What It Really Takes to Hire at Scale in Hospitality

The hospitality industry, from national restaurant chains to global hotel groups, is judged on its ability to deliver memorable guest experiences through tight operational execution. But there is one critical function where many large operators are struggling to keep pace: hiring high-quality staff consistently across dozens or even hundreds of locations.

As travel rebounds, consumer expectations rise, and labour markets tighten across many regions, hospitality leaders are being forced to rethink how they attract, screen, and retain talent at scale.

Whether it’s front-of-house teams ahead of a check-in rush, bar staff for weekend peak service, or kitchen teams needed to open a new venue, understaffed operations carry a real cost in revenue, brand experience, and team morale.

A Workforce Crisis Meets Technology Reality

Recent reporting shows how acute labour challenges in hospitality have become. Across hotels, restaurants, and broader hospitality operations, multiple data points point to the same conclusion: staffing is no longer a cyclical problem, but a structural one.

General industry data paints a stark picture of turnover and hiring difficulty:

• Understaffing is widespread: More than two-thirds of hotels report ongoing understaffing, while nearly three-quarters of operators cite rising labour costs as a major concern. In extreme cases, around 12% of properties face closure risks due to staff shortages.
  
  
• Turnover remains exceptionally high: Average annual employee turnover in hospitality sits at approximately 73%, driven by unsocial hours, wage pressure, and competition from adjacent sectors such as retail and logistics.
  
  
• Hiring qualified staff is increasingly difficult: Over 65% of hospitality organisations report difficulty recruiting candidates with the right skills and experience.
  
  
• Seasonality compounds the problem: Seasonal fluctuations, wage pressure, and expectations around flexibility and development make workforce planning particularly complex.
  
  

These dynamics are further intensified by demographic and policy shifts. Reuters reporting has highlighted how tighter migration rules in parts of Europe and North America have reduced access to temporary and seasonal labour pools that many operators previously relied on.

For multi-location hospitality groups, the result is uneven pressure across venues with one site fully staffed while another struggles to cover shifts just a few kilometres away.

Why Scale Changes the Hiring Equation

Recruitment challenges grow with organisational size. Independent venues may hire a handful of people at a time, but large hospitality groups manage continuous recruitment across multiple locations simultaneously.

Key operational challenges include:

• High volumes of applications with low predictive value
• Inconsistent hiring standards across venues
• Limited time for managers to assess candidates
• Slow or missing feedback to applicants
• Seasonal spikes that overwhelm internal teams

Traditional hiring processes such as posting roles, screening applicants manually, and conducting interviews, quickly become bottlenecks in this context. Even with technology available, many organisations struggle to implement systems effectively: while 80% believe tech could give a hiring edge, only 15% report measurable improvements.

Candidate Expectations Are Also Evolving

Frontline candidates now expect faster, mobile-friendly, and transparent application processes. Research shows 92% of hourly job seekers abandon applications that take longer than 15 minutes.

Beyond speed, candidates increasingly demand:

• Personalised communication
• Mobile-first, conversational engagement
• Clear feedback at every stage

When these expectations are unmet, even highly qualified candidates walk away. Employer branding teams now recognise that recruitment interactions shape public perception of the brand even among applicants who are not hired.

Where Technology Is Starting to Help

Against this backdrop, many hospitality groups are reviewing how recruitment technology can better support their operational reality. AI and automation are already widely used in areas like revenue management and guest personalisation. In hiring, their adoption has been slower but is accelerating.

Academic and industry research suggests that, when implemented carefully, AI-supported recruitment can:

• Reduce time spent on manual screening
• Improve consistency in candidate evaluation
• Provide faster responses to applicants 

Crucially, AI works best when designed around candidate experience and recruiter workflows, rather than automation for its own sake. Poorly designed systems risk feeling impersonal or opaque, undermining engagement.

AI and Automation: A Strategic Enabler

Across industries, AI adoption in hiring is accelerating. It can streamline workflows, improve candidate matching, and reduce biases, provided it’s implemented thoughtfully. 

Recruitment experts also note that AI can slash time-to-hire while meeting modern candidate expectations for rapid responses, updates, and communication which becomes pivotal when 67% of candidates will take the first offer they receive. 

But as AI hiring adoption spreads, some cautionary voices have emerged: critiques suggest that without human oversight and thoughtful design, AI systems can feel impersonal or even introduce bias if not managed correctly. 

From Crisis to Competitive Advantage

For large hospitality groups navigating this landscape, the key to improving recruitment at scale isn’t simply “adding AI.” It’s about designing systems and processes that:

• Screen 100% of applicants rapidly and consistently
  
  
• Deliver an on-brand, engaging experience for candidates
  
  
• Enable recruiters and operations leaders to focus on high-value decisions rather than manual screening
  
  
• Support mobility across locations and roles, reducing reliance on costly agencies
  
  

This is where purpose-built automation like conversational AI agents, paired with talent pool management, becomes a strategic operational asset rather than a superficial tool.

Imagine a system that:

• Automatically engages candidates 24/7
  
  
• Prioritises only relevant applicants for recruiters
  
  
• Retains candidates for future roles based on intent and fit
  
  
• And gives hiring managers consistent, data-driven shortlists across every venue
  
  

This approach addresses the very problems the industry reports as most critical: labor shortages, high turnover, and inconsistent screening.

What Large Hospitality Groups Are Prioritising

Based on industry reporting and operator insights, several priorities consistently emerge for large hospitality employers:

1. Screening every applicant fairly and consistently
2. Reducing time-to-hire without lowering standards
3. Keeping suitable candidates engaged for future roles
4. Supporting decentralised hiring managers with clear shortlists
5. Delivering a candidate experience that reflects the brand

Rather than replacing human judgment, newer recruitment approaches aim to remove repetitive work, allowing teams to focus on decision-making, onboarding, and retention.

Looking Ahead

Hospitality hiring is unlikely to become easier in the short term. Labour markets remain competitive, costs are rising, and the expectations from both guests and employees  continue to increase.

What is changing is how large operators approach the problem. Instead of treating recruitment as a reactive, location-by-location task, more organisations are investing in scalable hiring infrastructure that can flex with demand while maintaining consistency.

As with many operational challenges in hospitality, progress is less about radical disruption and more about thoughtful adaptation, aligning people, processes, and technology to meet the realities of a complex, fast-moving industry.

The hospitality hiring landscape will almost certainly remain competitive. With ongoing understaffing, high turnover, and rising wage pressures, employers who can balance speed, candidate experience, and operational consistency will stand out.

Technology aligned with brand values, human engagement, and operational strategy can truly shift hiring from a recurring crisis to a scalable competitive advantage.

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