Hotel sector on road to recovery amid staffing crisis

Ally McDade, CBRE’s head of hotels research, said the critical problem Australia faced was competition with developed countries for the same skills and capabilities.

“Australia has not been a destination of choice because of travel times, the cost of living and the fact that most visa opportunities are short-term,” she said.

The hope is that policies adopted from the federal government’s Jobs and Skills Summit will turn this around by raising the skilled labour cap and providing greater resources to reduce visa processing times, McDade said.

Australian Hotels Association chief executive Stephen Ferguson said workers were needed “now, not yesterday, not last week. Now”.

Recently announced Accommodation Australia interim chief and Tourism Association Australia national chief executive Michael Johnson told AccomNews the industry faced huge challenges due to staffing and the “stop start” recovery in international tourism.

“But, there certainly has never been a more exciting and optimistic time to be part of a resilient sector,” Johnson told AccomNews.

Despite those issues, hotel operators are still opening new hotels across the City and Darling Harbour. Accor, the largest hotel operator in the Pacific, has opened the doors at the Mercure Sydney Martin Place. The four-star, 86-room hotel is on Phillip Street, close to Martin Place, Pitt Street Mall, Hyde Park and Circular Quay.

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InterContinental Sydney has completed its extensive renovation program to welcome the hotel’s next chapter. Located in Sydney’s Treasury building of 1851, the landmark hotel has undergone a comprehensive $120 million transformation, which included a redesign of its guestrooms, public spaces, wellness areas, club lounge, restaurants and bars.

W Sydney, the brand’s largest hotel in the world, is also set to welcome guests at its Darling Harbour property. It marks the hotel group’s re-entry to Sydney after the Woolloomooloo venue was rebranded in 2005.