92 – How Your Hotel’s Digital Presence Impacts Recruiting and Staffing

Host Ryan Embree discusses strategies hoteliers can help appeal to employees in the midst of the staffing shortage by concentrating on their electronic existence. From track record administration to social media to evaluate responses, hoteliers need to make absolutely sure their hotel is supplying the right perception not just to attendees, but to foreseeable future staff as properly. Listen now to learn what you can do to enable combat the staffing disaster at your hotel.

Episode Transcript

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Ryan Embree:
Welcome to Suite Location the place hoteliers verify-in and we verify out what is trending in hotel internet marketing. I’m your host, Ryan Embree.

Ryan Embree:
Hi anyone. And welcome to a different episode of the Suite Spot. This is your host, Ryan Embree. Thank you for signing up for me and listening in. We’ve received a fantastic episode for you right now. And today we’re gonna be conversing about recruiting and choosing. Now I’m positive this is a discussion that you’ve had with a large amount of your teams correct now. I know we are hearing it all in excess of the region. The place can I find staff? We are just wanting for extra and far more hospitality pros to fill our front desk employees, to fill our administration groups. Management teams out there seeking for people. We experienced just gotten above this just devastating pandemic to our marketplace, and now we have this staffing disaster. Resorts cannot discover people today right now to work. So what this episode is chatting about is how your hotel’s presence impacts recruiting and selecting. Now I know that is a strange correlation.

Ryan Embree:
Your hotel’s electronic presence, issues like social media, testimonials, even assessment response, but this has an impression. And which is what we’re gonna chat about right now. But to start with we’ll start off with a swift couple stats. Now, hospitality work is even now down 1.2 million employment from where it was in February 2020. 1.2 million, which is so unhappy simply because this is a persons-serving-folks business. So when we can not locate the men and women to give these great resort activities, we clearly see that impacted each individual solitary day and, and could impact holidays and, and the, just the overall visitor encounter. So simply call it the wonderful resignation, contact it regardless of what. The lodge business is a reduction of 7.2% of its workforce. Now that is as opposed to 2% for the rest of U.S. work opportunities. So hospitality has been extremely impacted from this staffing lack, and it’s just so complicated to get people today once again, to function for our hotels.

Ryan Embree:
So it is an staff career sector. As you can think about, employees are obtaining to select where by they want to function. They’re likely to do their thanks diligence just before signing on, and that is exactly where your hotel digital existence will come into perform. So right now what we’re gonna do is we’re gonna examine the way again, your electronic presence impacts recruiting and the 1st position we’ll start out is name management. Now just like Glassdoor, staff are going to look at your hotel’s testimonials to see where they are gonna be performing. They’re gonna ask the question, “What will my working day in the life glimpse like at this home?” Now, a actually very good workout that I would propose to you, the hotelier, is to go to your hotel’s critiques on line. So feel about Glassdoor, ideal? When someone’s on the lookout to likely indication on and develop into an personnel, they go check out assessments for that enterprise on the website Glassdoor.

Ryan Embree:
So of study course, employees are gonna do this for your lodge due to the fact there is public critiques on the web about your hotel working experience there. So the physical exercise would be, is examine all of these opinions and think about that as a substitute of them becoming critiques, picture getting behind the front desk and listening to that responses straight from your visitors. How a lot of times is that guest complimenting you? How several instances are they enthusiastic to converse about their remain with you? How numerous times are they being yelled at? How quite a few moments are you currently being asked to clear up problems? So your damaging assessments, for the reason that which is what is likely by way of a possible employee’s head as they’re studying the testimonials. No a single needs to get the job done at a hotel the place they are continually getting to address troubles or points are going wrong. They wanna work somewhere that is pleasurable, persons are enjoying by themselves and having seriously good encounters. So that is how your reputation administration can effects hiring and recruiting for your resort.

Ryan Embree:
We have heard so substantially about mental wellness about the previous few many years. So which is what these staff members are gonna be contemplating about. What kind of toll is working at your assets likely to take on my psychological health and fitness in comparison to probably the assets down the road that is paying a really comparable wage. So that could be the variation there. Now, a different query that your standing is gonna solution to a potential employee is what is the longevity of this enterprise of your hotel. So if you come onto TripAdvisor and see that you’re just becoming just smashed with destructive reviews, and this particular person has been in the hospitality for several years and a long time, 2020 was just close to the corner, just a few yrs in the past. They went via all of those furloughs and obtaining layoffs in our resort field due to the fact journey wasn’t happening any more. So they are a good deal more cognizant now of the longevity of your organization.

Ryan Embree:
And they are gonna look and say, “If I signal on this lodge, can I make this a occupation? Will I be equipped to be here for a few decades, a ten years even, and really advance up, or will this resort company not be right here any more mainly because of the way that it is trending appropriate now on standing sites?” Once more, just one thing to think about. And this is the, this is the mindset that these personnel proper now are owning as they are, as they’re executing their position search. And then and finally, when it will come to standing management is an employee’s bodily health and fitness, appropriate? So health and safety, COVID 19 overall health protocols. If they see testimonials speaking about absence of cleanliness or even speaking about COVID 19, unsafe journey ailments for your guests, how do you assume that is likely to make a prospective staff experience? So just some factors to imagine on when it comes to how your hotel’s reputation can make an effect and vice versa.

