The hotel industry in the Riviera Maya is grappling with a crisis that threatens its operations and service quality due to a lack of trained personnel in key areas like kitchens and housekeeping, coupled with the temporary migration of employees to Canada. This situation, according to union leaders and administrators, is causing high worker turnover, elevated training costs, and difficulties in retaining talent.
Claudio Cortez Méndez, leader of the Revolutionary Confederation of Workers and Peasants (CROC) in Tulum, highlighted that the kitchen area is the most affected due to the need for highly specialized personnel. In contrast, departments such as waiters and bartenders do not face the same level of crisis, as they offer more attractive income by being directly related to guests.
One of the factors exacerbating this situation is the temporary migration of qualified cooks to Canada, driven by labor agreements between the two countries. Although these jobs are temporary, their impact on the sector is significant, as hotels lose key personnel for months, directly affecting service quality.
To address this problem, employers and unions are working to make local salaries more competitive, aiming to discourage labor migration. Cortez Méndez also emphasized efforts to train entry-level personnel, such as gardeners and public area workers, to take on more specialized roles in the future.
The relationship with immediate supervisors has also been identified as a critical factor in staff turnover. According to union leaders, a demotivating work environment can be as damaging as low salaries. Human Resources departments have been advised to prioritize team stability and consider changes in leadership positions to improve work dynamics.
Training new employees represents a considerable expense for companies, but this investment does not always yield the expected results, as many workers choose to migrate or change jobs once they achieve higher qualifications.
The hotel industry in the Riviera Maya faces a crossroads: improve working conditions and foster a healthy work environment to retain local talent, or continue to lose competitiveness to more attractive international markets. Solving this challenge is essential to ensure the stability of one of the region’s economic pillars.
Source: Cambio 22
