Cheap London hotels change staff recruitment.

The new Tune Hotel Westminster takes pride in recruiting bubbly, friendly staff with a great attitude - and makes a big effort to ensure they are properly trained

Hotel jobs were traditionally almost always given to hotel professionals.

The hospitality business has a well-worn training route, founded on vocational training and hotel school.  This has been churning out well-qualified hoteliers for decades.  And certainly when it comes to luxury hotels, this career path is still very much in place.

In recent times, however, the hotel industry has been revolutionised by the arrival of budget brands – the likes of Travelodge, Premier Inn (arguably no longer a budget brand) and upstarts like Tune Hotels and YOTEL.

And with all the aforementioned companies expanding aggressively in the UK capital, the market for their London jobs is getting tighter as they compete for an ever-shrinking pool of talent.  The budget chains can’t really afford to pay a premium for professionally-trained hotel staff – and frankly, in many of the more “limited service” concepts, probably don’t need to.

So there is now a growing trend towards recruiting staff with a good attitude and customer service skills rather than people laden with a slew of technical and hotel school qualifications.

This was confirmed by my recent interview with the Tune Hotels CEO who told me their recruitment is based on finding friendly staff with good people skills.  Technical training and education are secondary.

YOTEL CEO Gerard Greene (pictured here in one of his hotel's "standard cabins") says the company prefers to hire staff with superb customer service skills rather than traditional hotel experience

Of course, even luxury hoteliers like Sir Rocco Forte (Rocco Forte Hotel Collection, which includes Brown’s in London) will say they recruit for attitude first.  But I know for a fact that job vacancies in upmarket hotels require specialist skills, in an environment where bartenders serve with a flourish and sommeliers are expected to show off their expertise.

The need for such services is limited in cheap hotels and the jobs on offer reflect this.  Your interaction with staff at a Travelodge for example is minimal and staff often do not need technical skills.  It’s something you should also bear in mind if doing a job search in this type of hotel.

Another budget hotel group CEO – Gerard Greene of YOTEL – also told me that hiring is based on finding people who serve customers with a smile – the sort of people hired by upmarket sandwich chain Pret a Manger.  Just like Tune, they’re not looking for the classic “hotel people”.

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Maybe as cheap London hotels act more like airlines their staff will be more like flight stewards and stewardesses.  And people with a customer-friendly attitude – irrespective of technical training – will be in demand as fast-expanding budget hotels try to fill a multitude of new jobs in London.

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Photo credits: Tune Hotels, YOTEL.

Tagged as: Tune Hotel Westminster, Tune Hotels, Yotel, Yotel Gatwick, Yotel Heathrow