Manpower shortage big challenge: Sarovar Hotels MD

Ajay Bakaya, managing director of Sarovar Hotels & Resorts, stated that while the hospitality sector is back to pre-Covid levels in terms of revenues and occupancy, the lack of human resources is currently a significant challenge.

According to the hospitality consulting company HVS Anarock, 40–50% of direct employees in the organised hotel sector of India lost their jobs as a result of Covid-19 in CY2020, and a comparable number experienced salary reductions. In order to cut costs amid numerous lockdowns, hoteliers turned to job cuts.

“The biggest challenge is lack of human resources. At the worst possible time, we had to ask a certain number of our people to leave, as high as 50% at some hotels,” Bakaya said, adding that a large section did not return even as business started coming back.

“It is not only a Sarovar issue. It is an industry-wide issue. Everyone in the industry, without exception, is in the same boat,” Bakaya said. However, he noted that the industry is selecting and training raw talent to address the problem.

Before the pandemic, Sarovar had a total of more than 6,000 employees working for its hotels and resorts. “From pre-Coid days, we are 15% lower hotel-to-hotel now. We are looking desperately. We are just not finding the right people,” Bakaya said.