Skilled Employee Retention in Hong Kong's Hospitality Industry: The Perspective of the Hotel's HR Manager

Skills and Competencies Needed for the Hong Kong Hotel Industry:
The Perspective of the Hotel
Human Resources Manager
Benny Chan
Marianne Coleman

ABSTRACT. The tourism industry is one of the main sources of income to Hong Kong. If qualified employees provide better service,
Hong Kong can potentially attract even more visitors. The training of new recruits and existing staff is therefore vital, but views on the value and the type of training vary amongst the stakeholders. This study of the views of hotel human resources managers revealed that they considered that people who were interested in developing their career in the hospitality industry must be prepared to start at the bottom. The hotel human resources managers strongly believe that employees must have a positive service-mind and commitment to the industry with a certain degree of working experience. Employers perceived these were important components to success for every member of staff, rather than having a good educational background.
It is suggested that in order to face the challenges of retention of qualified employees, the growth of information technology and more demanding customers, provision of educational qualifications is needed.

Benny Chan, EdD, is Lecturer, School of Hotel & Tourism Management, The Hong Kong
Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong (E-mail: [e-mail]).
Marianne Coleman, BA (Hons.), MA, PhD, is Senior Lecturer in Education Leadership and Management, Institute of Education, University of London, 20 Bedford Way,
London WC1H 0AL (E-mail: [e-mail]).
Journal of Human Resources in Hospitality & Tourism, Vol. 3(1) 2004 http://www.haworthpress.com/web/JHRHT © 2004 by The Haworth Press, Inc. All rights reserved.
Digital Object Identifier: 10.1300/J171v03n01_02

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JOURNAL OF HUMAN RESOURCES IN HOSPITALITY & TOURISM

Such qualifications will raise the status of the hotel industry in general and enhance the status of

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