Employee happiness in hospitality: what leaders can do

Most hospitality leaders know the moment. A guest walks in, a team member asks “what do you want?” without real interest, and the whole visit tilts. The guest copies that energy, and the chance to make their day is gone. Employee happiness is often treated as a soft extra next to revenue and occupancy, yet it sits exactly at that point of contact between a team member and a guest. If the people serving are not okay, no script or slogan will hide it.

Verónica Sánchez Martín, a founder who wrote a book with five tools to make hospitality teams happy, has built her work around that idea. She studied hospitality and events management and later specialised in employee experience. Her starting point was a line from a mentor: if something makes you upset, there is a problem you can solve. For her, that problem was unhappy staff and the coldness it creates for guests.

Why employee happiness shapes the guest experience

In her view, hospitality is a deeply human sector, and the front line is where that shows. The people on the floor are in direct contact with guests all day. A sincere question such as “how are you?” can change someone's day, as long as it is honest. Guests feel the difference between a smile that is meant and a smile that is required.

She describes walking into a restaurant and feeling real anger at how the team treated its guests, with no care in how the menu was brought and no warmth in the welcome. Her conclusion was that the fix starts behind the scenes. When employees are happier, they understand how big their impact on a guest is, and they become kinder to the people they serve.

That is why employee happiness belongs on the same agenda as guest satisfaction. In her approach, it is the source of the service guests actually receive, rather than a separate topic for human resources.

Stop asking for performed smiles

Many hotels still treat emotion as weakness. Staff are expected to leave their feelings at home and perform. She recalls the posters behind service doors in the United States, reminding staff to smile because they are on stage.

Her argument is practical. People can tell when you smile because you have to and when you smile because you want to. If leaders do not take care of the team, they can hang as many posters as they like and nothing changes. She sees the habit of hiding emotion as part of an old mindset in an industry that is often still old fashioned, but she also sees that mindset shifting. A related article looks at vulnerable leadership in hotel teams.

Listen first: the fastest route to a motivated team

If there is one habit she puts above all others, it is listening. That means asking the team what they need and then doing as much as possible to give it to them, while still taking care of the needs of the business.

She tested this in a hotel company in Vienna with 14 hotels, in the middle of the pandemic. Her food and beverage department ranked last of the 14 on team motivation. The target was to reach the top six within six months, or a year at most. Using what she had learned about employee experience, she started by listening. Within two months, the department had climbed to second place.

“It was really a big success. I mean, you just was listen to them and know what they need.”

Verónica Sánchez Martín, 13:14

What the team needed was often concrete. Some people needed to work at specific times. Others wanted more transparency. Schedules were one of the biggest problems: one person wanted mornings, another evenings, some did not want weekends while others did. Building a rota around all of that took real effort, she admits, but it worked.

Practical ways to build employee happiness

Her book collects five tools that she and colleagues use with their teams. Among them are growth and development, communication and recognition. Together with the lessons from her work with leaders, they translate into habits any hotel or restaurant can start with:

• Listen to each team member and act on what you hear, within the limits of the business.
• Build schedules around real preferences where you can, such as morning, evening and weekend shifts.
• Be transparent about goals, budgets and decisions. A related article looks at employee profit sharing in hotels.
• Give people room to grow, because in her view companies often forget that people want to develop.
• Recognise effort and celebrate success together.
• Let people show who they are instead of acting out a role.

She does not present these as fixed rules. Her advice to leaders is to try a tool, and if it does not work for your team, that is fine. It may simply not be the right tool for you.

In her experience, when leaders really care about their team, people see and feel it, and they give a lot back. A related article looks at an employer branding strategy for hotels.

“They are like a brand ambassadors for your company. They are brand ambassadors of yourself.”

Verónica Sánchez Martín, 15:23

Leaders need support too

Leaders are often the reason people leave. She points to a Gallup report saying that 75% of employees leave their workplace because of their leaders. Yet leaders themselves often have nobody to talk to.

She knows this from experience. As a manager she had to make decisions with serious consequences for other people. She could not ask her boss, who would wonder why they had hired her. She could not ask her team, because the matter was confidential.

That gap led her to start a community for hospitality leaders in Vienna, with monthly events where leaders support each other, solve problems together and celebrate each other's success. The first event was fully booked in ten days. When she asked people who joined her mastermind groups what they wanted, the answers pointed in one direction.

“I will say 99% of the answers was I want to bring more humanity in the hospitality.”

Verónica Sánchez Martín, 24:55

The lesson for any hotel is that a happy team depends on leaders who are supported themselves. A leader with a place to breathe and ask questions is far better placed to listen to a team.

Where to start

Her advice to people who feel too emotional or too different for this industry is to stay themselves, keep learning, take on a new challenge every year and act rather than only dream. For leaders, the same applies: pick one tool, try it with your team and see what changes. You can watch the full conversation to hear how the turnaround in Vienna happened and how the leaders' community grew.

Frequently asked questions

How do you improve employee happiness in a hotel?

Start by listening. In Verónica Sánchez Martín's experience, asking each team member what they need and acting on it, for example with schedules and more transparency, lifted a food and beverage department from last place to second in its company within two months. Add room for growth, open communication and recognition, and test which tools work for your own team.

Why does staff happiness affect guests?

Front line staff are in direct contact with guests all day, and guests pick up their energy. In her view, a happy team understands how much impact it has and treats guests with more kindness. A sincere question or smile can change a guest's day, while a forced smile is easy to spot.

Should hospitality staff hide their emotions at work?

She argues that hiding emotion belongs to an old mindset in the industry. Posters that tell staff to smile because they are on stage do not work if the team itself is not cared for. Guests notice when a smile is required rather than meant. Being authentic, within what the situation allows, builds a real connection.

What support do hospitality leaders need?

Leaders often make decisions with serious consequences for others and have nobody to talk to: not their boss, not their team and not friends outside the industry. She found that a community of peers who meet regularly gives leaders a place to ask questions, share contacts for open positions and celebrate success together.