Heilbronn, Germany – 13 October 2017 –
Everyone wishes to have known about it for decades, but only a few individuals have done something about it: that the lack of staff will cause a partially existential crisis in the hospitality sector in the coming years. This is the result of a poll of entrepreneurs ran by students at German Heilbronn University of Applied Sciences. At the eighth Heilbronn Hospitality Symposium it became clear that, in view of the linear increase in the number of guests and overnight stays, the guest companies need to make a determined effort to recruit new workers and retain existing specialists.
“Ultimately, workers will be more central to the whole excellent process,” states symposium organizer Prof. Dr. Christian Buer. Like his colleague Prof. Dr. Markus Zeller, he counsels to clearly position himself at the market, where the team has to be involved. At exactly the exact same time, it became clear that pupils are anticipating exciting challenges with personal responsibility and appropriate remuneration. It is going to hardly be possible to acquire youthful high earners with a low salary to start with. In the Block Group of companies (“Block House”, Grand Elysee Hamburg) top talents are flown to Mallorca for additional training, as CEO Stephan von Bülow emphasised. In the daily restaurant organization, workers are allowed to write their own duty rosters to be able to achieve flexible working hours depending on their wishes.
The persistent shortage of applicants is prompting new notion ideas: digitization and automation are all made to generate the daily running of their business more efficiently. „Could be that short three to four tech-orientated people will have the ability to conduct a complete hotel,” stated Alexander Dirk, Director Strategic Marketing at Best Western Hotels Central Europe. The trend has been evident everywhere for years: “Behind the curtains” work procedures are getting to be increasingly automatic, at the kitchen (fully automatic cooking technology from Rational and Miele, by way of instance), in warehousing and logistics as well as in earnings (booking technology and AI for revenue management). Robot concepts for service excursions (“Botlr” in Aloft and “Sepp” concierge robot at Motel One) are also being tested in the service section, and in the near future, they will also be analyzed for the laid table.
„From the discussion on the industry, there is a unanimous agreement which, in addition to the better cover, private appreciation and recognition of accomplishments should be given priority. The Champions & Challenger of the industry must redefine the word ‚specialist‘ desperately and essentially collectively. The training for this particular has to be accommodated primarily to the demands of their guests and team members of tomorrow. In addition, managers will also be in demand to set an instance of host qualities and also to inspire young abilities for the resort sector…”, states Robert van der Graaf, Director Business Development at Carlson Rezidor.
Three-point plan to combat staff shortages
- Inspire beginners to both sides of the field (increase applicant potential!)
- Smart HR marketing (providing budget!)
- Innovative recuiting (www.hospitality.pro/recruitment)