“Receptionists wanted at hotel Palma de Mallorca”; “Personnel is needed to work in a hotel in Madrid: waiters, cooks and dishwashers”; “We hired baggage handler ASAP in Ibiza.” Hundreds of similar job offers adorn employment platforms these days. The Meliá Hotels recruitment section alone has more than 100 of them throughout Spain. Hotel chains are preparing for an exceptional summer with very high demand. But they have a problem.
They can’t find workers.
The hotels, desperate. Summer is here. And with it the imminent tourism season in Spain. Since the pandemic seems to be a thing of the past, travel has returned in a big way, this time without restrictions and with hundreds of planes taking to the skies. In fact, a season as high as the one in 2019 before Covid came into our lives is expected. And of course, companies have had to get their act together to meet this enormous demand, with aggressive recruitment and staff reinforcement campaigns.
What have they found? Worst. It is almost impossible to find workers to fill basic positions in hotels. Among the most demanded profiles are cooks, floor waiters, receptionists, maintenance technicians, baggage handlers and staff for entertainment activities. But there is none of that. Suffice it to say that Meliá, one of the most important hotel companies in Spain, launched a campaign in February to hire 2,000 people for the whole year, 1,200 in the Balearic Islands. According to this Cinco Días article, they have not yet closed and we are in June. Dozens of hotel chains are in them.
Why? One of the problems is the flight of workers to other sectors caused by the two-year break forced by the pandemic and by the lack of job continuity during that time. Many have left their jobs in search of better conditions. Nor does family conciliation help hiring in this sector. In short: there is the resignation of many to continue working, and then the fatigue of those who have been imprisoned in a sector that only offers seasonal employment and precarious conditions.
The hotel crisis. In Spain we live right now a shortage of waiters. As we have counted in Magnet, up to 73,000 workers who were dedicated to hospitality before the pandemic have not returned to their jobs. That means 3% fewer waiters. Even more so if we count the 20% of hospitality workers who are paid in black. There is a wide gap between demand and supply.
It should be noted that this is a very precarious world: according to INE data, about €1,300 gross per month are charged in 14 payments. It is the lowest salary of all the INE classifications together with that of unskilled workers. And the contracts are very short: last year two out of three signed were temporary. There are also many cases of days without rest not reflected in contracts and payment in black.
They go to other countries. Not only Spain has this problem of shortage of workers. Countries like France also have a shortage of workers in the tourism sector, As the journalist Enrique Morales commented in this report by La Información. That is why employers are trying to recruit professionals in Spain. From the Irish and Norwegians to Austrians and Germans they are seducing waiters with high salaries. As Morales exemplified, a luxurious Norwegian establishment was looking for 35 waiters and was willing to pay €3,800. In another offer for a waiter on a cruise ship, the salaries were between €27,000 and €50,000.
A few months ago, Norway was looking for new profiles, specifically, waiters and hairdressers. Among the requirements is to have at least one year of experience and a good level of English. The salary is 180 to 220 NOK per hour, the equivalent of between €17 and €21. And they offer a permanent full-time position, with which, at 40 hours per week, they can exceed €3,500 gross per month. No wonder then that our waiters and receptionists want to leave. Someone had to say it: it is not a country for hoteliers.
Image: Pexels