With the festive season around the corner, and borders opening to sighs of relief, hotel bookings are ramping up and with it, the need for hotel staff.
Australia is currently experiencing a labour shortage due to the lack of students and migrating workers. This is especially being felt in our hospitality industry which has many workers feeling hesitant to enter or re-enter after the uncertainty of lockdowns.
We spoke with Chris Pascoe, General Manger for Queensland and the Northern Territory at ahs hospitality, to get the reality of how a labour service provider in the hospitality industry has adapted to meet the labour crisis head on.
Q1. How has ahs hospitality adapted its services in response to the inconsistent lockdowns, border closures and struggling labour market?
With an ever-evolving landscape across the hospitality industry in the last 18 months, ahs hospitality has taken a proactive approach ensuring we are ready to assist our partners when the industry bounces back.
We have done this by introducing short term labour hire as a solution to our often-unpredictable market. It is now assisting many of our hotel clients in responding to the seasonality of reservations, spikes in service requirements for large groups, or unanticipated high occupancy rates.
It is simple and easy for our clients to arrange as we ensure a tailor-made solution for their hotel and adapt to their specific service standards.
Q2. What are the pros and cons of this short-term labour solution?
Labour hire gives hotels the flexibility to be able to respond to unpredictable occupancy demands, ensuring rooms are ready for future guest arrivals.
Minimum shifts are as little as four hours and the ahs team are professionals in the industry, providing quality, compliance, and reliability to our hotel partners. Whilst the the price is higher for short-term services, the benefits are limited commitment and flexible modelling when compared with fixed full service models.
However, once the contract is signed, the partnership is built and ongoing, so pending no contract updates of a legal or industrial nature, the ahs team are there to assist at a moment’s notice whenever needed to fill those sudden spikes in bookings. The hotel simply contacts their ahs representative to arrange assistance when they require. Having the convenience of picking up and pausing the labour requests in line with the Hotels demands and needs.
Q3. What’s the process for introducing short-term labourers into your hotel?
It is a very simple process for hotels to access this short-term labour solution.
Initial discussions are with our Business Development team ensuring we understand the client’s needs and we then create the necessary solution and generate a customised quote.
Once the contract is signed our committed, trained, and professional team will attend the hotel as requested to perform a safety review and site inspection so that our team are ready to assist under the hotel’s guidance.
Enquire with ahs hospitality about their outsourcing solutions.