The pandemic, inflation and escalating cost of living make attracting and retaining quality hotel talent the number one challenge hoteliers are facing this year. Each property’s unique market, chain scale and age mean there are rarely one-size-fits-all solutions. Hospitality asset managers play a critical role in supporting operators in developing and implementing comprehensive plans to retain talent throughout the organization at every level.

First, focus on basic needs. Does the team have the necessary supplies and equipment to serve guests? That broken vacuum, spotty radio and lack of washcloths can have a major negative impact on team members, in turn affecting the entire service experience for guests. Identify shortcomings and fix them immediately. This is not an area to cut corners, and short-term thinking ends up costing far more in both turnover expenses and service recovery.

It’s no secret that hospitality work is physically and emotionally taxing. This was true before mask mandates, vaccination verification and the many other tasks our team members have assumed over the last few years. As restrictions ease, it’s the perfect time for your team to come together for small events, such as a taco truck for lunch or perks like complimentary room nights or chair massages during breaks. It’s important to note these gestures aren’t effective if team members don’t have the right tools and support of their leaders.

In today’s environment, it’s tempting to prolong necessary turnover. If a team member is not performing, confront opportunities quickly. If burnout is suspected, consider shaking up responsibilities. Know when to part ways with team members who aren’t contributing value to the organization, or worse, causing unnecessary friction among the ranks. If it’s time to part ways, do so swiftly to avoid poor morale and subpar productivity.

The pandemic has changed how most industries think about work. While many roles in a hotel cannot be performed off-property, think of ways you can be more flexible with your front line and leadership team members. This means offering competitive compensation, relevant fringe benefits such as company-funded transit passes and meals, referral programs, flexible work schedules and professional development opportunities. Be open to alternative work schedules and cross-utilize team members in different areas so long as they don’t negatively impact the guest experience.

Now is the time to challenge that redundant paperwork and unnecessary approvals. With most doing-more-with-less, these non-value added extra steps slow down service delivery and frustrate your team members and guests. Challenge the status quo for the most time consuming and frequent processes on property, such as registering guests and cleaning rooms. Gone are the days of team member orientations with several weeks of training. Challenge your leaders to streamline the onboarding and training process to balance speed with training. Maintain an open dialogue with the new team member following initial onboarding to share feedback. Assuming that everything is OK is a sure way to lose a new team member when they are most at risk of leaving the organization, traditionally within the first 90 days of employment.

Team member roundtables with leaders provide a constructive outlet to field questions, listen to suggestions and concerns and share updates in today’s rapidly changing hotel workplace. Turn words into action by making timely and tangible changes. Celebrate personal and professional milestones of your team members. Lastly, small gestures such as thank you cards or recognition during pre-shift meetings can turn a bad day into a good one.

Conduct frequent wage and benefit analyses to ensure competitiveness. Next, understand the full cost of turnover is the first step to understanding performance. This figure should include costs associated with interviews, recruitment systems, background, drug tests, training, etc. Understanding turnover by department at the executive level is critical to identifying problem areas and continuously improving acquisition and retention efforts.

Tyler Ward is vice president of asset management, hospitality at Stockdale Capital Partners.

The opinions expressed in this column do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Hotel News Now or CoStar Group and its affiliated companies. Bloggers published on this site are given the freedom to express views that may be controversial, but our goal is to provoke thought and constructive discussion within our reader community. Please feel free to contact an editor with any questions or concern.

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