In recent years, the hospitality industry has undergone a radical transformation — and not just because of that dramatic moment we all remember as COVID-19. In truth, the sector had already been in a state of major flux for some time, and as with any deep transformation, it became clear that human resources — just as much as technology — would become one of the greatest challenges for businesses.
While hotels, destinations, and tourism enterprises have shown great attention to technological development, the same cannot be said for human resources. Over the years, I’ve witnessed an explosion of events, conferences, and training seminars focused on technology, artificial intelligence, and the future. I myself — as some may recall — founded one of those events (BTO, back in 2008) at a time when I perceived a huge lack of technological preparedness among the average hotelier. Things have definitely improved on that front (in 2008, no one even knew what a channel manager was…), though of course we must continue pushing for growth in knowledge and awareness.
However, the enormous interest in topics like design and automation has led many — myself included — to overlook the attention that should always be given to human capital, which has always been the soul and beating heart of the hospitality and tourism industry. We’ve all focused on wondering what Amazon Alexa could do in our hotel rooms, how we could implement self check-in, or now what we might do with ChatGPT (and yes, someone even brought up the Metaverse — but I’ll save that for another post).
And what about our staff?
There’s a reason the industry has been abandoned so rapidly, and why it’s now extremely difficult to find qualified personnel. Everyone’s talking about it — often without really understanding our sector — highlighting low wages, exhausting work conditions with little recognition, complex schedules, and, yes, the abuses that some tourism businesses impose on their workers. But no one has truly dug into the root of the problem: the younger generations now see this as a second-class industry, one with limited opportunities, where — in the eyes of the average person — “anyone can be a waiter.”
Slowly, and with the help of a school system that doesn’t showcase the real potential of this sector, we’ve reached a point of crisis. A chorus of cries for help is rising from hoteliers, who, desperate to fill roles, are forced to hire completely unprepared staff — and sometimes (tell me it hasn’t happened to you in the past two years) even embarrassingly unsuitable ones.
I’m not here to assign blame — we all share responsibility: from hoteliers who are inattentive and reluctant to invest in staff training, to public institutions that still struggle to treat the industry as the vital economic engine it is — worth 13% of Italy’s GDP.
All investments are focused on product. We’re seeing the rise of increasingly high-tech, sustainable hotels designed by top architects with exciting prospects. Then you go there for an aperitif and find staff who don’t speak the language well, lack proper training, and are forced to cover general shortcomings through sheer effort.
We need to break this cycle — and fast — because soon it will be a rare thing to find an F&B Manager, a Director of Sales, or a Revenue Manager. Often, during the conferences I attend, there’s always some hotelier who looks at me skeptically and makes the usual, predictable comment:
“Sure, but what we really need are room attendants, porters, receptionists — not managers.”
These hoteliers forget — and believe me, there are many — that without career prospects and real opportunities, no one will want to work in a hotel anymore.
We need to put people back at the center, support their growth, and invest heavily in higher education for those who want to build a career in hospitality.
Throughout my career, I’ve had to learn countless things. I don’t have a university degree, and I only earned my master’s at Cornell University at 55 (because learning never ends). But I speak languages fluently, I’m an expert in HR management, a tech innovator, I’ve worked in sales and traveled the world, met thousands of fascinating people, I know about design and faucets, I can remake a hotel room, I’m skilled in F&B and mixology… and the question always remains:
Why aren’t tourism professions recognized as highly specialized and deserving of advanced education?
HIA was born to try to give an answer to this question — one we could no longer postpone. We created it to bring value to everything that is required of a tourism and hospitality professional, and especially to bring young people back into the spotlight.
Working with 20-year-olds is both extremely complex and incredibly simple. You just need to nurture their ambitions, their passions, their leadership potential (and believe me, they have it — it just needs to be brought out!). Start from the beauty of this profession, show them the many career paths they could take — the ones no one talks about enough.
So, I ask you:
Support every educational project born in this country. Treat it as if it were your own. And give real opportunities to the next generation.
Giancarlo Carniani e direttore d’albergo a Firenze dove gestisce tre importanti strutture, è l’ideatore di BTO il più importante evento italiano dedicato alla distribuzione online dei prodotti turistici // Giancarlo Carniani is a hotel manager in Florence, where he runs three major properties. He is also the creator of BTO, the most important Italian event dedicated to the online distribution of tourism products.
