Seasonal staffing demands: Understanding the high demand periods in the hospitality sector  

Your approach to seasonal recruitment will differ depending on your business model, for example, if you open only for the summer season, you can focus more time and resources on recruitment and onboarding in the runup to your opening date, whereas if you are open all year round and need to accommodate extra staff for holiday seasons, you might find it more challenging to focus on recruitment. 

Understanding the main peak recruitment seasons and how to strategically plan recruitment operators can plan ahead and ensure they secure the top talent for their business and streamline their hiring and onboarding processes.  

• Summer Season: The summer season is one of the most prominent peak recruitment periods in the hospitality industry, with outdoor activity venues, hotels, holiday parks, theme parks, and resorts expecting a huge surge in demand. Hospitality operators should start thinking about recruitment as much as 3-4 months before the summer season begins, allowing sufficient time for attracting, interviewing, and onboarding candidates. And with summer hailing the busy period for so many different businesses, competition for seasonal staff can be very high.    
• Holiday Seasons: There are several additional holiday periods that are marked by a significant rise in travel and tourism. With Christmas markets booming, city tourism thrives in the lead-up to Christmas, so operators should think about holiday recruitment earlier – remembering that you’re also competing with retailers for seasonal staff.   
• School Holidays: The UK school holidays can influence tourism and travel, so it’s good to understand when these occur in your area – as it’s not always the same across the country. As well as the big breaks at Christmas, Easter, and summer – there are always half-term holidays that occur roughly every six weeks and while not necessarily requiring a full recruitment drive, may mean you need to think about staff scheduling or operating hours during the holidays.   
• Special Events and Festivals: Local events, festivals, conferences, and sports tournaments can significantly impact the hospitality industry's demand. Hospitality operators associated with these events should consider recruitment timelines that align with the event dates. Some events, such as music festivals may be an annual occurrence but some events, such as the recent UK Eurovision competition are a one-off that can drive mass tourism spikes.  

What seasonal workers want: key factors to consider for successful recruitment  

Attracting high-quality candidates is essential to a successful season in your business. Many of your seasonal staff will be on the front line of your business and play a huge role in customer satisfaction. Many seasonal experiences and holiday-based businesses rely on positive reviews to drive bookings, so it’s important to attract the best staff. Understanding the needs of your candidates will help you showcase yourself as the best seasonal employer that serves to benefit their needs as employees.   

Here we look at some of the key benefits that your seasonal candidates will want to get out of their employment to help you advertise and recruit for your business:   

• Flexibility: Seasonal contracts can offer a great deal of flexibility in terms of the duration of employment that enables candidates to work during specific periods when they are available, such as the summer holidays for students, while having the freedom to work less in the off-season and pursue study or other interests. It’s worth noting that for student hires who are either in the area for study or are returning home for the summer, you may be able to build a lasting working relationship that means they may return back to you for several years in a row – which is a huge plus for employers in terms of experience and training that they already have.   
• Work Experience: For adventure-loving candidates the opportunity to work in different environments and locations is a huge benefit. For example, working in a beachfront hotel during the summer or a ski resort in winter or working away for months at a time on a cruise. These candidates will be more likely to travel for work and will see board and food as part of their contract as a huge benefit.   
• Skills Development: Seasonal employment can be a great way for candidates to start building their employment skills by gaining proficiency in customer service, event management or specific industry-related skills. Hospitality jobs offer candidates a broad range of skills that aid in future employability and enhance career prospects.   
• Employee Benefits: Some candidates will be motivated by the perks and benefits of working for your specific business, that might be discounted or complimentary accommodation, meals, recreational activities or access to facilities, such as being able to attend a music festival and work some of the time and enjoy the event in their downtime.   

It’s on you to make sure you utilise these benefits to attract the best candidates to work for your business. When advertising seasonal positions, be sure to emphasise the benefits and perks of working for you. Clearly communicate the flexibility, skill development opportunities and unique experiences that can be gained from the role.   

Make your offer attractive and use what you have at your disposal. Extend discounts or complimentary access to facilities, services or amenities that your business offers. This might include discounted stays, meals, spa services or other recreational activities. These perks can enhance the overall experience for seasonal employees and create loyalty towards the organisation.  

11 top tips for successful staffing during the busy season  

So, now that we know when to recruit our seasonal staff and what they are looking for – here we have our top tips to help you manage your staffing successfully over the peak seasons in your operation.

