Hotel Maria General Manager Patrick Bowe took a Rhode Island Hospitality Association class for front-of-the-house staff on dealing with guests’ issues. Bowe started as a lifeguard at the Westerly hotel seven years ago and worked his way up.
He now supervises 40 to 50 employees and says the sessions helped with addressing guests properly and how to go above and beyond, training he can pass along to his staff.
“I’d send them to these training sessions,” Bowe said, “and I’m hoping to take coaching for managers.”
Training is key to continued growth in an industry that’s important to Rhode Island’s economy. Consider this local snapshot:
There are 6,355 jobs in hotel operations around the state.
Collectively, these employees make $338.9 million.
And hotel guests contribute $2 billion to the local economy annually.
So, when a Johnson & Wales University College of Hospitality Management study earlier this year reported there were roughly 120 hotel-related job openings in Providence alone, it caught people’s attention. These positions range from front desk agents to housekeeping.
But how should we interpret these stats? Is this sector experiencing new hiring challenges? Or are things on the upswing since the end of the pandemic?
According to Farouk Rajab, president of the hospitality association, hotel staffing took a big hit in early 2020 when layoffs began. When employees returned, they discovered customers’ attitudes had changed, putting more pressure on the staff. Post-pandemic, guests had expectations, he says; they wanted a cleaner, more sanitized space.
“People can be demanding,” he said, “and the way they treated employees in the industry was not the best.” Staff started leaving.
There was also a perception problem related to the workforce; people don’t recognize that hospitality can be a fun career with upward mobility.
Now, Rajab says, openings are closer to normal, and that 120 number may not be as big as it seems, considering the state has seen new hotels come online in the last few years, from the trendy Aloft Providence Downtown to the buzzy boutique The Beatrice in the capital city.
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FRESHEN UP:
Hotel Maria General Manager Patrick Bowe, left, helps Ann Baker of housekeeping make a bed in the Ocean Queens room of the Westerly hotel.
PBN PHOTO/
MICHAEL SALERNO[/caption]
Still, hiring is the No. 1 challenge, says Melissa Bellone, chief operating officer at Hotel Maria, a popular beach destination. “We can’t hire enough front desk staff,” she said.
Karen Blomstedt, general manager at Middletown’s Howard Johnson by Wyndham, agrees. Applications are generally down, she says, and one position that’s particularly challenging to fill is maintenance. “It takes someone who’s curious, handy and a team player, and they’re hard to find,” she said.
In addition, there are rising expectations in terms of employees’ qualifications. As the labor market recalibrates to meet this need, hotels are offering more-attractive salaries and better work schedules. Higher education is also adjusting.
Maria Coclin, Community College of Rhode Island’s chair of the business and professional studies department, nods to a recent market analysis reflecting this increased need for skilled staff. More students now want to work in hotels and hospitality services and employers want to retain them.
This, in turn, has prompted the school’s updated curriculum, Coclin says; along with a certificate that prepares graduates for jobs in this sector, CCRI is also offering a related hospitality and tourism associate degree.
“I grew up off Douglas Avenue in Providence,” CCRI student Steven Mitchell told Providence Business News. “I was low income, so becoming a hotel manager was something I thought would never be possible.” Mitchell says he’s wanted to be a hotel manager since he was 8; he’ll graduate in 2026.
“We’re building a pipeline,” Coclin said.
At Johnson & Wales, Jane Boyland, associate dean of the College of Hospitality Management, agrees. The school has seen a rise in enrollment in the hotel and resort specialization, especially since JWU introduced its new three-year hospitality degree. “Career-focused students have the opportunity to get out into the industry a year earlier than a traditional 120-credit degree,” she said.
Olivia Wood feels the same way. Wood graduated from JWU with a degree in hotel and resort management in May and is now in a management training program in Florida.
“JWU really developed me,” she said. ”One big experience was Boston hotel day. We met hotel staff and saw how much they loved their jobs. I was pushed by my professor to go into hotel management.”
She calls JWU’s new three-year program amazing. “I never wanted to go to college, but this gets you into the industry faster. I did it effectively myself, squeezing four years into three. I had difficulty getting into management roles because I always had classes. Now I’m ready to go out into the world.”
Not everyone is destined for higher education, however. Traci Dufresne, director of the hospitality association’s education foundation, leads courses geared specifically to hotel employees, and those in guest and customer services. Some coach entry-level employees, such as someone in housekeeping who wants to move to the front desk. There are also sessions for first-time managers, as well as those with experience.
Hotel Maria’s Melissa Bellone says she took a coaching class thinking she already knew everything. But, she says, it let her revisit concepts and practices she’d known once upon a time but had forgotten.
“It was really helpful to be reminded of challenges my staff [members] were dealing with,” she said. “When you’re working every day, you get stuck in a bubble.”
