"We don't have enough maids to clean up the rooms," sighs a hotel manager. "So we had to push the check-in time past 3 p.m."
This particular hotel outsources its room cleaning tasks to a janitorial service company. In the past it employed its own cleaning staff, and only used outside sources to make up for shortfalls. Now it's feeling the squeeze from both directions.
Blame it on the COVID pandemic, reports Toyo Keizai (Aug 26). Not because the cleaning staff became ill, but because at some point during the slump in travel demand, there was less demand for their services, and many shifted to other jobs such as janitorial work at office buildings.
This summer, demand for travel has returned with a vengeance. According to a survey on accommodations released by the Japan Tourism Agency in June of this year, the total number of room-nights recorded in June of this year reached 46,260,000 -- exceeding by 450,000 the 45,810,000 room-nights for the same month in 2019.
Lack of room cleaning staff has even caused some hotels to turn away customers, incurring what in business schools refer to as opportunity loss. This despite an increase in hourly wages, according to one source, from ¥1,100 to ¥1,250.
Then from August, travel restrictions on tour groups from China were dropped, which added to room maids' burdens.
"Compared with other travelers, Chinese customers tend to leave behind more rubbish in their rooms, which adds to cleaning time," said a source in the hotel trade. "Since the overnight charge per room remains the same, this lowers profit margin, and also aggravates the worker shortage."
One way the worker shortfall is being deal with is by training foreigners. Last June, a fund affiliated with the Mystays Hotel Business Management opened the Narita Hospitality Academy at Narita City, Chiba Prefecture.
"We train foreigners who want to work in Japan and dispatch them to companies in rural parts of the country," said Shunsuke Yamamoto, managing director of the Forest Investment Group Japan.
The academy just finished training 30 technical trainees from Vietnam, who after one month of study were dispatched for hands-on work at a hotel in Atami, Shizuoka Prefecture, among others.
"Thanks to the solid training, the graduates are working and taking up their jobs with confidence, integrating into the workplace, and playing an active role on the job," Yamamoto is quoted as saying.
From November, a contingent of trainees from the Philippines is expected to begin studies. The academy expects some 150 foreigners will complete studies per year -- obviously only a tiny drop in the bucket as far as worker demand.
What's more, labor shortages not only plague cleaning staff, but are a concern throughout the entire hospitality industry.
According to the Teikoku Data Bank, the percentage of hotels and ryokan reporting worker shortages is approaching 80% -- higher now that before the pandemic. The reasons for this include that the industry engaged in very little new hiring for the past three years, while existing workers resigned to seek employment elsewhere.
This has led more hotels to adopt new marketing strategies. At Fujita Kanko's newly opened Kowakien in Hakone, the operator has targeted family groups. Room check-ins for the 150 rooms are performed solely via the internet, and food and beverage facilities have been reduced from six to just a single family-friendly restaurant offering buffet meals round the clock.
In cases where room maid shortage makes it impractical for hotels to operate at full capacity, one strategy has been to prioritize booking the more expensive rooms and suites. Clearly, however, this offers only a short-term fix, and won't attract business away from competitors. So hotels may be forced to either adopt new business model for obtaining more human resources, or else revise their business model to enable operation with fewer workers.
With a tsunami of Chinese visitors poised to peak from Oct 1 -- when China observes its national founding day with an extended holiday from work -- this is a pressing problem that screams for quick solutions.
© Japan Today