Immigration Reform
Why The Hospitality Industry Says You Should Be Concerned
From the front desk to the banquet kitchen, hotels and meeting sites across the country have welcomed foreign-born staff members to fill much- needed positions. Yet the pool of hospitality workers and quality of service within the industry may be at risk. That’s according to hospitality and meetings industry insiders who are keeping a close eye on Congress and pending immigration reform legislation that could constrain the foreign-born labor supply on which the hospitality
industry so heavily relies.
Americans Want
Immigration Reform In June, the American Hotel & Lodging Educational Foundation released the results of a poll showing that more than 80 percent of registered voters want Congress to pass immigration reform before the end of the year.
The poll, conducted by Ayres, McHenry & Associates Inc. from June 23-27, found that more than seven in 10 voters surveyed would rather have Congress pass a bill that includes border security, employer enforcement and a temporary-worker program rather than pass no bill at all. |
“The hospitality industry runs on people. If no Americans can be found, we hire foreign-born workers. We would love to hire Americans if enough could be found,” said Shawn McBurney, vice president of governmental affairs for the American Hotel & Lodging Association (AH&LA), the Washington-based national association representing all sectors and stakeholders in the lodging industry.
Currently, both the House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate are pushing for separate immigration reform bills, and although both bills are designed to restrict illegal immigrants’ ability to enter and work in the United States, some fear immigration reform could inhibit employers from being able to hire foreign-born workers at all. AH&LA’s website reads: “Thousands of positions in hotels across America go unfilled each year because there simply are not enough Americans applying for the jobs. The lodging industry must have a stable labor pool to fill these critical service positions and to continue providing the high- quality service our guests demand.”
The Pending Reform
As it stands, two immigration reform bills are circulating within Congress, one approved by the House last December and another version that made it through the Senate in May. The House bill, H.R. 4437, focuses on border and interior enforcement and, if approved, would increase fines on employers for immigration paperwork errors, establish stiff penalties for employers who hire undocumented workers, and impose additional mandates on employers and undocumented workers.
While similar, the Senate version, bill S. 2611, includes measures for a guest-worker program that would allow employers to recruit immigrant workers when there is a shortage of domestic workers and provide a way for some undocumented workers to earn legal status. At present, members of Congress are working together to gauge citizens’ reactions to the pending reform bills.
“AH&LA supported the Senate version of the immigration bill, but we had concerns about the House version,” McBurney said. AH&LA officials are pushing for three main components to any immigration reform bill signed into law, including a new temporary worker program matching an employer with a willing foreign worker when no U.S. workers can be found, a workable way to deal with the estimated 12 million undocumented immigrants working in the United States, and an efficient and reliable program for enforcement of labor regulations.
Meanwhile, President George W. Bush has expressed his commitment to a comprehensive immigration reform that includes a guest-worker program, yet McBurney said AH&LA representatives fear that upcoming congressional elections—set to be held in November—may disrupt advancements made toward a bill friendly to the hospitality industry.
Critical Need For Workers
The need for hospitality workers is only becoming worse, according to AH&LA officials, who point to data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics showing that in 2004 the lodging industry employed 1.8 million people. With the lodging industry’s projected rate of growth, 700,000 additional workers will be needed by 2012, according to AH&LA.
Currently, hoteliers have the option to bring in temporary workers from other countries through educational visas or the H-2B program, a government-sponsored initiative that finds lesser-skilled, non-agricultural workers for various industries. This guest-worker program recruits foreign-born individuals for temporary service or labor if unemployed people capable of performing such service or labor cannot be found in this country. However, last summer the maximum number of those four-month visas was doled out, leaving hoteliers scrambling, McBurney said.
Furthermore, McBurney noted other causes for the ever-increasing decline of hospitality workers. “Unemployment in the United States is low, and because of that, hotels are facing labor shortages. Combine that with retiring Baby Boomers and the low birth rate, and that spells disaster,” he said, emphasizing that hotels are not to the point of closing their doors; however, some hotel properties, especially during peak seasons, are reporting the need for employees to work overtime and double shifts to keep their facilities operational. “People can’t keep that up for very long,” he said.
Planners & Suppliers Seek Fair Resolution
Meeting planners, too, are voicing concerns about the reform’s threat to the hospitality industry’s workforce. Kim Reynolds, CMP, conference and events manager for Alliance Data in Dallas, has more than 11 years of experience as a planner and said she believes that if hotels and meeting sites don’t have adequately trained staff members or enough employees, then problems with service—and her meetings—could ensue. “I have high service standards. I require timely and adequate room sets, English proficiency in service personnel if my meeting is in the United States, well-trained employees, and good customer service.”
Reynolds emphasized that for her, the nationality of hospitality workers is not a concern, but instead, said her concern boils down to service standards. “What I want is professionalism.”
At the same time, Reynolds acknowledges a need for immigration reform and said she believes the focus of guest-worker legislation should be “taken off our immediate neighbors to the south (Mexico) and looked at as a whole. The issue needs to be fair across the board, including being fair to the workers and the hotels that need to recruit and hire qualified people.”
Hoteliers across the country seem united in support of an immigration reform bill that contains an efficient guest-worker program to help fill those positions. Jonathan M. Tisch, chairman/CEO of Loews Hotels and former chairman of AH&LA, stated earlier this year that record-low unemployment rates, combined with steady growth in the lodging industry, have created an urgent situation for America’s hotels.
“Even though we provide competitive wages and benefits for our valued employees, we still cannot find enough Americans to fill critical positions at many of our hotels. A sensible and comprehensive approach to immigration reform, one that takes the long view, is the only way to address both the economic needs of U.S. businesses and the problem of undocumented workers already in our country.”
Speaking at a global tourism and travel conference in Washington in April, J.W. “Bill” Marriott Jr., chairman and CEO of Marriott International Inc., said he hoped that members of Congress could “work out their differences and do what is right for the hotel industry.” He said, “Every country will want to regulate immigration for the sake of its security and citizens, but we must pursue policies that allow people to seek the chance to build better lives for themselves and their families.”
