Navigating Hospitality Talent Trends

Glenn: Everybody to your hospitality. Friend Glenn here at the high tech show floor. I want to thank our sponsors over at Unit Focus Technology that delivers value. Please check them out at Unit Focus Comm. Hey. Found myself an industry legend over here. Dorothy Dowling. How are you, Dorothy?

Dorothy: And it’s always so delightful to be with you. And it’s really great to be here at High Tech and the semi commercial leaders.

Glenn: It’s been so much fun over the last few years, watching you reinvent yourself at this part of your career, and you’re doing some cool stuff in different organizations. We’re going to talk a little bit about HSM AI today and what you’re doing with them and helping understand where talent is going in the future.

Dorothy: No. Thanks so much for the opportunity, Glenn. So yes, I work as a special advisor. I tell everyone that HSM AI is my community as it represents all of the leaders that drive top line. And for.

Glenn: The person out there who doesn’t know, she’s been a marketing professional for the my the career that I.

Dorothy: Think 40 years. Yes, yes.

Glenn: Yeah. Well, I didn’t want to say that, but you can.

Dorothy: And and so the report is really about tracking broader talent trends. And then how does that really impact the hospitality industry. And then very specifically those that work in sales, marketing, distribution, revenue management, sort of the four pillars of commercial leadership. Okay.

Glenn: So what do we need to know. What observations are you making.

Dorothy: Well, there are eight big trends that were part of the 2024 report. And what I would offer is that the big ones are really focused on retention, recruitment and growth in terms of understanding. You can’t buy talent anymore. You have to build it. There is so much change, obviously, going on with AI and other kinds of technology. That’s why this co-location at least two events is so important, but it is understanding that we have to have career pathing in terms of actually once we hire folks, giving them a destination career. Yep. Goal. And and listening to them in terms of what their dreams and aspirations are. But then it’s also really building out all of those development opportunities. And HSM I is really at the core for a lot of that for individuals, because it’s really where we have our peer group that mentor us, but it also has an awful lot of formal training that helps us stay on top of how the industry is evolving. The other big trends that came out in the report, Glenn, one, is about this generational shift. So obviously, we now have four generations in the labor force. That is also true in the hospitality industry. So it is understanding, well, what does that really mean? Part of it is understanding different generations and different communication styles. So right. I was thinking about how do we be relevant to them, same as we are to our customers. But it’s also understanding the wisdom workers. Chip Conley speaks of, so importantly, how they can really help their lived experience with some of the younger generations in terms of what their digital fluency and other skill sets are. So there’s a lot of trends, but I think broadly, we took a big hit in Covid because we separated from so many really strong individuals. We have to rebuild trust with those individuals. We have to give them a reason to rejoin our industry, and we have to show them what they can grow and learn and develop within our industry.

Glenn: Yeah, I completely agree. And this is no surprise to you. One of the biggest issues that we’ve had over the last few years is making sure that people are employed in our business, but once you get them, then you’ve got to keep them. And that’s what I loved what you said about retention. And I’ve been blessed enough to be visiting with a lot of management companies this year. And your research is definitely mirroring what I’m seeing in the real world. They are looking to give associates career paths to success, while helping them understand that the business of hotels is more than being at the front desk or a general manager.

Dorothy: Absolutely. And so some marketing and distribution and loyalty, they they really are disciplines in and of themselves, which of course, we can hire people from outside the industry to bring that subject matter expertise. But the hospitality industry allows a lot of individuals that may not have had the same opportunity to go in terms of post-secondary education, where they can learn a lot of that on the job and really power their career, because you know as well as I do, and there’s many people that have made their way to the C-suite that began at a front desk level and were able to grow and learn within companies. Yeah.

Glenn: And that’s that’s absolutely true. Very few industries are out there that allow you, without a college education, to start at the bottom level and work your way into a position where you can have so much success, however, that you define that happiness, cash, whatever that might be.

Dorothy: Absolutely. And I do think that the other trend that has come up is really thinking about above property versus on property roles, that there are a lot of opportunities for hybrid work. I think part of the challenge that we have to continue to do is thinking about diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging and really raise up the visibility opportunities for those folks who are not in office to really help them in terms of how they connect, to collaborate with their broader teams, and then also feel included in terms of a lot of their learnings and growth in terms of their careers.

Glenn: Yeah, I see that we’re we I think as an industry, we’ve made great progress in that direction. And I love to see so many different faces that don’t look like me at financial events, tech events. I’m used to that more at design events, but not so much. These two particular categories.

Dorothy: No, for sure. There’s still a lot of work to be done, but of course there’s.

Glenn: Always work to.

Dorothy: Be done. You’re right. We’ve made tremendous amount of progress and our job really is we have to mirror our customer base, and that means we have to be very intentional, because those voices that are on our team help us be more relevant to our customers. So there’s a value creation on both sides of that equation.

Glenn: So we’re talking about what the research findings that you found. How can we engage employees better so they don’t quit to go down the road for a dollar more or leave the industry completely?

Dorothy: Well, I would encourage those in the individuals that are viewing to actually download the report because as much as we have the macro trends, we also built out case studies with best practices. So I would tell you, for example, MGM, one of the largest hospitality employers for but they built an entire marketplace to do exactly what you just referenced. It’s allowing individuals when they join, if they enjoy as a front desk associate, a server, they can put their hand up and say, my dream is to be a sales leader or revenue management leader. It allows them to actually put their hand up, build those development plans, but also their internal messaging system would then give you an opportunity. Every time there was a job posting, they would outreach to you. So there’s a lot of really strong best practices for companies to take advantage of in terms of employee engagement, recruitment, retention, destination career planning and how they really collaborate. So some of the best companies out there intentionally built collaboration days where they not only feed people lunch, but they’re actually bringing in all of those different teams that need to collaborate together, learn about those career opportunities and learn how they can mutually support each other. So companies are very focused on employees today and talent, the sector, we’ve been focused on customers. So we’re all on this learning journey together. But the case studies in this report I think will really add value to many in terms of learning how they might apply some of those things.

Glenn: I think one of the unexpected benefits of Covid is that it really put this in the spotlight, right. I think the industry was doing well for such a long time. We were able to ignore the issues that were festering behind the scenes, which fully blossomed throughout Covid. And now we’re seeing the the response.

Dorothy: You are 100% right, Glenn. I, I do think it really put the talent is the heart of our business, always has been. But I think the the reality is, is that one, we have a labor shortage. And not only that, we recognize we have a skill shortage. So we have to be very intentional in terms of giving people a home and a reason to choose us as their home for their careers.

Glenn: Yeah, I absolutely love it. Dorothy, I want to read this report. How can we find it?

Dorothy: So if you go to hsn.org you will see it. It’s right there on the banner. You can click down and download it. It’s free. And of course this is going to be an ongoing report next year. So there’ll be many new trends and many new case studies for people to take. Beautiful.

Glenn: Thank you.

Dorothy: So let’s.

Glenn: Start darling.

Dorothy: With you. Great to see you guys.

Glenn: Great to see Dorothy. Thank you. What a pleasure it is talking to you. What a pleasure it is having you watch this video all the way to the end. As a reward, I would recommend signing up for our newsletter. Text the word hotel to 66866. Thanks so much for Dorothy LaSalle. See you later.

Dorothy: You’re never, ever have a gap in your energy.