Black leadership roles in the hotel industry once again increased only marginally in 2022, according to a report by the Pennsylvania State University School of Hospitality Management with support from the AHLA Foundation.
The fourth annual Black Representation in Hotel Industry Leadership report shows a 0.2% year-over-year increase in the percentage of Black representation in hospitality company leadership in 2022, bringing the overall total to 2.2%. This is far behind the percentage of Black Americans, which is at 13.6%, and the percentage of Black traveler accommodation employees, which is at 15.2%.
“Black employees remain significantly underrepresented in hospitality industry leadership compared to what would be expected given Black representation in the overall industry workforce,” the report states.
There was only one male Black executive for every 70.2 males in executive positions compared to one female Black executive for every 25.4 females in executive positions, but this is in part due to the underrepresentation of women in leadership roles in general. The growth over the past four years has been slightly stronger for Black men.
The distribution of Black leaders by field heavily skews toward human resources and operations, which accounts for 26.8% and 16.7% of Black leaders, respectively. In the asset management and food-and-beverage fields, Black leadership stands at only 2.2% and 1.4% of roles.