Loews Hotels

PHILADELPHIA, Nov. 29 / Jonathan M. Tisch, President of the $21 billion Loews Corp. and president and CEO of Loews Hotels, will be in Philadelphia to announce the dates of Loews Philadelphia Hotel's upcoming "Job Link Trade Show" to find 525 employees for the hotel's April, 2000, opening. With national unemployment rates at their lowest levels in decades and Greater Philadelphia's unemployment at a stable 4.5 percent, the intense competition for quality employees is gearing up among Philadelphia's 40 new hotels. In the face of a national labor shortage in the hotel industry, 7,500 hotel employees will be needed in Center City alone by the time of the Republican National Convention.

In addition to announcing the major hiring dates for his hotel, Tisch will stress the importance of recruiting people who are making the transition from welfare to work, when he addresses the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce at 9 a.m. Wednesday, December 1, at the Union League, 140 South Broad Street. Tisch will take questions from reporters beginning at 10 a.m.

The Loews Philadelphia Hotel will host its Job Link Trade Show in the Pennsylvania Convention Center from January 24 through January 29, with the intention of immediately identifying some 300 employees and finding an additional 225 by the time the luxury convention hotel opens in the PSFS Building at 12th and Market Streets, directly across from the Convention Center.

The trade show format, in contrast to the "Mass Hires" that are standard in the hotel industry, is intended to address job applicants as consumers in a buyer's market.

To impress prospective employees, each department of Loews Philadelphia Hotel will staff a trade show booth to display the hotel's competitive advantage as an employer.

Throughout the country, the hotel industry is facing a serious labor shortage. For example, the rate of new hotel construction in the United States grew by 12 percent between 1997 and 1998, while the growth in industry jobs was only 2.4 percent, according to USAE, a national industry trade publication. The problem is exasperated in Philadelphia with its recent hotel boom and inadequate labor history in the industry.

Key to the hotel's employment strategy is recruiting people who are trying to make the transition from Welfare to Work. Tisch will announce plans to launch a Welfare to Work program in Philadelphia that is similar to one that he spearheaded in South Florida, bringing 44 area hotels together to hire up to 300 former welfare recipients into the lodging industry within three years. There are 35 new employees making the transition from Welfare to Work at Loews Miami Beach Hotel alone.

"There are hundreds of thousands of able-bodied, enthusiastic, work-ready welfare recipients looking to re-enter the mainstream economy. In order for this country to move more than four million people from welfare to work, the business community must take the lead!" said Tisch. He added that 58% of welfare recipients have completed high school or a higher level of education. And, nearly two of every three women on welfare have had recent work experience.

Valerie Ferguson, regional vice president for Loews Hotels and managing director for Loews Philadelphia Hotel, is framing an aggressive and creative strategy to compete for hospitality employees. In addition to offering January's Job Link Trade Show, she has forged a partnership with O.I.C. (Opportunities Industrial Corporation), taking advantage of an existing hospitality training program, and is also partnering with The Philadelphia Foundation to launch grass-roots recruitment efforts.

The quality and image of the Loews Philadelphia Hotel will serve to attract quality employees, Tisch said. The hotel is the $115 million conversion of Philadelphia's landmark PSFS Building and will feature: 40,000 square feet of meeting and function space; high speed Internet access and cordless telephones in each guestroom and period details such as Cartier clocks, travertine and exotic woods.

The development of the Philadelphia property is part of a $1 billion expansion for Loews Hotels. With Tisch as the driving force, this is the largest growth in the company's history and will bring the company to 20 hotels and 8,800 rooms.

Other highlights of Tisch's career include:

  • Co-President of Loews Corporation, the $21 billion conglomerate, with holdings that range from full ownership of Loews Hotels to 85 percent ownership of CNA Financial Corp.
  • Chairman of the Travel Business Roundtable, a national lobbying organization focused on issues such as excessive taxation, welfare-to- work, open markets, business meal deductions, and the promotion of tourism to the United States.
  • Creator of Loews Corporation's "Good Neighbor Policy," the hospitality industry's first and most comprehensive community outreach program.
  • The Good Neighbor Policy includes, but is not limited to, the use of hotel resources such as food and guestrooms in addressing conditions of social concern. Loews' Good Neighbor Policy has received the President's Service Award, our nation's highest honor for social responsibility and volunteerism.