As hotels continue down the path to recovery from COVID-19, hoteliers are again faced with another tremendous headwind: an industry staffing shortage. With a multitude of hospitality employees being laid off, furloughed, or unable to work during the pandemic, there are many who are unwilling to return to the industry as it recovers. This presents a problem to hoteliers as they still have the same number of responsibilities and duties, but less staff to take care of them. 

Such a predicament leads to certain aspects of the job being ignored or put off to focus on guests and the property. While these are important to take care of, it often leads to hotels neglecting their online presence, which can cause more harm to the hotel in the long run.

Employment in the Hospitality Industry

Since 2020, employment in the hospitality industry has decreased. Some of these jobs were regained last year in 2021 with a total of 2.6 million jobs. However, hospitality employment is still down 1.2 million jobs from where it was in February 2020. This is a loss of 7.2%, compared to 2% for the rest of U.S. jobs.

The Circular Impact of the Staffing Shortage

With hoteliers being strapped for help, it’s easy to see the impact it has on their hotels. With not enough staff to focus on both guest service and digital presence, guest service, rightfully, takes precedence. However, neglecting your hotel’s digital presence has a negative impact that can affect your hotel in ways you may not have thought of.

Your hotel’s online presence is how many of your guests will find you and book their stay. Guests are reading reviews (and looking to see if management has responded), as well as checking hotel websites and social media for pictures of the property and amenities. But this is also what potential employees are doing. Hospitality workers want to work at a hotel with a good reputation because it usually translates to a better working environment. When your hotel’s digital reputation and online presence are not cultivated, it not only drives away potential guests but potential employees as well, further perpetuating the cycle of the staffing shortage.

How Hotel Marketing Services Help Hoteliers

Think about all the tasks you outsource at your hotel. Do you have a landscape company come to cut your grass? What about a company to maintain your pool? There are plenty of areas that hoteliers outsource, so why not digital marketing?

Outsourcing digital marketing is beneficial for hoteliers in a couple of ways. Firstly, it takes the pressure off of your limited staff to help guests, deal with the property, and manage the hotel’s online presence and reputation. Secondly, it ensures that your hotel’s digital presence/reputation is being appropriately managed. At Travel Media Group, we focus on your hotel’s digital marketing so you can focus on your hotel.

TMG offers social media, review response, and reputation management solutions to fit every hotel’s needs. Our social media solution helps improve hotels’ SEO and encourages more bookings with actionable posts and compelling content. Respond & Resolve™ provides professional and timely responses to all your hotel’s reviews on major review platforms, while our reputation management solution helps hotels get better reviews and manage negative feedback. Contact Travel Media Group today and relieve yourself of the staffing shortage burden.