The Key to Bridging the Talent Gap in the Global Hospitality Sector

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The global hospitality industry is staring down a growing talent crisis, and the numbers don’t lie. According to an American Hotel & Lodging Association report, 79% of hoteliers are experiencing a staff shortage, while 10-20% of positions in the accommodation sector in Europe remain unfilled due to a lack of skilled applicants. Vacancies in the UK hospitality market are also 48% above pre-pandemic levels. Emerging markets such as India aren’t immune either: The country’s hospitality and tourism sector faces a 55 to 60% shortfall in skilled manpower. For a sector built on service and guest experiences, a lack of customer-facing skills is a ticking time bomb.

The solution? Double down on training and upskilling. According to a LinkedIn Learning report, 79% of professionals say ongoing upskilling is essential for professional growth, a jump from 64% in 2020. Meanwhile, new data from Sommet Education highlights the same trend in hospitality: 30% of young European professionals place a premium on personal growth opportunities, and 29% prioritize professional development.

SkiftX sat down with Benoît-Etienne Domenget, CEO of Sommet Education, to understand today’s market realities and how hospitality leaders can build a practical roadmap for attracting and developing skilled professionals.

SkiftX: How would you characterize the global hospitality industry’s current talent crisis?

Benoît-Etienne Domenget: World Travel & Tourism Council’s (WTTC) latest Travel and Tourism Economic Impact Report showcases that the sector underpins nearly 348 million jobs globally. This represents an increase of more than 13.6 million jobs compared to its highest point in 2019. Looking specifically at hotel developments under construction between now and 2030, we anticipate 300,000 to 400,000 new management positions alone. There simply aren’t enough graduates from hotel management, leisure, tourism, and hospitality programs to meet these demands. According to a People1st report, 21% of hospitality and tourism businesses report that their existing staff lack essential skills. Clearly, there’s a shortage of talent. 

This massive talent gap won’t close on its own. Improving job attractiveness and retention requires active involvement from the entire industry, including employers, authorities, and stakeholders. Personal development is one critical factor we know and focus on, and we’ve always prioritized it in our higher education programs.

Which specific skill gaps concern you the most, and why do you believe they’re especially important right now?

We’re seeing critical skill gaps in three areas: technology, sustainability, and guest experience.

First, technology skills are lagging despite their growing importance. According to a Skift Research report, The industry still relies on human interaction, but digital solutions are transforming how hospitality professionals engage with guests. Mastering AI, automation, and data-driven personalization is now essential, not just for efficiency but for improving service quality. Yet, many businesses struggle to integrate these technologies effectively.

The second area is sustainability. According to a McKinsey report, around 70-80% of travelers expect tangible evidence of sustainability, but again, only about one-third of hospitality businesses feel prepared to deliver. Hotels must bridge this gap by embedding ESG principles into daily operations, from supply chains to energy management.

Finally, guest expectations regarding the experience and personalization are evolving faster than the industry can keep up. Personalization is now a baseline expectation. According to McKinsey, 80% of travelers want personalization, yet only about 33% of hotel operators feel capable of delivering it. This mismatch signals an urgent need for upskilling in customer engagement, digital tools, and service innovation.

How aware are hospitality leaders about these challenges, and what strategies are they employing to address them? 

Everyone is well aware. Today, there’s no conversation with hospitality, travel, and tourism leaders that doesn’t include human capital development very high in their priorities. The entire industry is aware of the necessity of skilling, upskilling, and reskilling, and we can see the industry is in motion today.

We’re working with several employers and brands to create educational content tailored to their needs, often with guaranteed employment commitments, which signals the importance of the challenge at stake. We’ve been able to co-create programs tailored specifically to client needs with partners such as Silversea, Jetex, and Mandarin Oriental. This employment guarantee would’ve been science fiction ten years ago. 

However, companies now want to recruit students as early as possible due to the talent gap, especially those from highly ranked institutions, because these students have choices. Employers now wish students to follow specific courses we’ve developed together. They’ve co-created parts of the curriculum to ensure it meets their exact needs, brand DNA and corporate culture and they guarantee jobs to students who complete these programs. That’s a powerful example of how quickly the industry is changing. 

How do continuous training and upskilling move the needle on employee retention and overall service standards?

The talent gap we face will not naturally reduce. The only way to reduce it is by having all stakeholders involved in making hospitality jobs more attractive. One key element in doing this is lifelong learning, which is becoming a key part of employers’ value proposition toward their employees. According to the LinkedIn Workforce Report 2023, 80% of hospitality employees would stay longer with clear career progression. Harvard Business Review, 2023 reported that companies experience 24% higher engagement and lower turnover when they invest in structured learning.

Hospitality is fundamentally a people-to-people industry. Without continuous training and personal development at the heart of talent strategy, attractiveness won’t be sufficient, and retention will remain difficult. Better customer knowledge, data analytics, anticipating consumer trends, and understanding customer behavior are all competencies that can only be strengthened through ongoing training and upskilling.

According to a Deloitte study, 54% of hoteliers feel that the available technology is not sufficient to meet customer demands, even though the industry is willing to adapt. This readiness gap is very telling about why continuous development is vital. Twenty years ago, we discussed digitalization and technology as future trends — today, they’re urgent priorities. The harsh reality is that the industry isn’t fully ready from a structural standpoint, but continuous training and lifelong learning can help close that gap.

Tell us more about Sommet Education’s new business unit. How does it address these workforce challenges?

Our new business unit, Sommet Education Business Solution, is precisely designed to address lifelong learning for industry stakeholders, employers, and governments. We continue delivering foundation education with bachelor’s programs, specialized master’s, and MBAs, and we will further develop lifelong learning programs to skill, upskill, and reskill.

The beauty of this new vertical is our number of schools: five schools across culinary and hospitality, 22 locations globally, seven more under construction, 29 campuses next year, and 300 adaptable programs. It’s a powerful one-stop shop for all industry stakeholders. We offer tailored programs from frontline concierges, cooks, pastry chefs, and maître d’, all the way to executive Masters and MBAs for senior managers. We work with several corporations and governments to improve and promote their destinations as hospitality and tourism hubs. It aligns completely with the industry’s challenges and urgency to close the talent gap as quickly as possible.

What future trends in workforce development should hospitality leaders be preparing for right now?

Hospitality leaders urgently need to focus on competencies related to personalizing guest experiences, implementing tangible sustainability practices, and building strong technological solutions. Even more critically, they must fully grasp the scale of the talent gap. This means not just acknowledging the challenge but proactively preparing for it with powerful, strategic investments in human capital development.

The hospitality sector is growing rapidly and will continue to do so, but growth without a dynamic, strong, and forward-looking people development strategy is simply unsustainable. Industry leaders must place people development at the very heart of their strategy to thrive in the future.

To learn more, contact Sommet Education’s business solutions team at business.solutions@sommet-education.com.

This content was created collaboratively by Sommet Education and Skift’s branded content studio, SkiftX.