REPORT FROM THE U.S.—With small staffs to start with, economy hotels have maintained high employee counts throughout the crisis relative to pre-COVID-19 levels.
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The latest labor-management data from Hotel Effectiveness shows that in recent weeks, economy hotels have employed almost 90% of the number of people that they did prior to the downturn. Other segments, meanwhile, are recovering more slowly.
In general, the larger and more complicated the operating model, the slower the staff recovery. Upscale hotels averaged around 28 employees pre-pandemic, but today have only filled an average of 10 positions. Upper-upscale and luxury hotels—usually more dependent upon group and meetings business—have even slower employment recovery rates.
Even so, hotels continue to add positions. Across all segments, U.S. hotels in the sample each now employ an average of 13 people, and in the past week most hotels have added an additional housekeeping team member in response to the continued overall growth in occupancy. As of Sunday, 14 June, hotels in the U.S. employ 42% of the people that they had on staff prior to the first week of March, up from 19% in mid-April.
The data and chart above represent a sample of more than 3,300 same-store hotels and excludes hotels which have been closed during the analyzed period.
Del Ross is Chief Revenue Officer for Hotel Effectiveness.
The assertions expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Hotel News Now or its parent company, STR and its affiliated companies. Please feel free to comment or contact an editor with any questions or concerns.