High employee turnover is one of the biggest problems for hoteliers and restaurateurs in ‘Asian Tiger’ destinations. While there is a huge amount of demand for hotel jobs in Hong Kong, Singapore, and other markets experiencing financial boom, new employees – especially those recruited from outside the territory itself – often end up staying for only a few months. This is a negative contrast with the traditions of grand old hotels like those of mid-twentieth century Europe, which are epitomized by butlers who’ve been in their position forty years, or head waitresses who worked their way up from a chambermaid position and now know every regular by name.
There’s a huge amount of benefit to Asian hotels in developing these employees. If recruiters for hospitality jobs in Singapore and hotel jobs in Hong Kong focus on employing people with the kind of dedication, passion and resourcefulness that we see in these classic movies like Grand Budapest Hotel or Some Like It Hot, their locations can be places that visitors come back to again and again and again. Filling hotel jobs in Singapore with employees who prioritize learning regular customers’ names and preferences, and keeping databases of the most popular cocktails or favourite room service requests in their heads, will bring loyalty to the brand. And making a hotel into an institution is something that all hoteliers dream of. There are so many hotel jobs in Singapore and Hong Kong because these are great business and tourist destinations – but imagine how many more guests and quality employees can be attracted when the hotel itself is a tourist destination!
So if a manager is looking to make his or hotel into a classic brand, what should she or he be looking for when filling hospitality jobs in Singapore and Hong Kong?
Professionalism is obviously extremely important – nobody trying to fill hotel jobs in Hong Kong or Singapore underestimates the importance of staff who quickly learn what they are doing and where they need to be at all times. But almost equally as important is personality: the ability to be deferential while still leaving guests feeling that they’ve formed a bond, and the flair that stops a high quality hotel feeling staid.
Of course, it’s impossible to recruit an old-timer – it’s only their long years of experience at a certain hotel that makes them brand institutions. But if recruiters looking to fill hotel jobs in Singapore, Hong Kong and other luxury markets focus on personality, resourcefulness and creativity, they can recruit employees who’ll quickly become familiar faces in the region’s tourist industry.