Thailand’s hotels are short on workers

The majority of Thai hotels surveyed recently admitted they are short on workers, according to the Thai Hotels Association. About 68% of 118 hotels surveyed said they are short-staffed. The workers needed include maids, receptionists, cleaners, cooks, waiters, and technicians. The survey was conducted from July 17-25.

The reason not enough people are seeking hotel jobs may likely have to do with wages. The survey found that only 33% of hotels have raised their wages to attract more job seekers.

The THA’s president said that hotel occupancy rates have been recovering ever since ‘Thailand Pass’ met its end on July 1. She noted, however, that the rates are still lower than pre-Covid-19 days. The survey found that the average occupancy rate was 38% in June, and bumped up to 45% in July, a small improvement.

Thailand’s hotel sector is still reliant on Thai tourists, according to Siam Commercial Bank’s Economic Intelligence Centre.

This news comes after another report found that Thailand’s young job applicants are more interested in administrative jobs than tourism jobs. Out of about 490,000 to 510,000 young job applicants on JobThai.com, 29.7% of people applied for administrative work. Only 3.63% were interested in tourism jobs.

Factory work was second most popular and jobs like accounting, technicians, logistics, and engineering ranked highly as well.

About 75% of the people job-hunting between the ages of 20 and 30 years old have a bachelor’s degree or higher, but there were also many unskilled labourers looking for work, while the market seeks skilled workers.

The THA’s president, Marisa Nunbhakdi, said that hotels need workers with service and language skills. She said…

“Most hotel customers are Thais although the number of foreign guests is increasing — mostly from Asia and the Middle East, followed by western Europe.”

SOURCE: Nation Thailand