Higher rates during high season mean higher guest expectations
Seasonal hotels face a fundamental business paradox: they must deliver their highest service levels precisely when workforce management becomes most challenging. Staffing shortages wield a profound impact on the hotel industry, extending ripple effects that resonate across operations, guest experiences, and overall business performance.
As the high season approaches hotels usually increase room rates, giving rise to higher guest expectations. And that’s a given. However, when the hotel fails to meet the expectations of every guest by alluding to working with less staff to hand, it is something, that cannot be simply forgiven.
The telltale signs of hotels working with fewer staff than necessary include long queues, delays and sub-par levels of quality and service. Other ominous signs include an increase in negative reviews on social media platforms, from guests who publicly express their disappointment. When negative review volume spikes, one can be certain that the guest satisfaction index goes down. This is the result of higher rates (and occupancy), while dealing with less staff, and worsening guest experience.
Understaffing is a big issue. But at the end of the day it all comes back to the guest because the core mission of the hospitality industry is ensuring that guests have a pleasant experience, no matter what.
While service may not always be the biggest reason for complaints during high season, it’s an integral part of the overall guest experience. Frontline staffs generally have a high influence over the quality of service and can overcome shortfalls in other areas by providing high value guest touchpoints. When looking at the complaints about staff and service, queues, speed, and communication stand out the most.
In this context, pause a moment to consider how the understaffed employees feel. When occupancy is high, every department within a hotel feels the strain of workforce shortages. Housekeeping is often undermanned, resulting in slower room turnover and delayed check-ins. Front desk teams struggle to manage the flow of guests arriving and departing throughout the day. Restaurant and bar staffs become overwhelmed with increased dining traffic, and room service falls behind on orders. Even maintenance teams face added pressure as higher occupancy means more wear and tear on hotel facilities. Trying to stretch a small staff to cover all of these responsibilities inevitably leads to burnout, stress, errors, inconsistent service, and dissatisfied guests.
Complaints during high season are far from inevitable, but preventing them requires planning well in advance, anticipating needs, and being highly responsive to guest feedback.
The ideal scenario in a resort hotel, for instance, would be the guest arriving and being greeted by a lobby ambassador inviting them to sit down. The guest would have pre-checked in online and handled all credit card payments or pre-authorisation. The lobby ambassador role would be to personally engage with the guest, understand their needs, hand over their room key, present the hotel facilities and arrange any on-property needs.
To ensure that your hotel’s standards don’t fall during high season, consider the following:-
The use of contactless check-in: However, its implementation should be adapted to each property’s operating model and target audience. A large hotel can use contactless check-in to reduce congestion at reception. Similarly, a small guesthouse can use it to manage late arrivals more effectively. However, Contactless check-in reduces the opportunity for personal interaction between guests and hotel staff. This lack of human touch may detract from the overall hospitality experience for some guests. Remember however, that a large proportion of hotel guests in high season are traveling on leisure. They are on vacation and have extra time on their hands.
Send out pre-stay communications: Via email, SMS, or WhatsApp to set the right expectations, and to help them plan their stay in advance. This includes extracting information online relevant to the guest’s reservation so that pre-registration formalities are completed before the guest arrives and all that is required is to obtain the guest’s signature on the registration card and the credit card for pre-authorisation.
Empower your Staff as a top priority in high season: Empower your staff to provide efficient service while at the same time providing solutions to problems in real time. During busy times, ensure that managers are on the floor supporting and motivating staff, handling guest issues, and showing leadership.
Taking care of one’s staff: Recognize employees for their hard work—in person, in writing, and in front of their peers, Hold weekly / regular prize draws for staff who are mentioned in positive reviews and surveys and ensure that managers maintain a positive attitude at all times and inspire employees to be excited, not daunted, by the challenges of a busy day.
Shafeek Wahab - Editor, Hospitality Sri Lanka, Consultant, Trainer, Motivational Speaker, Mystery Guest Auditor, Ex-Hotelier
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