Scoot, Accor speak of staffing challenges in ramp-up to recovery
WHEN I was a kid, I dreamt of travel and thought the best way to do this would either be a flight attendant or tour guide. In the end, I found another way – I’d have been a disaster as a cabin crew – but millions of kids had that same dream as me. The best way to see the world is to fly and work.
Well, no longer – Covid has turned that once dream job into a nightmare and I fear that all that talk of recovery and pent-up customer demand will come to nought if we can’t get the people to serve on airplanes and work in hotels.
At the media event “The Travel Edit: Embracing The Unpredictable”, held by Booking.com this week, it was clear the most unpredictable element is not that of customer demand returning – the OTA’s research (See related report) shows 78% will say yes to any opportunity to travel, “we want to swipe right”, said Laura Houldsworth, managing director Asia Pacific – but that of people wanting to stay in travel, and wanting to work in travel.
Campbell Wilson, CEO of Scoot, said that currently the low cost airline was operating to 35% of its pre-Covid destinations and 33% of pre-Covid capacity “but if we were to go above 50% of capacity, we’d need to recruit 800 cabin crew this year”.
“There are physical constraints on how many people can go through our training system,” he said, adding, “One of the reasons why people wanted to become cabin crew is so they can travel, experience places. This is not possible now. They have to wear goggles, masks, they spend their time locked in hotel rooms.
“For the industry and Singapore’s air hub to recover, it depends on labour constraints. This is a real issue that has been acknowledged by government and we need to solve it on a practical level. Is there enough manpower to serve all these requirements at a pace they need to be staffed at?”
Cathay’s crew spent 62,000 nights in quarantine hotels in 2021
Wilson’s woes are nothing compared to what Cathay Pacific’s chairman Patrick Healy is going through. The airline is now the target of government investigations, following the arrest of two of its former attendants for alleged violations of home isolation rules. It is also being investigated for rostering crew on cargo-only flights.
In this message to employees, Healy puts things into perspective. Thanking them for their “professionalism, resilience and can do spirit”, he said, “What you have been through the past two years is simply unparalleled.”
All in, its crew has spent 62,000 nights in quarantine hotels in 2021 and 1,000 of them have spent 11,000 nights in Penny’s Bay, the dreaded government-run quarantine camp for being close contacts of positive cases.
In the first eight months of 2021, Healy said, not a single crew member contacted Covid 19. In September and November, five crew members caught the Delta variant – two complied, three who were in Frankfurt did not, and are no longer with the airline. Since Omicron broke out, 11 crew members tested positive in December. Putting it in context, 16 positive tests out of the total 230,000 tests taken in 2021 is a “clear demonstration of the discipline and compliance” of its crew, said Healy.
“The non-compliance of this tiny minority should not be allowed to overshadow the remarkable discipline and professionalism of the overwhelming majority,” said Healy.
There have been media reports of Cathay Pacific pilots resigning as they reach breaking point over the strict quarantine rules amid Hong Kong’s zero-Covid strategy. For Hong Kong’s travel industry, watching the airline that’s been proudly flying the flag for them for the past 75 years has been particularly difficult.
Jennifer Cronin, president, Wharf Hotels Group, posting on LinkedIn and sharing Healy’s video, wrote, “In these turbulent times, it is reassuring that a high profile chairman will take a stand on behalf of his team in such a compassionate, transparent and respectful manner. This is a great example of leadership, and communicating authentically. HK should be very proud of the work that CX has done over the last few years and we look forward to emerging from this together!”
Across Asia, hospitality faces similar staffing challenge, finding enough staff to ramp up for recovery. Kerry Healy, chief commercial officer, South-east Asia, Japan and South Korea at Accor, was in Phuket in December and observed the staffing challenges of hotels on the Thai island. At 60% occupancy, the hotel she stayed in was clearly struggling with service.
“How do we entice people back into an industry that’s been incredibly challenged? Plus, this has been a period of great reflection for a lot of people,” she said.
In Singapore, hotels are bracing themselves for the Great Resignation which usually happens after Chinese New Year, after staff receive their bonuses if they get any this year. The general manager of a five star hotel told me he cannot operate beyond 60% occupancy at current staffing levels. It’s not a new problem in Singapore but it is becoming acute.
At WiT Japan & North Asia, the region with the strictest border controls, speakers shared their challenges of retaining and recruiting staff as well. One reason travel was attractive was its global nature, and there is no clarity as to when borders will open in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Japan. For those working in travel, it’s been a hard slog that doesn’t seem to end.
And challenges remain. Wilson called 2021 “frustrating and a grind”, dealing with one crisis after another – health, financial, liquidity, operational. “We thought vaccinations would be the beginning of the end and saw some progress. We knew what we wanted to do to prepare for post-Covid but it never came, so we are impatient.”
Healy said 2021 was both “brutal” and “colourful”. Hotels spent their time opening and closing, converting into vaccination centres, operating food delivery – “we were in a constant state of flux”, she said.
In her region, only one country, Maldives, was opened and “it flourished”. “We’ve had VTLs, sandboxes, but there are still many restrictions,” she said.
In the last 12 months, domestic share of Accor’s business in Asia has gone from 36% to over 80% in 2021 – that tells the whole story of how hoteliers had to adapt and what employees have gone through.
How much longer they can hang on till travel returns, especially in Asia, is another story.
Watch Patrick Healy’s message to employees.
• Featured image credit: Getty Images
