Why hotel staff leave, and what makes them stay

What is shaping hospitality

Hotels, restaurants and travel brands are judged on every stay, meal and review. Guest experience, consistency and online reputation drive bookings.

• Online reviews strongly influence bookings
• Consistency across properties builds trust
• Guests expect personalised service

A hotel management company, working in UAE & Qatar. Client identity is withheld to protect confidentiality.

Organisation

A hotel management company

Sector

Hospitality

Team engaged

Market Research

Services

Quantitative research, Qualitative research, Reporting & insights

Turnover among housekeeping and food and beverage staff was high, raising recruitment and training costs and affecting service quality. Many staff were migrant workers from South Asia, Africa and the Philippines, and management was unsure why so many left within their first year.

• Answer the core question: why hotel staff leave, and what makes them stay.
• Understand the views, needs and behaviour of staff.
• Measure how widespread each pattern is, and explain the reasons behind it.
• Give the client evidence it can act on within 8 weeks.

The work focused on 2,500 staff.

• staff2,500

Audiences we typically reach in hospitality

Guests and dinersCorporate travel buyersFront-line staffTravel agentsOnline reviewers

Coverage: UAE & Qatar. Markets: United Arab Emirates and Qatar.

• United Arab Emirates
• Qatar

A mixed-method design: structured research measured how widespread each pattern was, and qualitative conversations explained why.

1. 1Brief
2. 2Anonymous staff survey
3. 3Exit interviews
4. 4Insight

We ran an anonymous survey in English, Arabic, Hindi, Nepali, Tagalog and Swahili, covering pay, accommodation, workload, supervision and career progression. Exit interviews by phone with recent leavers explored their reasons in detail. Results were reported by department and hotel only where groups were large enough to protect anonymity.

Quantitative researchQualitative researchReporting & insights

staff

2,500

• Respondents were selected across UAE & Qatar using quotas set in advance for each location and respondent type, so no single area or group dominated.
• Qualitative participants were recruited purposively to cover the full range of experiences that mattered, rather than for statistical representation.

exit interviews

40

• Trained local-language interviewers conducted interviews in person, supervised in the field.
• Interviews and discussions were led by experienced moderators using a guide agreed with the client.

• Back-checks on a share of completed interviews
• Time and location checks on field interviews
• Supervisor accompaniment in the field
• Recordings and transcripts for every session
• Re-screening of qualitative recruits
• Logic and range checks on the final data
• Work carried out under our ISO 20252 quality procedures

• Cross-tabulation by key groups and locations
• Significance testing on the differences that mattered
• Thematic coding of interviews and discussions
• Journey and decision mapping

• Accommodation conditions and lack of clear career progression were the strongest reasons for leaving.

Staff wellbeing directly shaped the guest experience.

• The company upgraded staff housing, introduced skills-based promotion steps and created a simple grievance channel.
• Share the findings with the teams closest to customers so they can act quickly.

What we recommended, and the client put into practice

• Turnover fell over the following year.

• Insight report and management presentation
• Cleaned data file and data tables
• Interview summaries and key verbatims

• Repeat the measure after changes are in place to track progress.
• A natural follow-on question: are properties delivering brand standards?