ATM Reflections: Changing Atmosphere within the Hospitality Industry

The following blog was written by the Trove Team associate Andrea Viera.

The in-person Arabian Travel Market took place in Dubai and as a continuation of that market, the organizing team created a virtual version where there were different stations one could visit as well as a panel of professionals in the field that held conversations surrounding different key topics in the industry.

I was able to listen to two of those panels. They were formatted as a livestream of the Zoom directly on their website where questions could be asked to the panelists via a question box.

One of the panels that specifically struck my interest was about the changing atmosphere within the hospitality industry. The panelists included Inge Huijbrechts, the Global Senior Vice President of Sustainability, Security, and Corporate Communications at the Radisson Hotel Group; Rana Al Oran, the Director of People and Culture at the Four Seasons Hotel in Doha; Eric Ricaurte, the Founder & CEO of Greenview; Madhu Rajesh, the CEO of the Sustainable Hospitality Alliance; and Dimitris Manikis, the Wyndham Hotels & Resorts President for Europe, Middle East, Eurasia and Africa (EMEA). 

Since the beginning of the pandemic, 150 million full times jobs have been lost in the tourism sector. A disproportionate amount of these jobs lost have been female employees. Moving forward the job market has to grow inclusively where diversity can be incorporated into the new teams not only to make up for the loss in diversity due to the pandemic but also to increase the workforce progressively in the direction the hospitality industry should be headed.

According to Huijbrechts, enhancing the maternity policy so women can grow within the company while not worrying about their family life and creating other communities/programs for these women within the hospitality industry is increasingly important. Due to policies like these Huijbrechts was able to grow one of the Raddison resorts from having 6 female employees to 190 female employees. In one of the Raddison hotels in Cape Town, for example, they piloted a program where they partnered with a deaf organization. They saw immediate success and impact within their hotel and now 30% of their employees at that location are deaf. The inequality within the labor supply chain in the hospitality industry not only is crucial in the inclusion of marginalized groups and diversifying the workforce, but also with migrant workers who are desperate for jobs are being treated unequally by being paid lower wages and discriminated against in the workplace. 

Rana Al Oran stresses that international standards must be kept for the well-being of migrant workers and companies should endorse and strictly abide by these international standards. Al Oran highlights that retention is another large issue within the hospitality industry. Retaining talented workers in the hospitality industry is difficult due to poaching from other companies. To retain this talent, it is crucial to create an environment where employees want to work and stay. Employees must be made feel like they are included and like they belong. As simple as that seems, companies need to be more hospitable towards their own workers and learn to welcome returning or new employees. To expand the workforce as rapidly as it needs to, a very strong online training platform needs to be incorporated. 

With this rapid growth and change in the sector, it is important to keep in mind the environmental implications of this growth. Eric Ricaurte emphasizes this by painting a picture of what the future looks like within hospitality. He believes that by 2030 there is going to be a completely different landscape to what a hotel has to do to be responsible. They’re going to be expected to have net-zero carbon emissions and adapt to the environmental risks in the area, whether it’s changing their water consumption strategy or creating a new system that works in tandem with the local biodiversity. Huijbrechts brings up that the responsible companies within the hospitality industry (specifically in Cape Town) have their energy information readily available and are always aiming to lower their energy/ water consumption. Although this information about their consumption may be important, it isn’t digested by the average consumer looking for a place to stay. This is where the Sustainable Hospitality Alliance comes into play. They aim to create resources that cascade across the whole industry. Since 20% of the hospitality industry is part of the Sustainable Hospitality Alliance, there needs to be clear guidance on what a hotel needs to do to be sustainable. I found this to be key because it opens a market for sustainability certifications within the hospitality industry (very B Corp like).

The Sustainability Hospitality Alliance wants to simplify sustainability to the man on the street by digesting the metrics and scoring companies based on their efforts. Huijbrechts thinks that those metrics are important, but from a current perspective, she’s been focusing on providing sustainable products for consumers, which she believes is more important than the specific numbers of how well a hotel is doing because consumers will not be looking into or understanding those records. Some of those sustainable products include providing vegetarian/vegan meals, compostable utensils, and education surrounding their sustainability efforts that could be potentially brought back into their own households. As Dimitris Manikis stated, sustainability “is a long-term game, those who think they need to invest in short-term investments will disappear.” The future for the hospitality industry looks bright. Although COVID proved to be a huge obstacle and hardship, as the hospitality industry continues to grow, sustainability and team diversity will be at the forefront of conversation and action moving forward.

Read more about the work Trove does in strategic planning and sustainable tourism here.