and desirable workplace, ultimately making it easier to attract and keep highly skilled employees.      

Tap tech tools to hire and train staff      

Many hotels recognize the potential operational benefits of digital technologies, such as artificial intelligence (AI), but a number of challenges continue to limit overall uptake in the hospitality sector. There is a growing digital divide: bigger players and hotel chains see AI integration more feasible and rewarding, while smaller and independent properties show lower enthusiasm, particularly for use cases like staff training, the European Accommodation Barometer 2025 said. The perceived cost, complexity and limited return on investment of AI tools may outweigh the benefits for these players.  

About 70% of employers in all industries take steps to integrate AI into their workforce or work processes in 2025, lower than in 2024, TestGorilla said, adding that employers are adopting AI more thoughtfully and cautiously than before. Still, 65% are using AI in the hiring process, mostly to write job descriptions (66%), screen resumes (61%), source candidates (52%) and interview applicants (21%). Employers using skills-based hiring are more likely to tap AI in recruitment. The overall results are impressive: 94% of employers using AI in the hiring process said that it has brought improvements.  

In hospitality, AI can close skill gaps, boost emotional engagement and accelerate output, Dr. Alexander Lennart Schmidt, professor at Hotelschool The Hague, said at a recent conference. He said AI can work best when combined with human teams, but even one individual using AI can match the performance of a full team not using AI. All in all, AI can contribute to ‘sustainable competitiveness’, which incorporates operational efficiency, worker well-being and guest experience, he added. 

In addition to AI, employers in hospitality can also explore opportunities to use virtual reality (VR) in immersive employee onboarding simulations and training. In recent examples, Accor Hotels reportedly employs VR to train housekeeping staff and Starwood Hotels uses VR simulations to help maintenance staff diagnose and repair plumbing and electrical problems before heading out to location. Other reports said Marriott Hotels took part in the development of VR training for accommodating the needs of guests with disabilities, while Hilton Hotels used VR solutions to tackle unconscious bias among staff members toward guests of diverse backgrounds.  

Conclusion 

Hotel operators have multiple options and potential approaches to advance their human resources strategies and leave behind current difficulties in recruitment. Success will ultimately favour those who can adapt to a modern employment model that puts employees first and take on the challenges by offering career growth opportunities with competitive pay, semi-flexible working hours, chances to learn new skills and an environment that prioritizes well-being at work.