A roundtable podcast covering staff wellbeing, career development, and regional collaboration in Kent hospitality, featuring voices from Champneys Eastwell Manor, HOSPA, and Hospitality Action.
Hospitality’s growing role as a talent pipeline for luxury retail, private healthcare, wealth management and the wider experience economy reflects not a failure to produce people, but the opposite: the industry develops highly transferable capabilities that many other sectors now actively seek.
The hospitality industry and its education arm have been fighting the battle for business credibility for many years. We “hospitality” has typically been seen as offering jobs on the way to something better, a specialty function that anyone can do.
This is proof that human connection - critical to a guest experience in a hotel or resort - is everlasting. Neither AI nor Covid 19 can take down the power of the "emotional human touch" of welcoming people into our establishments.
A national survey of 451 Greek hospitality workers finds formal employment standards often exist on paper but fail in practice, with low pay, unpaid overtime, and weak worker voice widespread across the sector.
New Regent's University London research finds 80% of hospitality recruiters pass over graduates for lacking work readiness, with soft skills and practical experience cited as the critical gaps.
As the technologist in the room looking through the lens of the melding of industry workforce and the application of technology, I find this development curious for a number of reasons:AI Singling Out: It's interesting to see the specific technology of AI singled out.
The recent court ruling highlights an important principle: AI adoption should not be a labor replacement solution. The more meaningful question is how AI can help employees work smarter, more efficiently, and ultimately more effectively.Hospitality has always been a people-centered industry.
Hospitality has never been just about systems, processes or efficiency. It has always been about people. The ruling highlights an important point: AI may change how we work, but it should not change what hospitality stands for.As an industry, we should not see AI only as a way to reduce labour costs.
Hotelschool The Hague becomes the first Dutch hospitality business school to earn a QS 5-Star rating, with an employer reputation score of 85.4/100 in the 2026 QS World University Rankings.
EHL student and Young Hospitality Summit president Ilona Guérin argues Gen Z hoteliers are driven and passionate, but warns formalising "generation translator" roles would widen, not bridge, the gap.
EHL's Dr Sowon Kim uses AI-powered role-play avatars to train hospitality leaders in high-stakes interpersonal skills, and discusses loneliness, empathy, and her Women in Leadership programme.
Maria Haggo, brain health strategist and ex-hotelier, argues that staff burnout and dysregulated nervous systems directly undermine guest experience, and that psychological safety is a practical fix.
Label Gamelle, founded in Paris in 2020, employs homeless people and refugees as its first job in France, turning surplus food into 2,500+ meals daily while achieving 80% housing and employment outcomes within 18 months.
UN Tourism partners with Fundación Mahou San Miguel to offer 2,000 free training places for Spanish hospitality professionals via WhatsApp messaging.
We as an industry need to focus on careers and not only jobs. What we have found is that a solid education in hospitality including an internship can prepare people for any service sector career opportunity, hospitality and tourism, retail, healthcare etc.
Hospitality’s talent crisis is not about supply; it is about signalling. For too long, the sector, still dominated by fragmented, family-run SMEs, has relied on informal narratives and outdated assumptions about “passion” and “hard work,” rather than articulating a compelling, modern value proposition.
The perception issue is compelling. Perception matters, especially among Gen Z, but it is often shaped by lived experiences, labor market signals, and what students observe through internships, part-time jobs, and social narratives.Based on my experience working with students, many are not aware of the variety of career opportunities in hospitality.
Regent's University London research finds 58% of hospitality recruiters prefer hiring graduates with personal referrals over cold applications.
Spain recorded over €4 billion in hotel investment last year, 50% higher than 2024, ranking second in Europe behind the UK.
Partnership provides Leonardo Hotels staff with discounted access to 70+ degree programs and 180+ certificates from SRH Fernhochschule.
The Headland hotel in Cornwall demonstrates how prioritizing employee development and community engagement creates authentic luxury experiences that drive record revenues.
Cornwall's Headland Hotel showcases how rotational training and family values built 450+ years of combined staff service, transforming hospitality from fallback to profession.
Les Roches ranks No. 2 globally while Glion rises to No. 3, with both schools showing 94%+ employability rates and extensive industry recruitment partnerships.
Europe's largest hostel group hires three sales managers for France, UK, and Scandinavia, targeting 75-80% occupancy rates and 600,000+ overnight stays.
HOSPA recognized top performers from its 2024/2025 training cohort, with Leonardo Hotels winning Employer of the Year for professional development commitment.