Top European hotel chainsare hiring staff with no experience or even resumes, as executives admit that years of underpaid staff backfired, leaving them unable to meet post-pandemic travel needs.
International travel has been shut down and thousands of workers have left the hospitality industry during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Many choose not to go back and find better-paying jobs elsewhere, leaving hoteliers facing a severe shortage.
Sebastien Bazin, chief executive of Europe's largest hotel group, Accor, told Reuters at the Qatar Economic Forum last month that the company was piloting the recruitment of staff who had never worked in the hospitality industry before.
Accor, which operates brands such as Mercure, Ibis and Fairmont in more than 110 countries, needs 35,000 employees globally, he said.
"We had interviews in Lyon and Bordeaux 10 days ago, and this weekend we interviewed people without CVs and work experience and they were hired within 24 hours," Bazin said.
In the short term, Accor is filling vacancies in France with young people and immigrants, while also limiting services.
"It's a student from North Africa," Bazin said. "Basically restaurants are closed five days a week for lunch, or just open.There is no other solution."
New hires undergo six hours of training and learn on the job, he said.
Staff shortages are particularly acute in Spain and Portugal, where tourism accounted for 13% and 15% of economic output, respectively, before the outbreak.
Hoteliers there offer higher pay, free nights and perks like bonuses and health insurance.
"Many employees have already decided to move to other industries, so we are starting an industry from scratch and we have to compete for talent," Gabriel Escale, chief executive of Spanish hotel group Melia, told reporters in Madrid.
To lure employees, his company recently offered lodging, sometimes hotel rooms, because of a shortage of rental housing near the resort.
In an updated deal report last week, Ireland's Dalata Hotels Group said its strategy of keeping its core team intact during the pandemic was underpinning its ability to fully operate its hotels despite a tight labour market.
Dalata owns the Clayton and Maldron hotel chains in Ireland and the UK.
Other smaller hotels in Europe are also facing staffing challenges.
The director of operations at Hotel Mundial, one of Lisbon's most iconic hotels, said it was trying to recruit 59 staff.
He worries that without enough staff, some hotels will reduce the number of guests and reduce the range of facilities they can offer.
"If we can't recruit new people, we're going to have to cut service," he said."It's regrettable and dramatic for an industry that has had no revenue for the past two years."
In Spain and Portugal, two of Europe's most popular tourist destinations, the situation is echoed in bars, restaurants and hotels - who have been eager to book, but at an unsatisfactory price.
Jose Carlos Sacó, 52, can only open his Madrid bar, Tabanco de Jerez, on weekends, when students who need extra income don't have to attend classes and can work.
"We couldn't open the door because we didn't have hands, they were learning," he said, pointing to the student workers who had set up their tables on Saturday.
In Madrid's vibrant La Latina district, Mariveni Rodriguez, owner of the Angosta tavern, hires immigrants during the peak season.
"We give opportunities to immigrants who are eager to work because they don't have family or institutional support," she said.
According to national hotel industry associations, the Spanish restaurant industry currently lacks 200,000 employees, while Portuguese hotels need at least 15,000 people to meet the growing demand.
"The solution is definitely to spend more," said Jose Luis Yzuel of the Foodservice Industry Association.
The government is trying to lure workers back.In Spain, wages for employees at bars and restaurants rose nearly 60 percent in the first quarter from a year earlier, official data showed.
But tourism remains the industry with the lowest monthly salary for employees, at around 1,150 euros.
In neighboring Portugal, wages for employees in the hospitality sector are expected to rise 7 percent this year, but the average salary in the industry is 881 euros a month, 705 euros above the minimum wage, according to a survey by the central bank and the National Statistics Office.
While hotels are only at 60 or 70 percent occupancy, they can cope with staff shortages, Bazin said, but the critical moment will come when the hotels are fully booked.
"My question is, can I serve everyone when I know we're going to be 100 per cent full between the beginning of July and the end of August," he said.
In the past, the industry has neither paid enough salaries nor focused on employee development, Bazin said.
"Half of that is that we're so blind, we're not paying attention to a lot of people, and maybe underpaying some people for a long time," he said. "So it's a wake-up call."
