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“This is a Ground Breaking Survey as no one other than Renard International could have gathered this information. Most of our research comes from data The Average Costs of Staffing a new Hotel World Wide by Katie Linne Director of International Business Renard International Milan
Renard International has been asked to provide personnel in all categories with a warranty that when the hotel opens, there will be a full compliment of staff needed to manage this luxury hotel. Renard International has not had this type of responsibility in the U.A.E. or Qatar before, although it has fully staffed hotels in North America in the past. In North America, Europe and Asia as opposed to the Middle East, most staff members are local and can be recruited “literally off the street”, while in the Middle East every single employee has to be imported from around the world. In order to determine what it would cost the average Hotel in a four / five star category with approximately 350 employees to fill all their needs, we had to take into consideration different geographic locations in our study. We sent out 17,000 inquiries for assistance and received a huge response to our study from Asia, Latin America, USA, Caribbean, Africa, Southern and Western Europe. In Asia, most responses came from China and Thailand. In the Middle East, the responses came mostly from the U.A.E, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Jordan. In Western Europe, the greatest influx came from Holland, Belgium and from Southern Europe Italy. We also had excellent input from different parts of Africa, as well as Seychelles and Mauritius. In our study, we asked our clients these questions: A. Costs
B. General Questions
C. The Recruitment Process
D. Comments on Recruitment Companies used
For this survey, we asked for approximations or “their best recollections” due to the fact that we knew that some companies would consider our request for this type of information to be confidential information, and even if they wished to reply they would not. So we asked for approximations, as this would not be considered disclosing classified company data. As well for this survey, approximations were fine, as worldwide the overall answers to the questions were in many cases coincidentally similar. These are the most common responses. We have also prepared a report of the costs in USA dollars to open a hotel with 350 employees in U.A.E. This is the cost of hiring the staff and it does not depend on the standard of the hotel or what currencies the employees are paid. These are the expenses (but not limited to) any Hotel company has whether it be a Ritz Carlton, Four Seasons, Intercontinental, or any first class independent property to entirely staff their hotel to open their doors…. A. Costs (averages for each region). 1. What were the hiring costs per person, for the Sr. Managers / HOD’s i.e. travel for interviews, etc? (not including any agency fees, work permits or relocation)
2. What were the hiring costs per person, for Rank & File Recruitment i.e. your or their travel costs, etc? (not including any agency fees, work permits or relocation)
3. What were the greatest challenges in recruiting staff (most common replies stated first)? a. Pool of suitable high caliber candidates is scarce As quoted by a Vice President of Human Resources a 5* International Group in Middle East….. As quoted by a Senior Executive of a 5* International Group in China……… 4. What have been the greatest challenges in retaining staff after the Hotel opens (most common replies stated first)? a. Not the right fit for the job As quoted by a Director of Human Resources of a 5* International Group in Dubai………. 5. What was your main vehicle source to hire staff (most common reply stated first)? a. Recruitment agencies 6. How many recruitment trips were taken to hire rank and file?
7. What advertising mediums were used to find and source staff? Success Rate (most common replies stated first)? a. Internet advertising As quoted by a Director of Human Resources of a 5* International Hotel in USA….. 8. Main criticism of the Internet usage (most common replies stated first). a. Too many unsuitable applications with errors in Resumes General Comments from almost all sources 9. What % of staff came through your own company internal transfer system (averages for each region)?
B. Staff Departures in the First 12 months - General Questions 1. The approximate % of staff which left in the first 12 months of operations for any reason (averages given for each region).
As quoted by a General Manager of a 5* International Hotel in China..….. 2. What were the main reasons for leaving after being hired and commenced employment (most common replies stated first)? a. Better offers elsewhere were poached by a competitor directly As quoted by a Senior Executive Vice President of a 5* International Group in Asia………… 3. Could anything have been done to reduce the turn over (most common replies stated first)? a. Bigger pre-opening budgets As quoted by a Senior Executive of a 5* International Group based in Bahrain…………. C. The Recruitment Process (averages for each region). 1. How many expatriates were on the team?
2. How many local staff on the team?
3. How many Senior Staff hired through recruitment agencies?
(in the Region ME & U.A.E. up to 75% of Rank + File hired through specialised Recruitment Firms).
D. Comments on *Recruitment Companies used (averages for each region) 1. What could have been done better by the *recruitment companies involved (most common reply stated first)? a. Better understanding of the type and caliber of candidates needed As quoted by a Senior Vice President of a 5* Group based in the Middle East………. 2. Did you feel you received value for money from the services used (most common reply stated first)? Average, as not too many quality companies around who can produce the caliber of candidates needed. 3. Average % of fee paid.
4. How long were the guarantee periods (most common replies stated first)? a. 90 days 5. Did the *recruitment companies visit with you on site (most common replies stated first)? a. Some have, others have not 6. How was the follow up from *recruitment companies on candidates after the initial employment (most common reply stated first)? Non existent in most cases * Please note these fees were for Contingency Recruiter Firms and not Retained Executive Search Companies and the comments were were directed to contingency Recruitment companies If you wish to see the “opening costs” for a first class Hotel with 350 employees in the U.A.E., based on the year 2007 costs, write to me at katie@renardinternational.com I look forward to receiving your comments. Katie Linne |
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This study was prompted by the fact that Renard International has been contracted to staff in its entirety two major hotels in Qatar in 2008. The staffing of these two hotels and the “Total Recruitment Process” is to be outsourced to Renard International Europe (Milan).