Hoteliers see quality of staff as main issue
Attracting and keeping good staff is the issue of most concern to European hotel operators, according to research unveiled at the Cornell University Hospitality Industry Strategy Conference last week.
A Cornell poll carried out just before the conference found 56.5% of operators citing staffing issues as a major concern.
Discussing the results at a round-table panel, Roeland Vos, European president for Starwood Hotels, said the industry needed to concentrate on keeping good staff.
"We need to keep the good people motivated, but to do that you have to know what drives them forward," he said. "The training and ongoing opportunities for people are absolutely essential."
In terms of pay, Vos said hospitality needed to learn from other sectors.
"I strongly believe our industry as a whole will have to move with others like the dotcoms. If people perform well, they should be rewarded. We need to focus on that."
The conference was at the Hilton Metropole hotel in London.
by Andrew Davies