India's hotels, especially those at the luxury end of the scale, have always been noted for a very high staff-to-guest ratio, but after more than 20 months of pandemic-era operations and with the industry now slowly reopening, that has changed, potentially for the long term.
Mandeep S. Lamba, president, South Asia, at business advisory HVS Anarock, said 40% to 45% of direct employees in the organized Indian hotels sector lost their jobs in 2020, with a comparable percentage affected by compensation cuts.”
“Labor as such has been an issue with the hotel industry where we have grappled with the lack of trained manpower-availability. So the challenge will continue as we will have to recruit and retrain manpower,” he said.
“We expect room-to-staff ratios to decrease permanently across all hotel types as hotel companies have discovered that the earlier staffing ratio may not be necessary to operate efficiently. Having said that, the staffing ratios were reduced, keeping in mind the occupancy levels during the pandemic, and we anticipate that most of the jobs lost in the Indian hotel sector last year will be restored as demand improves,” he added.
Vishal Kamat, director of Kamat Group of Hotels, said, “the hotel industry has opened up, but many locations still are not near pre-COVID levels, and the real challenges for labor in the industry will arise when we reach that level."
He said his firm is operating with around 50% of its staff.
“The situation has improved. We are open and functioning, but the levels are nowhere near the pre-COVID levels. So this existing staff can comfortably cater to the consumer requirement,” he said.
“All our leisure properties are functional, in Goa, Shimla, Jadhavgadh. We are going steady with our recruitment and … the existing staff is being multitasked to meet the ground requirements,” he said.
Changes Afoot
At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in India, many employees left their closed hotels and returned to their hometowns.
Lamba said many switched to other jobs.
“Hospitality professionals have a competitive advantage over others. As a result, over the past decade or so, several other allied industries have started hiring [them] in their teams,” he said.
Satish Kumar, director of talent and culture, India and South Asia, at Accor, said it is not surprising that operational departments have been affected more than others.
“I’d say our holistic approach towards crisis management speaks a lot about how we cater to not just our guests but also our employees. We strive to maintain an honest relationship with our staff that results in them placing their trust to continue working with us, despite the inimical circumstances,” Kumar said.
Kamat said in some cases locally trained staff have become suddenly available.
“The churn typically has been in [food and beverage] and kitchen. However at the moment there are plenty of persons looking for jobs, so there is no dearth of manpower if one requires. The challenges as I see them will come when the volumes rise to pre-COVID levels when we will need more manpower,” Kumar added.
Return to Numbers
Lamba said he has noticed an increase in hiring in India.
“From the past three months, we are witnessing a rise in the job market. Initially, people were apprehensive about hiring manpower, especially after the second wave since it was an uncertain period with no means to deduce its duration or nature. Now with the economy and tourism sentiments in India regaining their momentum, there definitely is a spurt,” he said.
Lamba said this talent drive stems from the reopening of properties, enormous unmet demand and growing popularity of some travel trends.
He said challenges remain, the most prominent of which is an experienced talent pool unwilling to rejoin at a lower pay rate.
Kamat said the industry remains attractive to both employees and investors.
“Our industry is a big employment generator and creates entrepreneurs. Going forward, the government should help address the issues of the industry. The current improvement in the industry is after a huge backlog, so to recover will take time,” he said.