“Hospitality is just a temporary job.”
Hotels find it difficult to recruit and retain people. People leave after training. The industry has to keep starting again. So what do we do? Marsela's answer is surprisingly straightforward
Hotel Manager Marsela Loulai, who rose from waitress to hotel manager, argues the industry must engage colleges to reframe hospitality as a genuine career, not a stopgap job.
Photo by Hoteliers' Voice Podcast/ Haynes MarComs Ltd
“Hospitality is just a temporary job.” That's the mindset Hotel Manager Marsela Loulai thinks the industry needs to change. And she's probably better placed than most to make the argument.
She started as a waitress at 16. Today, she's Hotel Manager at Kenwood Hall in Sheffield. Along the way: supervisor, F&B manager, events manager, operations manager. A career built one step at a time.
Yet hotels are finding it increasingly difficult to recruit and retain people. Casual staffing is harder. People leave after you've trained them. The industry has to keep starting again. So what do we do?
Marsela's answer is surprisingly straightforward: Get into colleges. Talk to young people. Show them what hospitality actually looks like.
Because hospitality isn't just serving tables or checking people in. It's communication, planning, leadership, problem-solving, commercial thinking, people management. And, increasingly, running incredibly complicated businesses while making it look effortless to the guest.
Marsela didn’t start out thinking: “One day I'll run a hotel.” She started by enjoying working with people. Then she kept learning. Kept progressing. Kept saying yes to the next opportunity.
Maybe that's the story we need to tell more often. Hospitality isn't the job you do before your career starts. For a lot of people, it's where the career starts.
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Ryan Haynes
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