HOTEL SCENE FACES LABOUR SHORTAGE
This comes as the hospitality industry faces a manpower shortage, with some hotels struggling to attract talent to meet the surging demand for wedding banquets.
Manpower has always been an issue for the hospitality industry, said Ms Charlene Hendricks, acting director of catering sales at ONE15 Marina Club. “And post-pandemic, it’s got a little bit harder.
“We’ve had about 10 to 20 per cent of our staff leave the industry and they have not come back. So with the increase in the number of weddings and events in general, we do and we are continuously finding people to fill up our slots.”
Labour shortage is just one of the factors driving up wedding banquet prices, with hotels looking to pass on the costs to people who book a banquet hall.
Meanwhile, some venues are finding ways to fill the gap. Pan Pacific Singapore has been training its staff to improve their level of service.
“We are always giving training in order to boost up the efficiency,” said Mr Luke Li, sales and marketing director at Pan Pacific Singapore. “We are also actively recruiting new team members and we are keeping an open mind in terms of recruitment.
“Those who are from other industries and have no hotel experience, but are interested in joining our hotel, we do take them into the team with adequate training and ensure that they are performing in their roles.”
