Staff crunch hobbles Singapore hotels’ bid to cash in on tourism, dining rebound

SINGAPORE hotels are facing a manpower crunch as they rush to meet demand from rising tourist arrivals, with some properties even forced to restrict their occupancy levels.

Many of the 160 member hotels under the Singapore Hotel Association (SHA) have reported a “critical shortage” in their operational departments, especially housekeeping.

“For some members, the shortage in housekeeping staff could even be as high as 80 per cent. The starting pay for these positions in many hotels has increased by 20-30 per cent, yet there are no takers,” SHA executive director Margaret Heng told The Business Times.

As a result, affected hotels have to cap occupancy at 50 per cent or shut restaurants on certain days to maintain service standards, she added.

The labour shortage comes as Singapore has experienced a strong recovery in tourism. As at end-April, passenger volume at Changi Airport was close to 40 per cent of pre-pandemic levels, Transport Minister S Iswaran announced last Wednesday (May 4).

The pandemic worsened the hotel industry’s already tight labour pool as local talent switched to other growth sectors, Heng said. The industry also lost about 25 per cent of its foreign workforce as many returned to their home countries.

Some players such as One Farrer Hotel had still been actively hiring during the pandemic. But they also now face a manpower shortage in housekeeping, as well as food and beverage (F&B) and culinary staff, where there is a lack of local applicants.

“(As) all hotels are sourcing from the same pool of potential candidates, this has also led to manpower cost increasing – to keep up with the competitive salary packages that other hotels are offering now,” said Elaine Kum, One Farrer’s director of sales and marketing.

Recruitment is the “biggest challenge” now, agreed Mark Aldridge, director of sales and marketing at The Ritz-Carlton, Millenia Singapore.

It is unclear how long the tight labour situation will last. Heng noted that the reopening of Singapore’s borders with Malaysia last month has had mixed effects - while some Malaysians are returning to work in Singapore, there are many others who have chosen to move back home.

Digital transformation could be the long-term solution. Many hotels have adopted automated solutions in the past 2 years, such as self-service check-in and room delivery robots. But there are still gaps in technology.

For instance, the SHA’s Hotel Innovation Challenge saw calls for solutions to aid housekeepers in cleaning and preparing guestrooms. But there have not been any feasible solutions to date, and hotels still have to rely on room attendants.

“Although hotels have made giant strides in their transformation journey, there are limitations to technological solutions,” Heng said.

SHA is now working with the Tourism Careers Hub – a recently-formed tripartite platform for the sector – to help members with their hiring needs.

Hospitality-related vacancies are aplenty online. As of Sunday (May 8), Marriott International had close to 140 Singapore-based openings for staff in F&B, housekeeping, security, room and guest services and spa-related roles.

Likewise, Four Seasons had over 70 Singapore openings on its job portal involving F&B, housekeeping, front office and guest services. Both Hilton and the Pan Pacific Hotels Group listed about 60 openings each on their job portals for similar F&B and operations-focused roles in Singapore.

– With additional reporting by Venga Subramaniam