U.S. Travel Association Executive Vice President of Public Affairs and Policy Tori Emerson Barnes issued the following statement on the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ December employment report, which showed that the Leisure & Hospitality (L&H) sector added 53,000 jobs while the overall economy added just 199,000:
Restaurant and hotel bosses have had a tough year. Some 700,000 hospitality workers threw in the towel on average each month in the past year. Bars, cafés and eateries are 1.3m workers short relative to the 16.9m employed before covid-19. On January 4th the Bureau of Labour Statistics reported that a record 4.5m Americans quit their jobs in November, 9% up on a month earlier. The quit rate in leisure and hospitality jumped by a percentage point, to 6.4%. Uncertainty from the Omicron variant may make matters worse: as cases surged in December, restaurant footfall fell sharply, according to OpenTable, an online booking website.
Throughout 2021, employers in the U.S. struggled to hire and retain employees as the economy recovered from the COVID-19 pandemic.
The hospitality industry was already changing fast before COVID-19, but as BU’s School of Hospitality Administration celebrates its 40th anniversary this year, the pandemic has greatly accelerated that process.
U.S. Travel Association National Chair Christine Duffy, President of Carnival Cruise Line, today announced nine industry leaders, drawn from the association’s board of directors, to serve on a committee to identify the incoming president and chief executive officer of U.S. Travel following the July retirement of Roger Dow.
Newport Hospitality Group, Inc. (NHG), a leading hotel management company is pleased to announce the appointment of Mark Hoefling as Vice President of Operations.
Building on the company's commitments to increasing diversity across the hospitality industry, Choice Hotels International, Inc. (NYSE: CHH) and Concord Hospitality Enterprises Company are sponsoring a hospitality management accelerator program for recent students graduating from Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) to gain valuable experience at the upscale Cambria Hotels brand.
A new analysis of staff shortages by the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC), which represents the global private Travel & Tourism sector, reveals the sector realized a U.S. labor shortfall of almost 700,000 workers during 2021. According to the report, the outlook for 2022 is only slightly more positive, with approximately 480,000 direct* U.S. Travel & Tourism jobs, or one in 13 positions, predicted to go unfilled next year.
Restaurants, among the hardest hit industries during the pandemic, are in the midst of a labor shortage. Employees who left during the pandemic aren't coming back, and it's increasingly difficult to find people to work in restaurants.
The U.S. Travel Association and Tourism Diversity Matters announce a new strategic partnership that will strengthen the association’s focus and support of the industry on issues related to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) and provide greater access to Tourism Diversity Matters’ subject matter expertise, research and resources.
In the new Center for Hospitality Research and Cornell Center for Innovative Hospitality Labor and Employment Relations brief, “Understanding Human Resource Practices and Outcomes in Franchise Businesses,” Professor Tashlin Lakhani finds that increased collaboration between hotel franchisees and franchisors on human resources best practices can lead to higher organizational performance.
U.S. Travel Association Executive Vice President of Public Affairs and Policy Tori Emerson Barnes issued the following statement on the November jobs report, which saw the Leisure & Hospitality sector add just 23,000 jobs while nearly 8% of all of the sector’s jobs remain lost.
Hotels are struggling to hire as years of low pay, long hours, and poor benefits catch up with them. Hotel chain CEOs are acknowledging that they need to rethink how they pay workers in order to plug huge gaps in the workforce, according to comments made Monday at a hospitality-industry conference hosted by New York University, reported by industry news site Skift. The US is suffering from a huge labor shortage as workers quit their jobs over wages, benefits, and working conditions – which are all notoriously poor in the hotel industry. The sector has about 300,000 fewer workers than pre-pandemic, preliminary Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data from October shows.
The University of South Florida Muma College of Business and McKibbon Hospitality today announced a new partnership that will turn some premier hotel brands into intensive student training grounds.
The Hospitality Sales & Marketing Association International (HSMAI) Foundation is now accepting submissions for recognition in talent best practices. As the hospitality industry continues to face talent challenges around the globe, the HSMAI Foundation is seeking organizational best practices to see how companies are innovating and changing their approaches to traditional ways to recruit, hire and develop hospitality sales, marketing, and revenue professionals.Categories for submissions for talent best practices for hospitality sales, marketing, and revenue teams in the following areas:
Leaders from the Asian Pacific American Institute for Congressional Studies (APAICS), Congressional Black Caucus Foundation (CBCF) and Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute (CHCI) today joined Airbnb to announce a new pilot program dedicated to supporting the next generation of public service leaders from historically underrepresented communities. As part of the program, Airbnb will provide each organization with housing coupons to help welcome more than 50 fellows to Washington, DC and ease their transition into their respective fellowship programs.
Today’s employment environment is like nothing we have experienced before. The last pandemic happened in 1918, with a very different labour and economic atmosphere. There are no easy answers to a vast number of questions and nuanced circumstances. The travel industry has been particularly hard hit, as so many people were furloughed last year without any real answer about when they would return. As an “academy industry,” a large portion of these furloughed people were in line-level and entry-level management positions – the most vulnerable faction of the American economy.
For the sixth year in a row, Hilton has been recognized for its exceptional workplace culture and named as one of the World’s Best Workplaces by Fortune magazine and Great Place to Work. Hilton ranked #3 on the list of the top 25 companies and remains the only hospitality company on the list. Hilton Team Members attribute the company’s culture, benefits, and inclusive environment as its foundation to being a great place to work.
Marriott International, Inc. (NASDAQ: MAR) announced today that Executive Vice President and Global Chief Human Resources Officer David Rodriguez, Ph.D. will step down from his role at the end of October and retire at the end of 2021 after a distinguished 23-year career with the company. The company also announced that long-time Marriott Human Resources executive, Ty Breland, Ph.D., has been named to succeed Rodriguez.
If you happened to read my pre-event blog post (link here), then you already know about my excitement to attend Phillip R. Maltin’s presentation about “Solving the Mystery of Employment Law: Techniques for Controlling the Workforce and Staying out of Court.” Well, it did not disappoint. I walked out of Mr. Maltin’s presentation with a better understanding of employment law, and I’m certain that I was not the only one.