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LABOR

SHORTAGES

FORCE A

WAKE-UP CALL

FOR TRAVEL

BRANDS

TO TREAT

WORKERS

BETTER

Skift Take:

From cockpits to guest rooms, the travel and
tourism industry confronts a dire need in
finding and training qualified job applicants to

fill their needs. Training and rewarding workers When a hotel management company was opening a new Homewood
in even the lowest-paying jobs is vital because Suites near Salt Lake City, Utah, last year, the company posted job ads for
housekeepers — and initially didn’t get a single applicant.
they can make or break a brand or a trip.
The company, The Hotel Group, eventually filled its positions and opened
the property by recruiting workers at community colleges and offering
bonuses for workers who remained on the job for various periods.

That difficulty in finding workers, particularly for lower-paying jobs such as
housekeepers, highlights a growing labor shortage problem in the United
Writer: Dennis Schaal
States. Citing U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics findings, the American Hotel &
Lodging Association estimated in November 2018 that there were 900,000

Illustrator: Amanda Berglund

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