Staffing up your hotel for high reviews

How to meet expectations in the hospitality industry

Hotel

Cleanliness, location, and staff friendliness are among the most occurring in customer feedback of hotels. Of these three most important factors, two are determined directly by the quality of staffing. The other 4 out of 9 are directly related to staffing. This is why a factor so germane cannot be left to chance for hotel management. Hotels usually rely on internal referrals, job boards or leverage on their network within the hospitality industry to recruit. In West African booming cities of Abuja, Accra, or Lagos for example, this informal method has proven to be convenient, cheaper, but have also exposed brands to the formation of sub-cultures among staffs which is alien to the vision of management. Loyalty is often rewarded by headhunters who do not necessarily prioritize the need of employers. This cycle of hiring and firing may persist till management becomes inured to lower expectations- a condition which is observably the beginning of decline for too many.

For many businesses, human resources have been reported to be among the most challenging administrative concern. In the hospitality industry this is even more so. Quality of the cashier, room attendant, or the barman, chef, waiter, barrister, or janitor goes a long way in the perspective of guests and this in turn impact the rating and ultimately the profitability of the hotel. While those tendencies in hotel staffs can be behavioral, training and skilling can play a role in bringing out the best from prospects.

Meeting Expectations in the hospitality industry

Most important factors in Hotel reviews

Guests often expect promptness and willingness to help from staff. Failure to deliver consistently is interpreted as lack of quality even for remote cases. This is where behavioural analysis becomes important, juggled with skill to not only make decisions about recruitment but also placement. Introduction of new methods of housekeeping, and security awareness helps staff to carry out their function without warring out easily. Beyond the willingness to help, self-care in staff also contributes to their demeanor, hence the liberty guests feel in approaching them for help. A staff who is unkempt for example, or looks exasperated for whatever reason contributes negatively to the experience of guests just as they impair the morale of colleagues.

Job Mobility as a factor in the Hospitality industry

One more peculiarity in the hospitality industry is high job turnover even career progression which mitigates discipline. The natural response to this would be to centralize information flow of human resources such that gross misconduct at one location or brand is not rewarded with even better opportunity as it is often the case. Recruitment firms, at present inundated by demands of multiple industries are not readily receptive to the unique demands of the hospitality industry. It will not be preposterous to infer this elephant in the room is the reason for impunity that is often observed in recalcitrant staff.

Solution to hospitality recruitment

Solution to recruitment in hospitality industry ideally would require lot of data gathering and data training for the purpose of predicting the outcome of each placement. As this cost intensive effort remains in the pipeline, other methods that will yield tolerable result should be introduced into the management system of the industry. With niched recruitment, trainings, and advisory the journey towards achieving high reviews with staffing is already half accomplished.

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