Working in the Irish 'Hospitality' industry

My girlfriend started work for a major hotel a month ago. She is a professional and has worked in several client facing roles. She even tooka pay cut for this position as it seemed ideal to her career path.

But from day one she found the working conditions in this hotel intolerable. I won't go into details here, only to outline a couple of examples. She was routinely criticised in public about issues which she hadn't been fully trained up on. She was criticised in a meeting for not having all details with her, even though she had not hosted the meeting before. When she pointed this out she was told that this wasn't good enough. Each time she was called into the office she felt that she was going to be criticised over something. Not once was she encouraged or shown support.

I have never seen her so distressed, stressed and with such low self esteem before. I mentioned it to a guy at work and he said the hotel industry is like that. I met a girl who worked in another hotel and she agreed.

Is this really the case? If so it is no wonder that the Irish welcome is long gone. I can only feel sympathy for those working in such conditions. I can't believe that the hospitality industry here places such low value on team work. Surely the job of management is to ensure that everyone is tackling issues together, not constantly seeking someone to blame for things that go wrong.

Imagine what it's like for some guy or girl from Eastern Europe in a lower level position than your girlfriend. I agree that this culture is the fault of management and it is not just ethically wrong but bad for business to allow a culture of bullying to thrive.
From talking to a friend over the years that is now a manager of a Dublin hotel this seems to be the industry norm.

Maybe your girlfriend isn't as good at her job as she'd like to think, or she'd like other people to believe?

Using excuses such as not being trained in something, or not having done something before is a cop out for someone who you claim to be a professional.

My main reason for posting this was to see if anyone else had similar experience of the way the hospitality industry works in Ireland.

ronan_d_john said:

Maybe your girlfriend isn't as good at her job as she'd like to think, or she'd like other people to believe?

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In her previous position she was offered extra money to stay. In her job prior to that several people in the company said to her that they didn't know what the company would do without her. I have been present on a couple of occasions to see her work, and certainly her strongest ability is in dealing with clients.

ronan_d_john said:

Using excuses such as not being trained in something, or not having done something before is a cop out for someone who you claim to be a professional.

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Not really. The position she went for was an important role. She has only been there a few weeks. The hotel uses it's own IT system. Surely it isn't too much to expect to be told how to operate it. She was told 'ah, it works this way. And if that doesn't work, try this way'. Any constructive criticism she leveled at the process was shot down. Surely all companies and management should take ideas on board. At the very least they should not adopt a confrontational approach. This really is basic management skills. I really can't see how employees work better if given constant criticism.

shnaek said:

In her previous position she was offered extra money to stay. In her job prior to that several people in the company said to her that they didn't know what the company would do without her. I have been present on a couple of occasions to see her work, and certainly her strongest ability is in dealing with clients.

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Fair enough. Was posing the question. But that was all in a different industry to what she's working in now (my understanding from what you're saying). I'm a genius in my current job, but when I was doing the exact same job in a different industry, I had major problems. Things don't necessarily transfer properly across industries.

However, the jump from one industry to another, and the surprise that the hospitality industry works in such a way, show that maybe the research into what she was getting into wasn't all that thorough.

hi shnaek,

i totallty agree with you. All hotels treat there staff like crap. I have worked in alot of hotel's and i can truly only say i kinda enjoyed working in one of them. Dont get me started on the last place. I have been to college and i am fully trained to work in every part of a hotel. The abuse some staff get is terrible. The managers/receptionists think they are the bees nees and make the guests feel real welcome and everything but little do they know how the staff is been treated. I have worked with different nationalites as well and they work so hard its unreal. I only left the last place because i found out i was pregnant and didnt want the stress of that kind of job. I will never work in a hotel ever again. I have lots of friends who say the same. I could go on and on here. I would tell your girlfriend to tell them where to stick there job and find a hotel that wont treat her like crap. there are some out there (very few though) Blue.

blueshoes said:

I would tell your girlfriend to tell them where to stick there job and find a hotel that wont treat her like crap. there are some out there (very few though) Blue.

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Thanks for that, Blue. She did hand in her notice. There are 7 office staff and 5 have left in the last month. There are also two new receptionists, and one more of the staff is already looking for a new job.

My cousin spent 4 years in college, worked in hotels for 3, and then went back to college to study IT. He also says he will never go back to hotels. I never understood what he meant until I heard the stories from my girlfriend every day.

ronan_d_john - the position sounded ideal on paper. Perhaps she should have talked to the staff before taking the job. I don't think she had any problem with the job at all - it was just the extremely poor 'management' and lack of team spirit. That can be hard to research. Either way, she has handed in her notice and will move on. But if this is the story of the Irish hotel industry is it not a shocking one? Or perhaps I am wrong to feel that staff are as important as clients in any industry.

shnaek said:

I mentioned it to a guy at work and he said the hotel industry is like that. I met a girl who worked in another hotel and she agreed.

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The hotel industry is a notoriously difficult/tough one to work in and if your girlfriend is finding it stressful, then it's possibly not for her.

If she's sure this career path is for her she could perhaps try working abroad. In many European countries, such as France, Germany, Switzerland, hotel workers are highly trained and treated like professionals as opposed to being viewed as 'lowly service personnel' in Ireland and the UK.

In the UK and Ireland the treatment of hotel staff is a hangover from the Victorian/ Edwardian era of domestic service. Workplace culture evolves over generations and both good and bad work practices are inherited by each generation of staff. It always surprises me how readily the Irish take to archaic, high-handed organisational structures.

I advise your girlfriend to read Maria Edgeworth’sCastle Rackrent (An Hibernian tale taken from facts and from manners of the Irish Squires before the year 1782)

Duplex said:

In the UK and Ireland the treatment of hotel staff is a hangover from the Victorian/ Edwardian era of domestic service. Workplace culture evolves over generations and both good and bad work practices are inherited by each generation of staff.

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The treatment of factory workers and staff, transport workers, women, children, the infirm etc etc in the Victorian/ Edwardian era was criminal by todays standards. These have changed so why has the hospitality industry not?

For

She did leave. Now she's in a much better job, and says that leaving was one of the best decisions she had ever made. She was offered 2 jobs from different hotels but says she will never work for a hotel again.