JAKARTA - Europe's top hotel chain is hiring workers with no experience or even resumes, as executives admit years of underpaid staff are choosing to leave, leaving them unable to meet post-pandemic travel demand.
Thousands of workers left the hospitality industry as international travel was closed during the COVID-19 pandemic. Many choose not to return, seeking better-paying work elsewhere, leaving hoteliers facing an urgent shortage.
Europe's largest hotel operator, Accor, is running a pilot initiative to recruit people who have never previously worked in the industry, Chief Executive Sebastien Bazin said in an interview with Reuters at the Qatar Economic Forum last month.
Accor, which operates brands such as Mercure, ibis and Fairmont in more than 110 countries, needs 35,000 workers globally, he said.
"We tried in Lyon and Bordeaux ten days ago and this weekend we had people being interviewed without resumes, with no previous work experience and they were hired within 24 hours," Bazin said.
In the short term, Accor fills a role in France with youth and migrants while also limiting the services provided by hotels, such as restaurants.
"These are students, people coming from North Africa, and basically closing the restaurant for lunch or (opening it) only five days a week. There is no other solution," Bazin said.
The new recruits are given six hours of on-the-job training and learning, he said.
Staff shortages are particularly pressing in Spain and Portugal, where tourism accounted for 13 percent and 15 percent of economic output before the pandemic, respectively.
Hoteliers there offer higher salaries, free accommodation to perks such as bonuses and health insurance.
"Many employees have decided to move to other sectors, so we started the industry from scratch and we had to fight for talent," Gabriel Escarrer, CEO of Spanish hotelier Melia, told reporters in Madrid.
To attract staff, his company recently provided accommodation, sometimes in hotel rooms, due to a shortage of rental housing near its resorts.
Meanwhile, smaller hoteliers face similar staffing challenges.
The director of operations for the Hotel Mundial, one of Lisbon's most iconic hotels, said it was currently trying to recruit 59 workers. Without enough staff, he fears some hotels will cut the number of guests and the amenities they can provide.
"If we can't recruit, we have to cut services. This is very regrettable and dramatic for an industry that has had no revenue for the last two years," he explained.
Spain's catering industry is short of 200,000 workers and Portuguese hotels need at least 15,000 more people to meet growing demand, according to the national hospitality association.
"The solution is to pay more," explained Jose Luis Yzuel, from the catering service sector association.
Efforts are underway to lure workers back. In Spain, bars and restaurants increased workers' wages by nearly 60 percent in the first quarter from a year earlier, according to official data. But the tourism industry is still the sector that pays employees the lowest, at around 1,150 euros (1,200 US dollars) per month.
In neighboring Portugal, salaries for hotel workers are expected to increase by 7 percent this year, according to a survey by the central bank and the National Statistics Institute, but the average wage in the sector is 881 euros a month, above the 705 euro minimum wage.
Bazin said while hotels were only 60 percent or 70 percent occupied, they could cope with staff shortages, but a critical time would come when they were fully booked.
"The problem I have is, when I know between early July and late August we will be 100 per cent filled, can I serve everyone?" he says.
In the past, the industry didn't pay enough or focus on staff development, Bazin said.
"Half of it is that we are blind, we don't pay attention to a lot of people and maybe underpay some people for too long. So this is a wake-up call."
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