Hoteliers are being forced to rethink their operating models as the pool of available employees lags well behind increasing demand for hotel stays as the industry looks to emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Speaking during recent first quarter earnings calls, leaders of publicly traded hotel companies discussed how their approach to managing labor is changing and the conditions that are leading to the problem. Here are some of the highlights.

Park Hotels & Resorts

Thomas Baltimore Jr., president and CEO: "There are people who are unable to go back to work, whether they have school-aged children at home, the schools haven't been open, and that's certainly part of it is we look at some of the gaps today. But the other part that's the elephant in the room is that there are very generous unemployment benefits and you hear numbers to the tune of $20 to $23 an hour and full benefits. So there are some that have that that bridge, if you will, and it's very accommodating bridge through September. So again, we would fully expect as the back as vaccinations continue to accelerate and people are more and more confident as we get to the fall. You expect people back in their offices for some significant period of time plus kids in schools. And then I think we're going to get a much better sense of really where the labor picture is."

Read the full article at HotelNewsNow (part of CoStar)