Hawaii hotels looking for 500+ workers amid shortage

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – The American Hotel & Lodging Association is trying to fill more than 500 positions in Honolulu-area hotels to prepare for the return of Japanese visitors, business conferences and the holiday travel season.

But while Hawaii’s tourism industry is back, its workers are not.

“Where have all the workers gone? I still don’t know the answer. There’s a lot of people who aren’t working and you can see it in the numbers,” said Chip Rogers President/CEO of AHLA.

Like many businesses in today’s economy, hotels are struggling with a labor shortage and an aging workforce. AHLA hopes better benefits and potential for career growth will entice new hires for the holiday travel season.

“Some other industries got a little ahead of us during the pandemic and offered higher wages faster and moving to things like Instant Pay. Our industry has now caught up with that,” Rogers said. “Your ability to move up in our industry is better today than ever before because so many people left during the pandemic. “

Industry leaders said American leisure travelers fueled most of the rebound hotels saw this summer. Now they need staff to accommodate an expected influx of Asian visitors.

“In our hotels on Oahu, their business can be from 18% to 22%,” said Jerry Gibson, president of the Hawaii Hotel Alliance and vice president at BRE Hotels. “So that is a big chunk of the business that we are totally missing at this point.”

The trade group expects Hawaii…