Artificial intelligence (AI) has revolutionized how we recruit and select talent. HR and hiring managers are no longer just recruiters. They are strategic supervisors of the whole AI ecosystem. The new challenge is to lead responsibly, ensuring that technology enhances rather than replaces human judgment.
The global hospitality industry is forecast to see its labour demand climb in the coming years, but persisting labour shortages and other challenges in hiring and retaining employees could make it very difficult to meet these needs. Hotels should implement innovative strategies to overcome the current barriers to successful recruitment.
Hiring in hospitality has always required a blend of instinct and insight. With evolving guest expectations and growing competition for top talent, it’s more important than ever for hiring managers to look beyond resumes to uncover attributes that truly signal potential during the interview process.
The hospitality industry is continually presented with the alluring, yet often ambiguously defined, promise of “all-in-one” technology platforms. This term of reference for ‘all-in-one‘ can mean so many things and are highly topical to the specific business footprint itself. While discussions often orient towards the front of the house, back-of-house ‘all-in-one’ has been a multi-decade aged capability that is frankly underutilized. The crucial point is that there is no inherent limitation to the breadth of what ‘all-in-one’ can encompass; the only true constraint is the depth of product capability within it. This is the essence of an all-in-one hospitality platform.
When the lights dim and hotel guests settle down for the night, a different reality often emerges for female workers. For many women – especially shift workers – fewer daylight hours brought about by winter can increase risk of harassment, intimidation, or violence.
For much of the late twentieth century, hospitality education was a model of how academia could work hand in hand with industry. The UK led the world in creating postgraduate programmes that balanced academic rigour with real-world relevance, producing graduates equally at ease in boardrooms and hotel kitchens. These programmes nurtured qualities such as leadership, resilience, creativity, and good people management, essential to an industry built on human connection.
It’s not even 9 o’clock and your front desk manager is already behind. They’ve spent the day answering back-to-back questions from employees. A new team member asks where to find more printer paper. Another says, “A guest requested extra towels but I can’t remember what room they’re in.” A third employee wants to know if they can go home because they are overwhelmed and can’t handle the stress today.
Artificial intelligence (AI) is reshaping how organizations hire talent. Today, AI is not just a tool but a partner that supports and enhances human decision-making across all six distinct phases of the hiring process, from receiving applications to extending job offers (see Figure 1).
In a world where hotels, restaurants, and tourism organisations face unprecedented complexity - from digital disruption to climate challenges - Professor Ioannis S. Pantelidis of Ulster University invites us to look beneath the surface. His latest work, REEF: Transformational Leadership, draws on lessons from the ocean’s most adaptive ecosystems to inspire a new form of leadership - one that is rhythmic, empathetic, and resilient.
Negotiation skills are among the most underappreciated abilities in the hospitality industry, yet it shapes everything from supplier agreements to guest experiences. Understanding the nuanced art of negotiation can turn the average deal into an opportunity for value creation and a successful partnership. Here, we explore five basic rules to transform your confidence and results at the negotiating table.
Do happy employees make happy customers, or is it the other way around? Do happy customers make employees happy?
The hospitality industry is knee-deep in budgeting season, and there is no better time to begin equipping hotel teams with the right tools and knowledge to operate efficiently, deliver seamless guest experiences, and maintain brand consistency. One of the most essential components of workforce communication is the Learning Management System (LMS). Today’s technology providers are redefining the way hotel teams are continuously trained, and new, intuitive tools contained within modern LMSs are gaining traction across the industry.
Education comes in many shapes and forms. The focus should be on the quality of the education and the value of what is being offered. Hospitality professionals that want to enhance their professionalism and build their educational resumes have numerous choices. In general, hospitality professionals are looking to receive certifications that support their education, advance their careers and increase potential opportunities in a dynamic and new industry landscape.
There has been a recent flurry of announcements from the business press regarding the appointment of Co-CEOs. What was once an oddity is becoming more common place. A recent article by Barron’s Andy Serwer addresses this trend in the broader marketplace. I thought it would be interesting to look at how the hospitality industry is or is not embracing this movement. Of the 8,088 hotel, casino and restaurant companies we track at AETHOS, only 24 had a Co-CEO arrangement, representing less than 1% of the industry.
"Just be yourself." It's the well-meaning advice that's launched a thousand leadership development programmes and probably twice as many LinkedIn posts. But here's the uncomfortable truth: most leaders who try to "be themselves" at work are actually stuck at a surprisingly unsophisticated stage of authenticity.
There is a troubling disconnect in the hotel industry between public commitments and meaningful action on gender equality. Nearly every major hospitality brand now publishes impressive-sounding policies on diversity and inclusion but the reality behind the glossy corporate reports tells a different story.
People older than 50 make up less than a fifth of all hotel employees, revealing a stark underrepresentation of experienced workers in an industry that should value their expertise. Research from The Hong Kong Polytechnic University’s School of Hotel and Tourism Management found that only 3.1% of hotels recruit people aged 65 years or over, despite the potential benefits these workers could bring to the industry.
People talk about “being in the flow” as if it’s some zen productivity state. That’s nice, but what I mean by flow is much more practical: things moving. From left to right, down the funnel, across the team. Progress happens because work doesn’t get stuck.
When staffing shortages hit at peak season, it’s not just guest satisfaction that suffers — room inventory shrinks, and operations strain under pressure. Across U.S. hospitality, uncertain immigration policy is now a key factor shaping workforce strategy. Hotels are adapting with agility: amplifying internal talent pipelines, refining recruiting, and fortifying preparedness against potential enforcement disruptions.
As a conference speaker and hotel trainer, I’m always interested whenever I see the title of an article, book, or blog post that has anything to do with guest service, hospitality, or customer service in general.