Finding staff is the biggest headwind for hospitality: survey

According to Moore Stephens, 83% feel that finding staff is the biggest headwind for hospitality.

For its annual Hotels Update, its audience voting polls provided views on topics and issues in the hospitality sector. Amongst these are the 63% of people who feel that Brexit, so far, has been beneficial for hospitality. The panel - consisting of three key members of the hotels industry: Daniel Sangiuseppe, Director of Castlewood Hotels, Dev Anand, managing director of The Hotel Property Centre; and Charlie Parker, General Manager of Four Seasons Hotel London at Ten Trinity Square - agreed that the increase in European tourists visiting the UK has seen a rise in hotels stays, however, they do feel this is simply a short term gain.

One poll response was that 83% felt that finding staff at the right price is the biggest headwind for the hospitality industry. Panellists and audience members agreed that this has long been an issue for the hotels sector as hoteliers struggle to find staff with the passion for hospitality. With technology now able to facilitate a huge portion of the hotel customer journey, from online travel agencies providing a simple customer booking platform (75% of the audience felt that OTA’s are good for business) to robots manning reception desks, hoteliers believe this issue will continue to worsen if they do not look to other sectors to recruit staff.