Hospitality Industry Returns To Pre-Pandemic Employment Level: Can We Finally Get Service Back?

Nestled in amongst the strong jobs report today was news that the leisure and hospitality industry has finally returned to pre-pandemic employment levels. Can we finally expect the end of the COVID cost cuts and better service? Sadly, I doubt it.

Hospitality Industry Employment Roars Back, But Why Hasn’t Hotel Service Done the Same?

Per the New York Times:

In a landmark, the leisure and hospitality industry returned to its employment level in February 2020, and now sits at about 16.9 million jobs.

So can we finally expect hotel lounges to reopen, rooms to be cleaned, valet service at mid-market hotels, and more than one waitress running around a full restaurant?

I would not be too optimistic.

We’ve seen service levels return at most high-end properties and that is very welcome. But at many mid-level properties, it seems some of the cutbacks are permanent. Among them:

• Lounges closed or hours reduced
• Pools closed
• Limited restaurant hours + menus
• Breakfast buffets reduced
• No valet parking
• No room service
• Dirty rooms and common areas (frayed carpets, scratched furniture, broken lights)
• Poor staff training
• Rooms not ready by check-in time
• Room cleaning by request only

That last one is the big one…I lamented about dirty airplanes the other day but we also see hotels cutting corners in cleaning. “We’ll clean your room every other day and replace sheets and towels only on request” is quite common now.

And frankly, we just do not see a quality product at so many mid-market hotels (Westin, Marriott, Hyatt Regency)…prices are up, but the service is not great…and much more like a limited-service property. While it has improved overall from the dark days of 2020 and 2021, it is still not back to pre-COVID levels. Amenities like hotel gyms are not being updated, common areas are falling apart, and rooms are tired. If you put a room service tray outside your door at night, chances are it will still be there in the morning.

More importantly, staff are often very poorly trained in how to be gracious in talking to customers or handle service recovery.

I’m speaking in generalties of course…but I suspect most of you would agree with me, no?

CONCLUSION

It would certainly be nice to see hotels investing more in their properties, but it seems that even with a return to  pre-pandemic employment in the hospitality sector, hotels have eased into a new era of “take it or leave” service levels in which you really have to question whether the marginal cost of mid-market hotels over limited service properties is even worthwhile when you can expect a mediocre experience at both…

image: Marriott