92 – How Your Hotel’s Digital Presence Impacts Recruiting and Staffing
Host Ryan Embree discusses methods hoteliers can assist draw in staff in the midst of the staffing shortage by focusing on their electronic presence. From status management to social media to evaluation responses, hoteliers need to make confident their resort is providing the appropriate effect not just to visitors, but to foreseeable future workers as well. Listen now to discover what you can do to support fight the staffing crisis at your lodge.
Episode Transcript
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Ryan Embree:
Welcome to Suite Location where hoteliers examine-in and we check out what’s trending in lodge promoting. I’m your host, Ryan Embree.
Ryan Embree:
Hello there everybody. And welcome to a further episode of the Suite Place. This is your host, Ryan Embree. Thank you for signing up for me and listening in. We’ve got a fantastic episode for you nowadays. And today we’re gonna be chatting about recruiting and selecting. Now I’m absolutely sure this is a dialogue that you’ve experienced with a ton of your groups appropriate now. I know we are listening to it all about the region. Exactly where can I uncover personnel? We are just on the lookout for additional and extra hospitality specialists to fill our front desk employees, to fill our management teams. Management teams out there searching for persons. We had just gotten around this just devastating pandemic to our industry, and now we have this staffing crisis. Accommodations can not come across persons appropriate now to do the job. So what this episode is conversing about is how your hotel’s existence impacts recruiting and choosing. Now I know that is a odd correlation.
Ryan Embree:
Your hotel’s digital existence, things like social media, assessments, even evaluation response, but this has an influence. And which is what we’re gonna converse about nowadays. But very first we’ll start out off with a fast couple stats. Now, hospitality employment is continue to down 1.2 million careers from where by it was in February 2020. 1.2 million, which is so sad for the reason that this is a folks-serving-men and women field. So when we just can’t uncover the individuals to give these good resort experiences, we obviously see that impacted every single solitary working day and, and could effects vacations and, and the, just the in general guest knowledge. So connect with it the excellent resignation, get in touch with it whatever. The resort industry is a reduction of 7.2% of its workforce. Now that is when compared to 2% for the relaxation of U.S. work opportunities. So hospitality has been incredibly impacted from this staffing scarcity, and it is just so hard to get people today all over again, to work for our motels.
Ryan Embree:
So it’s an employee job market. As you can picture, workforce are obtaining to decide on exactly where they want to get the job done. They are going to do their due diligence right before signing on, and that’s the place your hotel digital presence comes into perform. So today what we’re gonna do is we’re gonna examine the way once again, your digital presence impacts recruiting and the to start with area we’ll start out is standing management. Now just like Glassdoor, employees are going to examine your hotel’s reviews to see exactly where they’re gonna be functioning. They’re gonna inquire the dilemma, “What will my working day in the lifestyle appear like at this assets?” Now, a definitely very good work out that I would propose to you, the hotelier, is to go to your hotel’s testimonials on the internet. So assume about Glassdoor, suitable? When someone’s seeking to most likely signal on and come to be an worker, they go verify assessments for that enterprise on the site Glassdoor.
Ryan Embree:
So of training course, personnel are gonna do this for your resort due to the fact there’s public testimonials on the net about your lodge expertise there. So the work out would be, is go through all of people evaluations and think about that in its place of them currently being testimonials, visualize staying at the rear of the front desk and hearing that feed-back straight from your attendees. How many periods is that guest complimenting you? How quite a few occasions are they energized to chat about their stay with you? How lots of periods are they being yelled at? How many occasions are you staying requested to resolve challenges? So your damaging testimonials, simply because which is what is likely by means of a likely employee’s head as they’re examining the assessments. No one wishes to do the job at a lodge the place they’re frequently having to clear up issues or issues are going improper. They wanna operate somewhere that’s fun, persons are having fun with themselves and acquiring definitely terrific activities. So that is how your track record management can effect using the services of and recruiting for your resort.
Ryan Embree:
We have heard so considerably about psychological overall health about the previous few many years. So which is what these workers are gonna be pondering about. What style of toll is doing the job at your property likely to choose on my mental wellbeing in comparison to it’s possible the house down the highway that’s paying a really identical wage. So that could be the distinction there. Now, one more issue that your track record is gonna answer to a possible personnel is what’s the longevity of this company of your hotel. So if you arrive on to TripAdvisor and see that you’re just being just smashed with unfavorable testimonials, and this individual has been in the hospitality for decades and several years, 2020 was just around the corner, just a couple a long time in the past. They went as a result of all of those people furloughs and obtaining layoffs in our resort field for the reason that vacation wasn’t going on anymore. So they are a large amount more cognizant now of the longevity of your small business.
Ryan Embree:
And they are gonna search and say, “If I signal on this hotel, can I make this a job? Will I be equipped to be here for a pair yrs, a ten years even, and actually advance up, or will this hotel business enterprise not be here any longer due to the fact of the way that it’s trending proper now on popularity web-sites?” Again, just a thing to feel about. And this is the, this is the mentality that these workers appropriate now are owning as they’re, as they are doing their career lookup. And then lastly, when it will come to reputation administration is an employee’s actual physical wellness, correct? So well being and safety, COVID 19 overall health protocols. If they see reviews chatting about lack of cleanliness or even speaking about COVID 19, unsafe journey ailments for your company, how do you imagine that is heading to make a prospective employee feel? So just some points to feel on when it arrives to how your hotel’s status can make an impression and vice versa.