1. Start early

Use historical sales data, and knowledge of your area and check the calendar for relevant dates so you can anticipate your peak seasons and start the recruitment process well in advance, giving you plenty of time to attract candidates, conduct interviews, complete all the onboarding admin and get training in order ready for the start of the season. Be aware of any potential challenges – for example, if you rely on recruiting students who return home for the summer, you may need to start advertising a little later.  

2. Develop a recruitment strategy

Create a comprehensive recruitment strategy that includes job descriptions, where and how you plan to advertise, how you will screen candidates at each of the recruitment processes and develop a solid onboarding process so that you can efficiently collect all necessary documents and payroll information as well as essential training for legal compliance and customer training to communicate your business values and ensure an excellent customer experience.   

Bonus tip: An employee referral programme can help you attract top-quality candidates and reward your current employees for their help.

3. Build relationships with local schools and colleges

Your local educational institutions can help you find top candidates who are interested in hospitality, leisure and tourism, especially if you offer internships or opportunities for on-the-job learning.  

4. Get online

Online job advertising platforms are everybody’s first port of call when looking for employment, so make sure you’re seen in the right places. Branch out onto industry-specific websites and utilise social media to advertise your seasonal positions. Don’t forget to shout about the perks and benefits of working for your business.  

5. Streamline the interview process

If you’re conducting a mass recruitment drive then you need to streamline your interview process. You can do this by utilising phone or online video interviews or through conducting group interviews in the early stages of recruitment to evaluate multiple candidates efficiently.

6. Write clear job descriptions

Make sure your job role descriptions are clear outlining the duration of the contract and expectations of the role. Sometimes seasonal staff feel like they are being exploited and not offered the same or equal benefits as full-time employees. Good employers will make the effort to dispel this preconception.  

7. Offer training

A structured program of onboarding training will help you quickly get seasonal staff up to speed and ensure they are equipped with the necessary skills to provide excellent customer service and comply with any legal compliance obligations, such as alcohol sales or health and safety. 

8. Offer flexibility

Seasonal staff often want the flexibility that comes with seasonal work, so you should endeavour to meet this need for your staff by offering different flexible shifts and supporting a fair work-life balance for employees.   

Bonus Tip: As well as flexible shifts, consider offering flexible pay. Access Early Pay enables employees to draw down on their wages early, depending on what they’ve already earned – a great flexible pay solution for seasonal workers.

9. Create a positive work environment

You can help foster positive working relationships with your teams who are on a seasonal contract by creating a positive and inclusive work culture to boost employee morale and retention. Be sure to recognise and reward outstanding performance, organise work social events and create work communication channels.  

10. Use rota and scheduling software

Your seasonal staff need to get up to speed quickly and find out information about schedules, rotas, changes, updates and access policies. Hospitality rota and scheduling software can help you keep all of this in one place and make it easier to communicate with your staff.  

11. Evaluate and learn

After each peak season, assess your recruitment and staffing strategies to identify areas for improvement. Learn from past experiences and make necessary adjustments to enhance future seasonal recruitment efforts.  

You should remember as well that the nature of your business may influence your recruitment strategies. For sports and activity ventures, you may need to recruit staff with particular training or experience in a sport or that have water safety skills – as well as the ability to deal with customers. For Christmas events or holiday parks, you might need performers who are also able to manage the needs of customers. You’ll also need to consider the experience level of your new recruits so you can identify areas that need intensive training vs. experienced staff who may just need a refresher. Adapt your recruitment and management approaches based on the unique demands of each season to ensure successful seasonal staffing.  

Streamline your people processes with advanced hospitality-focused tech

In this article, we’ve explored some of the common challenges we hear about from our customers when it comes to recruiting seasonal staff. Here at Access Hospitality, we understand the time, cost and resource-intensive nature of seasonal hiring, especially when dealing with a young, inexperienced or specialised workforce, which is why our hospitality-designed software solutions in staff scheduling, rota management and training are already used by hundreds of businesses in the seasonal hospitality sector.   

Remember that adapting your recruitment and management approaches based on the unique demands of each season is crucial for successful seasonal staffing. By following these tips and implementing the strategies discussed, you'll be well-equipped to overcome the recruitment challenges and ensure a smooth and successful peak season in your hospitality operation.  

Discover Access Hospitality solutions for managing seasonal recruitment:   

• Hospitality recruitment and onboarding software  
• On-demand pay app  
• Learning management system  
• Scheduling and rota software for the hospitality industry  

 Other articles of interest:   

• How to recruit staff for hospitality  

• Boost your hospitality staff retention with these top employee benefits