Satish Kumar (name changed) is a CEO of a big exhibition company in Delhi NCR and therefore a habitual business traveller. He is confused and disgruntled about the treatment he received from a couple of so-called uber luxury hospitality addresses during his recent stays in Mumbai. Opening the ‘apology mails’ he received from the general managers of these properties – one Indian and another international brand – Kumar says he was taken aback with the similarity in the wordings used and the construct of the letter. “I think hotel institutes nowadays also teach them how to draft apology letters,” he says.
Nishi John from Kochi who booked a room in a premium north west Delhi hotel, a known international brand, with his son, who is pursuing his higher studies in one of the universities in Delhi, was shocked by the lack of response by the service staff of the hotel as well as the pitiful condition of the public areas, especially the pool area (cigarette buds were found all over) and its surroundings. There was no indication of basic cleaning happening in the pool area and the shower area for weeks together, he says. Even clean bath towels were not available for guests, he says.
“Generally, hotels share a feedback form for guests to fill in. They didn’t dare to share one with me as I pointed out so many shortcomings during my stay,” he says.
If the quality of products and service standards of premium hotels have touched such a new low, the situation in the lower category hotels need no elaboration.
“The service standards have gone down drastically in our hotels. The general trend now is to offer discounts and other freebies when questions are raised about the lapses to avoid negative reviews by clients,” says a leading tour operator who books rooms with many leading hotels for his clients.
While business has rebounded well with occupancies and ADRs getting back to the pre-Covid levels, hotels are really struggling to get their acts together in terms of getting the lost talent back.
A lot of hotels have also let go of senior staff even after reopening as a cost cutting measure. A senior stewarding manager from a reputed hotel brand from Greater Noida testified this trend in the industry. He cited numerous instances within the industry where heads of departments of many hotels were shunted out by hook or crook and given their responsibilities to their juniors as part of the cost cutting.
The industry didn’t take proper care of many entry-level positions during the pandemic and let them go. They have found jobs in allied sectors. When there is a lot of turnover in your entry level associates, that impacts the service delivery, confirms the MD of one of the premium Radisson Group properties in the Delhi NCR. “The first six months of the reopening of hotels after the pandemic have been quite tough. But now people are slowly starting to come back,” she said.
However, a lot of industry stakeholders have started talking about the falling quality of hospitality products and services which is resulting in a huge dent on the image of the destinations and the products.
“From five-star properties to homestays, service has gone for a toss in the hospitality sector. Many important departments are short-staffed even in luxury hotels. The existing staff there are overworked for 14 to 16 hours and that reflects in their attitude,” says Sheik Ismail, a tour operator who heads the Tourism Professionals Club (TPC) in Kerala. When the service shortcomings are pointed out, hotels try to sneak out by offering some discounts in the package or additional room nights, free spa, etc, he says.
TPC has approached the State tourism department suggesting a job fair for the tourism sector to help the sector recoup itself with new talent from the market. The days of candidates approaching the hotels and travel companies for jobs are long over, Ismail says. Time has come for the companies to go out and convince potential employees to join them.
Ismail cites the recent job fair organised by Goa government where private sector companies, including the ones in the travel, tourism and hospitality sectors, in the state participated and recruited people. “When the government organises a job fair, there will also be some assurance in terms of quality of jobs, security, etc.” he says.
“Despite the high unemployment rate, getting people for the tourism and retail sector has been a big challenge in Goa,” says Nilesh Shah, president of Travel & Tourism Association of Goa (TTAG).
Although there have been positive statements coming from senior management of many leading hotel groups, about some drastic action they are planning to correct some of the mistakes which led to negative perception about the quality of the jobs, issues of work-life balance in the sector; problems of pay parity compared to allied sectors, etc., the talent shortage will continue to trouble the industry till the messaging really converts into serious corrective action and gets communicated to the new generation of career aspirants, the experts say.
“I firmly believe that happy colleagues result in happy customers. Until the top management doesn’t trickle down that philosophy to mid management and to supervisory levels, things will not improve…The new generation joining the business are very particular about work-life balance. So there needs to be flexibility or things will just not work,” opined Rakesh Sethi, general manager, Shangri-la Bengaluru in a recent interview to ET HospitalityWorld.
