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Work takes a heavy toll but some hotel staff soldier on
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Manpower challenges were already prevalent long before Covid-19 struck as the industry has diverse needs due to its extensive service lines across room operations, food and beverage, and culinary operations.
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SINGAPORE - The hospitality industry had been Ms Wong’s sweet spot for 20 years, and the thought of a change had never entered her mind.
But the ravages of the pandemic soon prompted the senior events manager to quit her job at a five-star hotel.
Covid-19 had realigned her priorities and Ms Wong, as she wants to be known, felt stressed out and unhappy after eight gruelling months dealing with the outbreak and increasingly fraught staff issues, so she left to be a stay-home mum.
Like many in the industry, her hotel chain had not been spared. With visitor arrivals at all-time lows, the hospitality industry was hit hard.
Singapore drew only about 330,000 international visitors last year, compared with 2.7 million in 2020, while their spending plunged from $4.8 billion to an estimated $1.9 billion.
But the ravages of the pandemic soon prompted the senior events manager to quit her job at a five-star hotel.
Covid-19 had realigned her priorities and Ms Wong, as she wants to be known, felt stressed out and unhappy after eight gruelling months dealing with the outbreak and increasingly fraught staff issues, so she left to be a stay-home mum.
Like many in the industry, her hotel chain had not been spared. With visitor arrivals at all-time lows, the hospitality industry was hit hard.
Singapore drew only about 330,000 international visitors last year, compared with 2.7 million in 2020, while their spending plunged from $4.8 billion to an estimated $1.9 billion.
These numbers are a fraction of what Singapore saw in 2019, with 19.1 million visitors and spending of about $28 billion.
