The hotel industry is currently facing a labor shortage of unprecedented proportions. This has led employers to look for innovative ways to find and keep their top talent. Recruiting from outside the sector holds tremendous promise for hospitality, because it opens the door for fresh thinking and ideas, best practices from other industries, and a new way of looking at old problems. Technology, in particular, offers a multitude of possibilities for hotels to revamp everything from their financial systems to in-house entertainment, marketing methodologies, and even to introduce environmentally sustainable operations. Here are some innovative ways hotels can implement cross-industry recruitment to build the strength of their organizations. READ MORE

Tired of watching thousands of dollars walk out the revolving door of employee turnover? Have you begun to proactively invest those same dollars on the front end of your employee relationships to help keep people longer? Or is the door spinning faster each year? Too often, it's assumed that the solution to a workforce shortage is increased recruiting. But if the real problem is employee turnover, then a bigger-picture approach is needed. Instead of just putting a Band-Aid on today's staffing shortage, redirect your dollars to solving the source of the problem. Don't make the mistake of investing more in the staff you're missing than in keeping the staff you already have. READ MORE

A long-time pillar of hospitality business education at the university level is that we are preparing traditional and non-traditional students for careers in the hospitality industry. Our students have held jobs to gain experience and positioned themselves for leadership positions with multiple levels of responsibility and authority. A career path model can assist an organization in the planning and retention process at all employee levels. Organizations viewing themselves as career pathway champions can benefit their employees and themselves by creating a great place to work that embraces employee goal and career aspirations, while meeting the employer's business goals creates a positive work environment. For those searching out what direction they should take, career paths need to be obvious, evident and manageable and approachable. READ MORE

One recent, you-can't-miss-it trend in the marketplace is online recruiting companies are investing large sums of money into advertising, likely reflecting the even-larger revenues they are earning in return. And the underlying reason why so many companies are recruiting more is because their employee retention strategies don't work…or they don't have any strategy at all. Confronting this difficulty of finding qualified employees in a labor market of low employment, companies are finding themselves understaffed and incurring overtime to serve their guests. Few hospitality companies realize that the shortest path to people management success is by hiring employees who will stay longer. This requires fresh thinking. READ MORE

As more and more consumer dollars are spent on dining and drinking out, the competition has only continued to increase. Restaurants, more than ever, need to stay ahead of the game when it comes to being informed on trending ingredients, styles and experiences, and choosing which to incorporate into their unique concepts. From flavorful small plates and chef-driven dining experiences to menus that highlight digestifs as an integral part of enjoying a meal, Executive Chef Russell LaCasce of Hotel Valley Ho in Old Town Scottsdale, Arizona is sharing some of the top culinary trends to look out for in 2020. READ MORE