Top European Hotels Fight for Staff, Left With No Choice But To Hire Inexperienced Workers

Luxury hotel chains in Europe are now hiring employees with no experience as a consequence of underpaying their staff who left the grueling hospitality industry during the COVID-19 pandemic. ‘The Great Resignation’ saw individuals retire, relocate, and reconsider their position in the world of hospitality.

Europe’s leading hotelier Accor - a French international hospitality business with billions in revenue and more than 5,100 hotels - is now beginning “trials” to hire people with no experience in the hotel industry, the company’s chief executive Sebastien Bazin said, as it struggles to fill at least 35,000 vacancies.

“We tried in Lyon and Bordeaux 10 days ago and this weekend we're having people interviewed with no CV, no previous job experience and they are hired within 24 hours," Bazin said.

Since underpaid workers left the company, Accor is now filling those positions with those who are desperate for work such as students and/or expats.

Those who are practically hired on the spot by the multi-billion dollar company are trained in only six hours and are forced to learn on the job. The company will also limit their contact with customers as they struggle with staffing.

"It's students, people coming from North Africa," Bazin said, "and basically closing restaurants for lunch or [opening them] only five days a week. There's no other solution."

Some hoteliers will have to increase pay to find the help they need this tourist season. Spain’s tourism sector supported 13.5 percent of their workforce in 2018 - before the pandemic - and accounted for 11.8 percent of their gross domestic product in 2017. But Spain’s catering industry is at present short some 200,000 workers, and Portugal is fighting to increase staff at their hotels to keep pace with increasing demand.

"Many employees have decided to move to other sectors, so we are starting an industry from scratch and we have to fight for talent," said Gabriel Escarrer, chief executive of Spanish hotel group Melia which, along with other hospitality businesses, is reportedly offering higher wages than previously, health insurance, and free accommodation - though that last perk could be more a reflection of the shortage of housing near resorts.

However, hoteliers such as Hotel Mundial - located in Lisbon, Portugal - are facing the far from ideal decision of cutting services if they can’t find staff, and those who employ students will have to juggle rotas to accommodate their schedules.

“During the week we can't open because we have no hands - they are studying,” said Jose Carlos, who owns a bar in Madrid called Tabanco de Jerez.

Spain's hospitality industry is now paying 60 percent more than it did last year, on average, in an attempt to lure workers back to the force - however, those working in the tourism industry are still among the lowest-paid workers.

"Half of it is we've been blind, we've been not paying attention to a lot of people and probably underpaying some people for too long as well," said Bazin, who is worried his company won’t have enough staff when the summer rush, which is the height of the tourist season - arrives. "So it's a wake-up call."

One of the best documented reasons for people leaving their job during 'The Great Resignation' was because they were being paid too little. Another reason was the lack of professional advancement within the industry.

Other reasons people quit in 2021 included: feeling disrespected, lack of flexibility in scheduling, and a lack of benefits such as healthcare and paid holiday, according to a Pew Research Center survey. That same survey found that those who quit their job were able to find new places of employment that offered them better pay and more opportunities.