TOP TEN THOUGHTS FOR THE HOSPITALITY INDUSTRY

ANOTHER TOP TEN RANKING FROM A HUGE, RESPECTABLE CONSULTING GROUP. BUT WHO ARE THEY TALKING TO??

Because 7 of the 10 thoughts are Finance related. Are they a group with their finger on the global hospitality pulse or do they just go to a lot of industry conferences between audits?

Or are we expecting too much from the specialists because our industry has so many participants, so many spectators, so many interested parties. Are they talking about issues that are faced by hospitality managers, regional vice presidents, hotel & resort owners, operators, lenders or developers?

Here they are as published, and by the way, beautifully presented amongst photographs of wine, water and women,

• "Credit crunch:capital waiting on the sidelines."
"Enterprise excellence: focus on cost containment and the bottom line."
• "Technology: leveraging brand name and the internet."
• "Hospitality mixed-use: subject to adjustment."
• "Financing: planning loan restructuring and modifications in a structured finance setting."
• "Globalisation and decoupling: growth beyond the current economic cycle."
• "Green building: going mainstream."
• "Fair value: what does it mean?"
• "Alternative vacation products: value isn't everything."
• "Obama's stimulus package: impact on the lodging industry."

As a hospitality professional in this industry for the past 50+ years, I can look at these thoughts through the eyes of a hospitality manager, a RVP, an operator and a developer. I have not yet been an owner or a lender. I fully understand that these companies are almost obligated to throw these things together each year and it is a great task for a newcomer to a large firm to be given.

But it is not reality since it is not for the hospitality industry.

It is not focused on any specific audience except passive owners and lenders.Here are what I consider to be the Top Ten Thoughts for the Hospitality Industry. They are based on a few facts that one must consider for this year's list. They are mine. I did not consult anyone else about this list so I take full responsibility for their accuracy and their level of importance to the industry. Here are the considerations,

Over the coming years, the hospitality industry will be crushed by a shortage of between 10-15 million workers worldwide. This will result in skyrocketing salaries for the other workers, hotels that will be unable to function during high seasons and therefore will become financial losers. Bankrupcies will result. The state of our industry as we know it will be changed. Our industry in the developed world is totally incapable of retaining young workers because they see no immediate future. We lose 50% or more of the graduates from our hospitality educational institutes to other industries. It is seen as a poor-paying, service/servile industry.

Our industry makes no provision to retain labour in down-times. We lay them off daily, weekly, monthly and in large numbers every seven years. They search for and find work in other industries that treat them like human beings with dependent families and with dreams. We put money aside to replace furniture when they suffer in bad times, but not our employees!

Our senior industry leaders allow international organisations and special interest groups to develop and implement standards for our industry without thought for the future consequences. In fact, our leaders are so isolated, they are in fact unaware of these developments.

One can not outsource tourism jobs. The jobs that are created in our communities are sustainable, fun, rewarding and one can aspire to grow to the top. Yet, Ministers of Tourism are typically in their posts for a period of one year and, as a result tourism is not grown strategically at a national level.

Hospitality is linked to Culture, Agriculture, Arts, Transportation, Education and most other ministeries in most countries. It contributes to peace and the community in lasting ways but we are seen as rich, aloof fat cats. We are over taxed and under appreciated. The time has come to create an image for our industry that has been so overlooked

1. Reinventing Borders. It is easier for a tomato to cross the border than a worker looking for a job. Our borders must be reinvented to avoid the belief that all who cross are immigrating. There are 10-15 million people who can fill those jobs, most of which are seasonal and they will get trained and return home to contribute locally. They will repatriate funds to their families and pay taxes where they work. Let's bring the workers to where the work is. For this, our borders need re-invention.
2. Active Career Planning. It is critical that our high school students learn that an entry level position does lead to management, to ownership, to the presidency and to wealth. We need to show them how. We need to actively spread the word amongst our employees and speak to them regularly about their aspirations and goals. This is the best kept secret in our industry.
3. Labour sustainability during recessions. Part-time must be eliminated for those who want full-time jobs. That is a fundamental principle that must be adopted by our industry. We must set aside funds to retain our employees during thick and thin. Recessions happen. Low seasons come and go. Families need income. Our families must be protected.  
4.  Taxes destroy jobs. At one time, the average major Canadian city hotel paid more to the government per room than to the owner. Thousands of employees were laid off in slow periods, employee shortages were critical. Since then many more taxes have been added. It must be understood that our job-creating abilities are neutralised by taxation.
5. International Issues. With few exceptions, our industry leaders are mostly non-hoteliers. They have been successful business change-artists elsewhere and know little, and care less about long range trends in our industry. Most are focused on share prices and issues affecting our industry at the WTO, WHO, the IOE, ILO, IUF, ISO and other international organisations are of no concern to them. It is our job to learn what is going on and to communicate our concerns and participate in the changes that will affect our industry.
6. Tourism's global image. For many years, we have all agreed on the need for a better image for the industry. At no other time in the history of communications has it become easier to create an electronic ground-swell for a 'new look'. This new look must start at the ground floor. The message must be designed to communicate with big governments, international organisations, municipalities, the public, the media, students, teachers and parents. Candidates to work in our industry should be lined up at our doors and governments looking for ways to reduce taxes and create sustainable jobs. Countries that scramble to 'brand' their countries and recruit Ministers of Tourism who can strategically build their countries tourism sustainability.
7. Local creativity. Our industry is entertainment. We are privileged to be able to be represented to our clients by our employees. Our young, our mature, our aspiring employees. Their youth, their exuberance and enthusiasm are ours to share......we must remove the shackles of 'brand standards' and allow their creativity to shine through. The handcuffs must come off and we must learn to nurture creativity that is buried in our rules.
8. Employee networking. One hundred million employees work in our industry. Is now not the time to facilitate the connection between that global community and create networks of global friends in the industry. An enetrtainment industry that can boast of global connections. Friends from the same industry across borders. Be they chefs, room attendants or waiters, most will have access to the internet either at home or work 
9. Social responsibility. Most are not sure what this truly means. Of course it means different things to different people, and that is fine too. What it should mean is the involvement of management and the whole employee team in the improvement of the social infrastructure of the community in one or many ways.
10. National Tourism Policy. The foundation for the creation of a nation's tourism strategy is best created at the grass roots level. Contributions and dialogue between national tourism marketeers and the grass roots tourism providers is critical.

These are not the Top Ten Issues of our industry, they are intended as 'Thoughts'. If they were successful they would result in dialogue between industry participants and politicians, in conversations between managers and presidents and between employees here in this country and employees in your country.

We will be faced with huge obstacles in the future if we do not deal with our vision of them today.

For eloboration on any of these issues, contact [email protected]