Hotels face serious labor shortage

Half a year ago, N, the CEO of a four-star hotel in Khanh Hoa province, drew up a plan to resign from his post and return to HCMC for family reunion. But the plan failed. 

The owner of the hotel asked him to stay and continue to work as CEO for three more years, though he said he was old enough to retire.

“At my age, working for money is no longer my priority. But I still decided to stay there because the hotel’s owner said he cannot find any other person to replace me,” he said, adding that he had just received an invitation to work as a CEO for a 5-star hotel in Phu Quoc.

The hotel market is hot with more and more hotels arising, especially in Phu Quoc and Nha Trang.

The demand for managers at lower levels and untrained workers is also extremely high. Hoteljob.vn is seeking 9,500 workers for different positions, from chambermaid to receptionist and manager.

A hotelier in the sea city of Vung Tau complained that he lost some workers to hotels in new tourism centers, especially Phu Quoc.

Nguyen Anh Vu, CEO of Rosaka Nha Trang Hotel, said the number of tourists to the city has been growing steadily by tens of percent and new hotels are opened every week and every month. 

As a result, hotels are facing a worker shortage and have to scramble for laborers.

Previously, hotels only accepted trained candidates, but now, due to a serious shortage of workers, they have to lower requirements on workers. 

However, even the offered higher salary and lower requirements cannot help retain workers who change jobs regularly.

“At present, one of my regular works is looking for workers,” Vu said. “We seek workers through many different channels and organize recruitment campaigns every month.”

The tourism boom is the reason behind the labor crisis. 

Nguyen Thi Hoa Le, chair of the Hoa Binh Tourism JSC, confirmed that it is difficult to find workers in Phu Quoc. Hotel owners on the island have to offer better pay than hotels in HCMC to recruit workers.

Phu Quoc has been programmed to become an international tourism center which receives millions of tourists each year. However, there is only one tourism vocational school.

Le went on to say that hotel owners now tend to use foreign CEOs, offering pay of VND100 million for the post of CEO at 4-star hotels.

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