Travel

From Free Knives To Fitness Machines, Hotels Are Getting Creative To Attract Staff

Vaibhav Sharda 3 years ago 3 min read

One of the biggest challenges many hotels face is retaining staff, and some have turned to novel methods. A little known feature of some hotels are the free knives stashed in the lobbies of every room. While the idea is to provide guests with a handy tool to cut their room keys, it’s also a great way to “encourage employees to stay”.

If you’re a hotel guest, you expect to have the same amenities and services you had at home, which is why you may be surprised to learn that some hotels are removing some staples from their rooms.

From free knives to fitness equipment Hotels become creative in retaining staff

Gary Leff 23. June 2023

The economy is recovering, states are opening and businesses are looking for workers. But the number of people in the labor force – working or looking for work – has not increased in the past year. Unemployment rates have fallen, but there are still about the same number of people who left the labor market at the beginning of the pandemic.

This makes it difficult to find workers, whether it’s cleaning Delta Skyclubs, moving wheelchairs at airports, or other tasks. There are generally two reasons for this,

People have more money thanks to stimulus checks and pandemic unemployment, so they’re in no hurry to get back to work. Even if a job pays better (which is not always the case), you will have to give up a lot of free time, so why not wait until the unemployment pandemic is over. In many states, it ends earlier than Congress intended.
It is more difficult or expensive to find childcare. First, schools were closed to full-time education, and now people who want to find work have to look for workers themselves, and they face the same problems as other employers.

Some companies raise salaries to attract employees. But without doubling or tripling salaries, that’s fine. And wages are going down. If they raise wages for new workers, that could also mean higher wages for current workers – and an inability to easily reduce those wages when the workers return, likely in the fall.

Other companies try tricks like free snacks for attending the job fair or other small things. For example, hotels are getting creative with what they offer new employees. B. Free fitness equipment, cash rewards and a knife set for kitchen staff.

The Gansevoort Meatpacking Hotel in New York gave its oldest employees a fitness trainer, The Mirror, worth $1,345, when they returned to the hotel after eight months of virtual work…..

Omni Hotels and Resorts told the New York Times that it is offering some summer employees free hotel stays while they work, as well as raising wages.

We’ve never taken rooms out of inventory for lodging, said Joy Rothschild, the company’s director of human resources.

It’s not just about gifts or one-time benefits like housing or health care (or exemption from the 90-day waiting period for health care). OMNI offers weekly meetings with the kitchen staff.

In theory, it’s great. It could mean he’s a mentor, and it’s harder for the chef to act like a jerk to the kitchen staff when he knows they’ll be at the table. But many people I know who work in the kitchen try not to get too much attention from the chef, because that almost never ends well.