I often play with the thought, how bad can it get before the government do something about it, it being the state of the hospitality industry. That thought is almost immediately dismissed as it does not lend to the rest of the day being a positive one, and I like to have a good day wherever possible.
The timeline of the pandemic and the current post-pandemic world of hospitality has seen an industry shift from dealing with normal day to day challenges faced by all businesses, to facing absolute chaos, due to macro-economic limitations placed on it by government.
Many and much of the private conversations that go on in reporting the news go unreported, people tell you things in confidence to underline their thoughts and words, I do not use them, but they add context.
Some conversations are totally outside the realm of reporting, they are just catching up with people you know to gauge how they and/or their business are. They provide perspective.
Warning, I will now utter the B word, Brexit, there, I’ve done it. It seems to me many people refrain from doing so as they are mindful some will disapprove. When I learn first hand of the pain endured by many people in our industry that I know well, as a direct consequence of Brexit, any such reservations disappear. I know what they are telling me is the truth and reporting it is a privilege.
One such conversation last week tool place with a hotelier reflecting on a board meeting that agreed, for the foreseeable future, the wellbeing of their team would be prioritised ahead of revenue. You might read that and say, as it should be everywhere, and I would agree with you, but we all know that is not the reality of all boardrooms.
The devil is always in the detail, and the detail here is that this strategy was not agreed to enhance HR policy, it was to avoid an increase in staff churn. People are leaving the business, at all levels, top to bottom due to burn out, and replacing them has proved almost impossible. So, reducing output was agreed as the only remedy.
The hotel business I am referring to here is a group, it operates many hotels, with restaurants, pubs/bars, spa and other facilities that are all in high demand. Prices are high and demand from consumers can no longer be met as they are fully booked, on everything, months in advance. As soon as they release availability of anything it is booked immediately.
They are already working at substantially less than full capacity, and are now planning to reduce capacity further to avoid more people leaving the business from mental and physical fatigue. People their recent experience shows are almost impossible to replace.
How did we get to this point, and how much worse will it have to get before government recognise the hospitality industry, and the wider economy is being wrecked?
If you have a view please head over to twitter and voice it.