Building a thriving hospitality team with high turnover rates, skill gaps, and difficulty balancing individual strengths with your goals is hard. But running a successful hotel is more than offering a great view or amenities. It's about the people behind the service.
Your team isn't only a part of your business — they are your business. In this article, you'll get five steps to building a strong hospitality team that stays with you for the long haul. From defining your values to giving your staff the right tools, you’ll learn how to create a supportive, motivated team ready to win.
The hospitality staff turnover rates challenge
The hospitality industry has had some of the highest employee turnover rates across sectors for a long time. In 2023, the leisure and hospitality sector reported an average turnover rate of 79%, much higher than the overall average of 41% across all industries — it shines a light on the persistent issue that challenges even the most experienced hotel managers.
It's common for employees to leave within their first year. The reasons vary but often include demanding hours, the seasonality of the work, unresolved skill gaps, limited opportunities for advancement, and, in many cases, a lack of proper support or recognition. These issues ripple throughout your entire operation, creating gaps that are hard to fill during peak periods.
For hoteliers, employee churn costs extend beyond the financial burden of recruitment and training. High turnover disrupts the rhythm of guest services, stresses remaining team members, and diminishes team morale. This can lead to further resignations, creating a snowball effect. Training new hires during a busy period, when your hospitality team is already stretched thin, can be exhausting and unsustainable.
The stakes are higher than ever for hoteliers. With competition for skilled workers intensifying and employee expectations evolving, retaining staff has become critical in staying competitive. A cohesive, experienced team directly impacts customer satisfaction, loyalty, and your hotel’s reputation — essential to long-term success.
A strong team provides stability, consistency, and the ability to deliver high-quality service, even in the face of challenges.
Let’s explore the five steps to building a lasting team where employees feel valued, supported, and motivated to stay and grow with your business.
1. A lasting team
While you can't force team members to stay forever, you can set realistic staff tenure goals to avoid sudden shortages and keep operations running smoothly. Start by finding out what motivates your different hospitality team members.
For example, entry-level employees may stay longer if they feel valued and supported through flexible shifts, competitive tipping, and clear career progressions. Many team members, like college students or those in food and beverage service, highly value work and personal life balance.
You may need a different approach for specialist roles like chefs or business conference banqueting managers. Because these professionals bring unique skills to your team, they often expect autonomy — the freedom to govern themselves.
Let's say you're recruiting a new head chef for your hotel restaurant. You can foster loyalty by treating the person as a true partner and involving them in menu design and operational decisions. When specialists feel respected and trusted, they're more likely to stay and help you succeed.
Invest in the well-being and development of your hospitality team to boost the loyalty that directly impacts the customer experience. A tight team keeps daily operations smooth and helps your hotel grow long-term — turning it into a destination known for its excellent service.
Actionable tips to build a lasting team
- Offer flexible schedules to support work-life balance, especially during busy periods.
- Recognize standout performance regularly, whether through team meetings or personalized notes.
- Create career pathways for general and specialist roles, helping employees see a future with your hotel.
2. Know your values
How does your team treat each other? What support do your team members get? A great hospitality team starts with a clear understanding of your core values. They're the foundation of your workplace culture and, ultimately, the guest services your hotel delivers. Aligning team members with your principles creates a sense of purpose that helps retain employees and improve your service excellence.
How you communicate your values is important. It's important to show your hospitality team members how their work directly impacts customer experience and, in turn, your hotel's success. Celebrate wins and recognize individual contributions, big and small. Employees who feel appreciated perform at a higher level and are likelier to stay with your team long-term.
A strong company culture rooted in shared values also sets the foundation for onboarding new hires. Whether a hospitality team member stays with you for two or six years, your values create a structure so everyone, from recruits to seasoned staff, can deliver consistent service quality — and as consistency builds, so does customer loyalty.
Giving your hospitality team a strong sense of purpose creates a workplace that supports employees and delivers guest experiences that keep customers returning.
Actionable tips for knowing your values
- Identify and articulate your hotel’s core values — how do they guide your team?
- Incorporate these values into daily operations — for example, host team workshops on customer service excellence or open communication.
- Celebrate how these values translate into exceptional guest experiences, reinforcing your staff's stronger sense of purpose.
3. Micromanaging vs. duty distribution
It's common for any manager to fall into micromanaging, even hoteliers with years of experience. It often comes from a desire to ensure that everything runs perfectly. But as you're probably well aware, micromanaging never leads to good results. For hospitality team members, it can easily make them disengage and worsen their performance. There's nothing more confidence-destroying than feeling like every move is second-guessed — and fear of repercussions may stop them from taking the initiative.
Focus on effective duty distribution. Assign clear individual responsibilities that let each hospitality team member completely own their roles. This autonomy to make decisions builds confidence and sharpens technical skills, which, over time, creates a stronger and more self-sufficient team in every area, from food and beverage to handling customer needs.
Delegating tasks helps you find the top performers who excel in their duties and want more responsibility. Finding these individuals is key to hospitality businesses, as they often grow into leadership roles or can specialise in areas like room service, banqueting venues, or food preparation.
Trusting your team and distributing duties effectively creates a work environment where employees feel valued and capable, boosting morale and well-being, positively spilling over to your customer experience and giving your hotel a strong competitive advantage.
Actionable tips for distributing duties
- Assign clear, meaningful responsibilities that align with hospitality team member strengths.
- Hold one-on-one sessions to understand employee challenges and provide support, building their confidence to tackle tasks independently.
- Use real-life scenarios, like resolving complaints when ordering room service or coordinating a business conference, to train staff on problem-solving.
4. Handling customer demands and complaints
Hospitality follows customer demand, and no one knows better than your staff what the guest truly wants. While some requests might be well into the realm of your business’s expectations, others might simply be looking for a way to get out of paying for a service or their room. Sadly, the latter has become more common with the rise of online reviews.
