Worcester Business Journal

wbjournal.com | March 20, 2023 | Worcester Business Journal 17 All of our events are available within MA State Guidelines. BOOK A SUMMER COMPANY OUTING TODAY AT WACHUSETT. Call 978.464.2300 x3175 or email sales@wachusett.com Put the "OUT" back in your Company Outing. Bring your colleagues OUT to Wachusett Mountain. Aer a year of working remotely, head OUTside with your team this summer. Enjoy OUTdoor recreation, hiking, fun activities, and our scenic Skyride. Get OUT together, socially distant within our spacious grounds and custom tented areas. Regardless of your group size, time to think OUT-of-the box. We'll create an OUTstanding menu for you, from clambakes to barbecues (as low as $28.50 per person). M E E T I N G S G U I D E & T O U R I S M F O C U S ately short supply, but it's getting better. Hotel occupancy gradually improved aer initial closures in the spring 2020. Aer a dramatic uptick in business in the spring 2022, Gardiner said it was a daily struggle to adequately staff the hotel and conference center. Employees could rarely take a Saturday off. Now, with fewer open positions, the applications he receives tend to be stronger. He's buoyed the management team with well-qualified hires, and people can request the odd day off. "We're trying to get to a point where we can overstaff with management and our line-level staff," Gardiner said. Hiring coming out of the pandemic hasn't been easy and, like others, hospi- tality executives have had to think harder about how to make jobs more attractive. Average wages have surged,, something the American Ho- tel and Lodging Association has underscored. As hotel occupancy ap- proaches the pre-pandemic high of 70%, state and local tax revenue is increasing, with Massachusetts ranking seventh in revenue growth, according to an AHLA article published in February in its publication, Lodging. "To continue growing, we need to hire more people. Fortunately, there's never been a better time to be a hotel employ- ee, with wages, benefits, flexibility, and upward mobility better than ever," AHLA President and CEO Chip Rogers said. AHLA cited a median industry wage of $23 per hour, while the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported an average hour- ly wage of $20.78 in January, up nearly $4 per hour since January 2020. At Great Wolf Lodge New England, the indoor waterpark and hotel opened nine years ago in Fitchburg, reaching out to potential candidates is a constant effort, mainly done through job fairs. But keep- ing them is the trick. Bonuses of up to $500 are offered to people who refer em- ployees who stay and wages are constantly studied and increased when needed. "Retention is our No. 1 goal," said Great Wolf New England General Manager Henry Tessman, who noted the majority of its employees returned the hotel opted to close for 15 months aer COVID-19 made operating the waterpark difficult. Tessman admits that Great Wolf is in a unique position, drawing workers from nearby Fitchburg State University and Mount Wachusett Community College in Gardner. ere's a built-in labor pool, so even if the hotel is light on staffing, it's less pronounced than the industry average. Immigration quagmire Elsewhere, staffing problems are affect- ed by a longstanding political football: immigration. Hospitality and tourism have long attracted seasonal workers to the U.S., and those hold a Permanent Res- ident Card (or Green Card). But policies that reduced the number of foreign-born workers entering the U.S. under the President Donald Trump Administration, plus a moratorium on international travel during the pandemic, reduced the flow of workers, according to a report by Gold- man Sachs Research in the spring of 2022. e hospitality industry, including the AHLA, has called for immigration reform to bolster the workforce. In particular, the group is pushing for legislation to strengthen the H2-B and J-1 visa programs, which have been the major avenues for foreign-born workers to come to the U.S. to work legally. Gardiner said it's been very difficult to get such visa applications approved post- COVID. Pointing to a low U.S. unemploy- ment rate, he insisted immigration reform will only benefit the U.S. labor market. Regardless of the fate of immigration reform, which seems unlikely with the state of politics in Washington, D.C., the hospitality industry will expand its foot- print, as it has always done. Great Wolf Lodge, for example, announced plans to open a second New England location at Foxwoods Resort Casino in Mashantuck- et, Connecticut in 2025. "ere's always a developing pipeline, and this creates tremendous tax revenue," said Paul Sacco, president and CEO of the Massachusetts Lodging Association. Sacco said momentum is building for business meetings and accommodations, and hotel managers are up to the task. "We're starting to see the light, but it's going to take us another year or year-and- a-half to get back to proper staffing levels in line with occupancy levels," Sacco said. Great Wolf Lodge is the second largest tourist attraction in Central Massachusetts, with 650,000 annual visitors. Henry Tessman, gen- eral manager for Great Wolf New England PHOTO | COURTESY OF GREAT WOLF LODGE W

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