Ryan Embree:
If you have acquired some actually terrific critiques, I would say, use that in your pitch to try out to get persons to occur and keep with you. If, if persons are regularly talking positively about their lodge experience or mentioning some of the other personnel members on your group, that is some thing to share on these recruiting websites. And which is something to share inside these interviews and conversing about the do the job environment that you are developing and cultivating that function setting and which is a little something we’re gonna speak about a very little bit afterwards when we chat about social media. Now, a further element that I want us to, to seriously see where there’s an effect in recruiting and selecting is review reaction. So one particular issue that we all do, no subject if it’s resort field or tech or finance or everything, is we want to know who we’re operating for, suitable? Our manager and, and how they are likely to handle us.

Ryan Embree:
One of the means that presents a probable staff a clue on how they’re gonna be managed is searching at the way that troubles are solved on home. And a person of the major places and, and home windows that a prospective staff can get a great look at that is through your review responses. So are you even addressing difficulties at the property? If that worker in their shoes states, I may have an difficulty and I have to have to appear to my boss for that, are they heading to listen to me? How are they gonna challenge fix? What type of issue solver qualities does my manager have? Once again, some good insights and techniques to appear at that is, are you responding to your reviews and how are you responding to people testimonials? So anything to imagine about, and the previous element of our electronic presence that we’re gonna discuss about right now is social media.

Ryan Embree:
Social media is a further put that specifically younger generations are regularly on and hunting at and give a glimpse into what style of work ecosystem you are cultivating at your house. It could be a excellent location to recruit. Locations like obviously LinkedIn are major for recruiting. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram: now we can use these as a recruiting resource chatting about the open up positions, possibly providing some details about the placement, but I would argue that workers will also appear at your home on social media and start off to make some assumptions on, “Okay, what would it be like if I worked right here?” So one of the sites that we can make your residence additional appealing than perhaps opposition is recognition plans. Spotlight some of your other staff associates there. Individuals appreciate becoming identified, particularly in an environment where by you do not definitely get a large amount of thank yous from your company on a day by day foundation.

Ryan Embree:
The expectations given that COVID 19 have risen to all time substantial. So the anxiety level for your workers, you will need to continue to keep in look at and which is, what is resulting in a good deal of this staff attrition. So recognizing your employees is a tiny small token of appreciation that companies can do, and seriously will give you some goodwill shifting ahead as employees are hunting for likely landing spots and support you in your employing journey. It’s possible highlighting some of your other team if any of them have moved by way of the ranks. When I was doing the job at a few resorts, I commenced off as a bellman, moving to the entrance desk, conversing about individuals inside promotions. That is gonna give that likely personnel that is seeking a journey in a occupation path if they make your mind up to sooner or later join your staff at your resort. Highlighting some of the factors that you are carrying out on property.

Ryan Embree:
So, corporation parties, holidays, celebrations, birthdays. We want to develop a incredibly fun natural environment at operate. All people needs to take pleasure in what they do. So the far more moments that you can spotlight probably a dive in movie at the residence, this is gonna be wonderful for your, definitely your tourists and your company that are gonna see this, but you really don’t really feel about it and how it looks as, as a probable worker, suitable? If I’m looking to get employed as a entrance desk agent, and I see that a resort, every other Friday in the summertime does a dive in movie, that could be a little something that I could say, “I’d like to get included in that. That looks like a whole lot of fun. This could create some actually neat memories” compared to someone that, that really does not have this kind of event calendar likely on. So, and then charitable function.

Ryan Embree:
So these are, once again, it’s a acquire-get condition. You’re doing great, but now a lot more than at any time with workforce genuinely getting their option on in which they wanna perform, they wanna perform for anyone and for a thing, for a result in. So if you’re doing charitable perform, if you are carrying out some kind of food drives, charitable situations at the residence, this could be anything that new hires could truly feel a objective for and want to be a aspect of and join. So any sort of charitable performs that you are carrying out once more, that’s a gain-earn scenario for the lodge, due to the fact it’s fantastic PR as nicely for them. So I outlined this just before anticipations have risen exponentially and this has brought about much more anxiety than at any time. So a person of the strategies that we can genuinely just take the pressure off the limited staff that you have now is outsourcing some of these items.

Ryan Embree:
So overview reaction, status management, social media, we have witnessed via the staffing disaster, GMs, DOS’s, front desk managers have to consider on responsibilities that they’ve never ever performed ahead of. Cleaning rooms, correcting issues on house. Even a thing as very simple as proprietors responding to testimonials, they used to have workers in a position to do that. This creates a good deal of stress and a great deal of inns right now are turning to third party vendors, such as Journey Media Group, to take the force off so that the restricted staff members that they have can seriously concentration on the attendees and make certain your hotel’s standing and electronic existence are becoming dealt with adequately. What it will come down to is a better name usually means workers is much more possible to be happier, continue to be for a longer period and do a greater work general. So once again, we know this is a enormous disaster ideal now, lodges correct now are looking for, for workforce all over the place.

Ryan Embree:
And they’re for each and every solitary edge to consider to get in advance of the level of competition and seize some of these, these workers and, and help them male their house to give the very best lodge knowledge and visitor experience that they can. So with this episode, you really will need to think about how your hotel’s on the internet existence is impacting that recruiting and choosing to a new candidate that is undertaking research for your home. So if you are interested in understanding more about some of our remedies at Journey Media Team and how we can it’s possible consider some of this stuff off of your plate, you have hardly ever viewed as possessing a 3rd get together do your social media right before or react to your opinions, achieve out to us. We would enjoy to communicate with you. We’ll give you a session and display you what helps make us the very best at what we do. So I want to thank you for listening nowadays, and we’ll chat to you up coming time on the Suite Place.

Ryan Embree:
To be a part of our loyalty plan, be positive to subscribe and give us a five star score on iTunes. Suite Location is created by Travel Media Team with cover artwork by Bary Gordon. I’m your host, Ryan Embree, and we hope you loved your remain.

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