WINDHOEK, Namibia — In order to keep growing, the African hotel industry must take steps to address labor issues and keep its homegrown talent from going abroad.
As with other global regions, persuading and showing young people the merits and benefits of a profession in the hotel industry can be an uphill struggle, and this is perhaps harder in Africa, which is still emerging as a tourism market. As Africa becomes more popular with international travelers, those new guests want to experience hotels with local design, flavor, experience and staff.
Tonderayi Mageza, consulting expert at the Salzburg, Austria-based UNESCO-mandated UNEVOC — the International Center for Technical & Vocational Education & Training — said Africa needs its younger generations to be the main thrust of the continent’s development, including that of the hotel and hospitality industry.
“Most [hotel] companies are struggling to retain employees, especially in Africa,” he said on a panel at the Africa Hospitality Investment Forum.
Mehdi Morad, vice president of operations for Africa, Mauritius, Reunion & Seychelles with Accor's Sofitel, MGallery & Emblems brands, said even though immigration is different across the different countries and regions of Africa, “the brain drain is real.”
He added it is one thing to have young Africans leave for greener pastures abroad to gain the opportunities and experiences, but Africans have a duty to bring them and their gained experience back.
“One thing Africans are is that they are linked to their soil,” Morad said.
Dimitris Manikis, president of Europe, Middle East and Africa at Wyndham Hotels & Resorts, said emigration always has been part and parcel of the industry.
“My parents went to the U.S. and then came back to Greece. This is cultural exchange. You will not stop this trend, and it is very good for our industry,” he said.
To attract hotel leaders back to Africa — or to encourage others to stay — the continent's hotel industry needs to display, promote, enhance and monetize the sector’s benefits. It also needs to explain how the sector aids the overall economy and living standards in any market, panelists said.
“If we retain staff, how are we to eventually transfer ownership into their hands?” asked Lee-Anne Singer, chairperson at South Africa-based tourism and hospitality marketing firm FEDHASA Cape Town Tourism and a Middle East and Africa partner at HVS.
Manikis suggested it started with better recruitment at schools, and not just at hotel schools.
“Sixty percent of students do not stay. They leave our industry after horrible experiences in internships. We say we are a people business, but then we tell [employees] the future is robots and AI,” he said.
Hiring to fill the open positions at African hotels and resorts has focused too much on traditional educational channels, Singer said.
“We need people with business and communications degrees. We are boxing ourselves in. Hotel schools are not the only talent pool,” she said.
Morad said that is particularly noteworthy in Africa, where hotel schools are not accessible to most.
“The bottom line is the industry needs to pay decent salaries and provide permanency, a job that gives the employee a sense of usefulness and fulfillment,” he said.
One route to this is abolishing the hourly wage, Mageza said.
“We are happy to pay online travel agencies but not commissions to staff. The people in our business will also spend dollars in our business,” Singer said.
Manikis underlined the issue of permanency and fulfillment.
“The whole salary thing is subjective. We fired 50% to 70% of our staff during COVID-19, so trust was broken. We need to give people purpose,” he said.
Another issue that could cause friction between staff and careers is tipping, Morad said.
“Service charges are coming to Africa and by law to staff,” he said, referring to the fact that such charges are not just tips, but additional costs paid when a hotel guest checks out.
Tipping is not widely practiced in Africa, but as more international travelers arrive, it is a custom that likely will only grow more prominent.