Opportunity on diversity and inclusion in the hospitality industry

In 2025, the hospitality industry has a significant opportunity to leverage diversity and inclusion to enhance guest experiences, attract top talent, and drive business success. While the industry recognizes the importance of diversity, a gap often exists between policies and employee experiences. To truly benefit from diversity, hospitality businesses need to focus on creating inclusive environments where all employees feel valued and empowered.

“Promoting Diversity and Inclusion in Hospitality for Building a Stronger Workforce” says Mr Anirban Chowdhury, Vice President & Chief Human Resources Officer at Delta Corp

Diverse teams bring unique perspectives, drive innovation, and enhance guest experiences. Inclusive hiring practices, cultural celebrations, and regular training foster a respectful, empowered workforce. Leadership commitment and consistent monitoring are crucial for lasting impact. A diverse team not only reflects a global clientele but also boosts employee satisfaction and business performance. Embracing D&I isn’t just the right thing—it’s a smart, future-ready strategy for building a stronger, more resilient hospitality workforce.

The first thing to note is that the hospitality industry already boasts quite a diverse workforce. In the UK, for example, around 40% of employees have a non-native background. The same is true for Switzerland, while in the US the number is a still substantial 30%.

Even so, the diversity seen among the workforce will often be dwarfed by that of the guests, who could literally be flying in from anywhere in the world. For customer-facing staff, that means meeting and greeting a never-ending array of nationalities, cultural histories, religious beliefs and other differences – all of which the guests themselves will expect to be understood and accommodated.

This process goes to the heart of what is done in a hotel, and the need to delight our guests to ensure they become returning customers (and give good reviews on sites like TripAdvisor). The good news is that intercultural communication is a skill that can be learned. In fact, it’s the subject of a course that I have begun teaching to Glion students this semester – a task that excites me greatly since this is an endlessly fascinating topic.

Looking away from the customer for a moment, there are other benefits to having a more diverse team. One of these is that it generally creates an environment which is more resilient and adaptable to the changes encountered in a dynamic and fast-moving business like hospitality. Hearing different perspectives on an issue helps us to plot the best solution, whereas monocultural thinking could mean we miss the winning idea.

From a business standpoint, having a workforce that is delighting customers (and feeling good for doing so), while finding great solutions to problems, means you have a happy employee base – and that almost certainly means less turnover of staff. This is very important in a business sector that has historically featured quite high turnover. Far better to keep great staff on board than to have to continually dip into the external talent pool.

Throughout the hospitality business we are already harvesting and using data to personalise guest stays (allocating a favourite room, including bespoke amenities, etc) but at a human level a guest’s experience should also be personalised to their cultural background.

This creates memorable guest experiences, enabling the guests to feel valued and respected. In addition, having staff who understand cultural differences helps to reduce the potential for conflict; something which is always a risk factor within a busy hotel environment.

Here, of course, being able to call upon a good range of language skills can be a huge asset. With international diversity often comes a range of languages, and being multilingual can be invaluable for success in client-facing hospitality roles.

It’s also essential to respect diversity in physical ability, with the onus on hotels to provide facilities suited to guests – and staff – who may use a wheelchair or have visual impairments, for example.

Before exploring strategies to promote diversity, it’s important to consider the wider industry context. Hospitality was one of the sectors hardest-hit by Covid lockdowns, with enforced closures leading to significant staff shortages as many workers left the industry – many for good.

Finding and hiring quality employees remains challenging for hotels, and one way to attract job-seekers is by building a strong reputation for diversity and inclusion.

In addition, diversity and other human capital metrics are increasingly emphasised within ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) requirements, adding an important regulatory dimension

That means a crucial part of any diversity strategy is measurement; without accessible data, managers cannot effectively drive progress in promoting diversity.