Providing higher pay, in part, enhanced hotel employee numbers compared to last spring, according to AHLA, though challenges persist.
Published Feb. 25, 2025
Jenna Walters Reporter
Nearly two-thirds (65%) of hotels surveyed recently by AHLA reported facing continued labor shortages. davit85 via Getty Images
Dive Brief:
U.S. hotels continue to face staffing shortages, though offering higher pay and a broadened range of benefits has improved employee levels since last spring, according to a survey conducted by the American Hotel & Lodging Association and AHLA partner Hireology between Dec. 6, 2024, and Jan. 3, 2025, and published this month.
Nearly two-thirds (65%) of hotels surveyed reported facing continued labor shortages, with 9% saying they are “severely understaffed.” In a report published in June 2024, 76% of hotels surveyed in a similar AHLA study reported being understaffed, with 13% identifying severe shortages.
Some 47% of hotels recently surveyed reported offering higher wages to attract and retain workers. While hotels on average upped their pay in 2024, thousands of hospitality workers nationwide claimed they remained underpaid amid the rising cost of living. Increased labor costs also negatively impacted hotel profitability in 2024, per CoStar data.
Dive Insight:
Despite offering increased wages and other benefits like flexible work hours to attract talent over the past year, some 71% of hotels reported in the recent survey that they had job openings they were unable to fill, with the largest percentage of shortages (38%) being in housekeeping. This was down from June, though, when 79% of hotels reported they were unable to fill open positions.
Hotel owners continue to face labor shortages as hotel workers say their pay is not satisfactory to keep up with the rising cost of living. In 2024 alone, thousands of hotel workers nationwide went on strike to win higher pay, among other benefits.
At The Lodging Conference in October, Asian American Hotel Owners Association Chairman Miraj Patel said that other industries are paying much higher wages, leading hospitality workers to search for opportunities elsewhere.
AHLA previously projected that U.S. hotels would pay employees a record $123 billion in wages, salaries and other compensations in 2024, up 4% year over year and 20% from 2019.
While offering increased wages did help to improve hotel staffing levels somewhat over the past year, per AHLA, the rising cost of labor is a leading concern among owners, hospitality professionals at The Lodging Conference shared.
Increased labor costs, among other rising operational expenses, limited U.S. hotel profits in 2024, CoStar reported earlier this month.
Wage increases, while a positive step to attracting and retaining workers, are not the only way to grow the hospitality workforce, according to Hireology CEO Adam Robinson.
The hotel industry “must prioritize career mobility and create clear paths for advancement to truly attract and retain the workforce we need,” Robinson said in a statement.
Original article can be found here: https://www.hoteldive.com/news/hotels-wages-staffing-ahla-report/740839/?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Issue:%202025-02-25%20Hotel%20Dive%20%5Bissue:70744%5D&utm_term=Hotel%20Dive
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