Ryan Embree:
If you’ve bought some seriously fantastic testimonials, I would say, use that in your pitch to try to get people today to appear and remain with you. If, if folks are continually conversing positively about their hotel knowledge or mentioning some of the other personnel members on your workforce, which is something to share on these recruiting internet sites. And that’s a thing to share in these interviews and speaking about the get the job done ecosystem that you are building and cultivating that function natural environment and that’s something we’re gonna chat about a small bit later when we speak about social media. Now, a further component that I want us to, to genuinely see wherever there is an influence in recruiting and choosing is overview response. So one point that we all do, no matter if it’s resort marketplace or tech or finance or everything, is we want to know who we’re doing the job for, proper? Our manager and, and how they’re likely to handle us.
Ryan Embree:
One particular of the techniques that presents a potential worker a clue on how they are gonna be managed is seeking at the way that challenges are solved on property. And a single of the most significant locations and, and home windows that a opportunity employee can get a very good look at that is via your evaluation responses. So are you even addressing troubles at the home? If that staff in their shoes claims, I may well have an challenge and I need to occur to my manager for that, are they going to hear me? How are they gonna difficulty resolve? What form of issue solver talents does my manager have? All over again, some great insights and methods to appear at that is, are you responding to your opinions and how are you responding to these opinions? So anything to consider about, and the last portion of our digital presence that we’re gonna chat about nowadays is social media.
Ryan Embree:
Social media is a different put that particularly young generations are constantly on and seeking at and give a glimpse into what style of get the job done natural environment you’re cultivating at your house. It could be a great put to recruit. Areas like clearly LinkedIn are significant for recruiting. Fb, Twitter, Instagram: now we can use these as a recruiting instrument speaking about the open up positions, it’s possible providing some specifics about the placement, but I would argue that workforce will also search at your property on social media and begin to make some assumptions on, “Okay, what would it be like if I labored right here?” So just one of the places that we can make your assets far more appealing than maybe level of competition is recognition packages. Spotlight some of your other team users there. Individuals love getting identified, particularly in an environment the place you don’t truly get a great deal of thank yous from your visitors on a everyday basis.
Ryan Embree:
The expectations given that COVID 19 have risen to all time large. So the stress amount for your staff members, you will need to keep in test and which is, what’s producing a whole lot of this personnel attrition. So recognizing your staff members is a modest small token of appreciation that companies can do, and really will give you some goodwill moving forward as personnel are looking for possible landing places and assist you in your choosing journey. Probably highlighting some of your other workers if any of them have moved by the ranks. When I was working at a few motels, I begun off as a bellman, going to the entrance desk, talking about all those internal promotions. Which is gonna give that prospective worker which is on the lookout a journey in a career route if they come to a decision to finally join your staff at your resort. Highlighting some of the factors that you’re doing on assets.
Ryan Embree:
So, business functions, vacations, celebrations, birthdays. We want to make a quite fun ecosystem at function. Everyone needs to delight in what they do. So the additional periods that you can spotlight perhaps a dive in film at the property, this is gonna be wonderful for your, certainly your travelers and your guests that are gonna see this, but you really don’t truly think about it and how it looks as, as a opportunity worker, correct? If I’m hunting to get employed as a entrance desk agent, and I see that a resort, just about every other Friday in the summertime does a dive in motion picture, that could be one thing that I could say, “I’d love to get associated in that. That seems to be like a whole lot of entertaining. This could develop some really interesting memories” as opposed to somebody that, that genuinely doesn’t have this sort of party calendar going on. So, and then charitable function.
Ryan Embree:
So these are, once more, it’s a acquire-win problem. You are undertaking good, but now a lot more than at any time with personnel genuinely getting their option on where by they wanna do the job, they wanna work for another person and for a little something, for a cause. So if you are doing charitable operate, if you’re undertaking some form of meals drives, charitable events at the assets, this could be a little something that new hires could experience a function for and want to be a element of and join. So any type of charitable will work that you are carrying out yet again, that is a win-get scenario for the hotel, for the reason that it’s superior PR as very well for them. So I mentioned this in advance of expectations have risen exponentially and this has induced extra stress than ever. So one of the methods that we can seriously consider the force off the limited workers that you have now is outsourcing some of these points.
Ryan Embree:
So review reaction, standing management, social media, we have seen by way of the staffing disaster, GMs, DOS’s, entrance desk supervisors have to get on duties that they’ve never performed ahead of. Cleaning rooms, correcting matters on residence. Even a little something as easy as homeowners responding to assessments, they employed to have staff capable to do that. This generates a large amount of tension and a good deal of resorts right now are turning to 3rd occasion suppliers, these types of as Journey Media Team, to acquire the stress off so that the limited workers that they have can genuinely aim on the attendees and make certain your hotel’s reputation and electronic presence are getting handled correctly. What it arrives down to is a greater name signifies workers is more very likely to be happier, stay extended and do a far better occupation over-all. So once more, we know this is a large disaster correct now, inns correct now are hunting for, for employees all over the place.
Ryan Embree:
And they’re for every single one advantage to try to get forward of the opposition and seize some of these, these staff members and, and support them male their residence to give the very best lodge working experience and visitor working experience that they can. So with this episode, you definitely require to consider how your hotel’s on the web presence is impacting that recruiting and employing to a new applicant which is performing investigation for your residence. So if you are fascinated in learning additional about some of our alternatives at Travel Media Team and how we can perhaps take some of this stuff off of your plate, you have never thought of owning a third social gathering do your social media ahead of or react to your reviews, attain out to us. We would adore to communicate with you. We’ll give you a session and present you what helps make us the ideal at what we do. So I want to thank you for listening these days, and we’ll converse to you next time on the Suite Location.
Ryan Embree:
To be part of our loyalty system, be positive to subscribe and give us a five star score on iTunes. Suite Spot is manufactured by Journey Media Team with include artwork by Bary Gordon. I’m your host, Ryan Embree, and we hope you enjoyed your continue to be.