From routine requests for room service or food and beverage service to unexpected complaints, your team is often on the front line, addressing diverse demands. Build a team of employees whose opinions you can trust. After all, when a guest asks for you, you may not know what to expect, so having people you can trust by your side is invaluable in these situations.
Empower your staff to handle customer demands confidently and fairly. Employees who feel supported in their decision-making can better assess whether a guest’s request is reasonable or an attempt to exploit your policies. Offering this trust helps create a deep sense of accountability and reliability across your hospitality team — helping turn challenges into opportunities to improve the guest experience.
Whether compensating for a genuine error or tactfully addressing unreasonable requests, your team’s ability to act confidently and consistently reflects positively on your business. A team you can rely on to manage customer needs and resolve conflicts makes your employees feel empowered and your guests feel heard.
Actionable tips for handling demands and complaints
- Train staff to anticipate customer needs by encouraging active listening and empathy during guest interactions.
- Set up a process for handling complaints efficiently, like logging and reviewing issues in team meetings to identify recurring patterns.
- Empower employees to make decisions that resolve complaints swiftly, reducing escalation and improving guest satisfaction.
5. Investing in the right technology
Modern technology has done great things for hospitality businesses, like solving challenges like managing guest services during busy periods, preventing revenue losses from unbalanced room rates, and reducing complications from late cancellations. Today's best property management system (PMS) is made for your hotel. Easy to learn and use, it helps you simplify operations, support team members, and improve guest experiences, and is indispensable for the success of hospitality businesses.
The right PMS does more than simplify tasks. It helps your hospitality team perform at their best. With functions like room service management, food and beverage service preparation coordination, and guest loyalty programs, your team members can focus on delivering excellent service instead of fighting with outdated systems. A modern, easy-to-use system boosts the confidence of your staff while making them more effective.
Technology also helps strengthen collaboration and open communication within the hospitality industry. An integrated PMS allows hotel staff to work as one unit by managing team meetings, task assignments, and operational updates in one place. For example, housekeeping can align with front desk operations, and general and specialist roles like banqueting venues or beverage service coordinators can easily access the necessary resources and information.
In the long run, giving your employees user-friendly tools reduces stress, improves work-life balance, and supports staff retention. When employees feel empowered by reliable technology, they perform better and create more memorable guest experiences. Investing in technology that adapts to your hotel's unique needs is a wise decision for a competitive advantage that benefits your guests, employees, and bottom line.
Actionable tips for adopting the right technology
- Evaluate your current tools — are they helping or stopping your team?
- Implement a user-friendly PMS streamlining tasks like room service, food preparation, and guest loyalty management.
- Regularly train staff to ensure they’re confident using the technology, reducing frustration and boosting efficiency.
Why retaining staff is crucial
The relationship between your team, your guests, and the coordination of operations is the cornerstone of hospitality management. But while this is important, high staff turnover disrupts those relationships, leaving gaps in guest services and stressing remaining team members, which can ultimately impact your bottom line. That's why retaining staff isn't just beneficial; it's essential.
The cost of inaction is steep. Recruitment is expensive, onboarding new staff takes time, and each departure chips away at the consistent quality your guests expect. Retaining employees sets the stage for long-term success. With a stable, motivated hospitality team, your operations become smoother, you get more satisfied guests, and weathering challenges like seasonal demand or sudden staff shortages becomes much easier.
Retaining staff doesn't mean avoiding turnover completely. That's impossible. It means creating a foundation where change is manageable. With the right tools and systems, onboarding a new hospitality team member is quick and intuitive, minimizing disruption and making your operations thrive regardless of retention rates. A user-friendly, flexible property management system (PMS) can help bridge the gap, ensuring new hires hit the ground running and seasoned employees stay productive without frustration.
Now is the time to put in the work. By focusing on your team’s well-being, empowering them with the right resources, and creating a workplace where they feel valued, you’re not just improving retention —you’re building business resilience. Secure your operations for the future by acting today because a strong, consistent team defines great hospitality.
Summary
Creating a great hospitality team requires intentional effort, thoughtful leadership, and the right tools to support and empower your employees. Throughout this article, we’ve explored how a hospitality team member thrives when their unique needs are met—whether managing guest services, food and beverage service, or banqueting venues. By building a strong foundation through clear values, effective delegation, and modern technology, you can set your team and business up for long-term success.
The benefits are clear: improved employee retention, reduced skill gaps, and the ability to deliver excellent service even during busy periods. But retaining talent isn’t just about avoiding disruption—it’s about creating a work environment where each hospitality team member feels valued, supported, and equipped to handle the industry's challenges.
Investing in the right tools is key. A user-friendly, intuitive hotel management solution can simplify training, streamline operations, and give your team the confidence to deliver consistently high-quality service. Whether coordinating room service, food preparation, or handling customer needs during a business conference, the right technology helps your hospitality team members excel while fostering a stronger sense of well-being and teamwork.
Actionable steps to build a stronger team:
- Regularly review and refine your shift schedules to support work-life balance, especially during busy periods.
- Hold team meetings to celebrate individual achievements and foster open communication.
- Invest in training programs to equip team members with technical skills and confidence.
- Audit your current technology to ensure it’s user-friendly and supports efficient operations across all areas.
- Encourage employees to suggest proactive solutions for customer needs and implement systems to handle feedback effectively.
Now is the time to act. Strengthen your hospitality teams, invest in tools that support their work-life balance and success, and create a foundation for growth that benefits your hotel staff, customers, and bottom line. In an industry where your people are your most important part, taking steps to retain and empower them today will ensure hospitality businesses like yours thrive well into the future.
Updated December 2024 for accuracy
