Employee Profit Sharing in Hotels: A Model Built on Purpose

Many hotel owners and general managers say the same thing when you ask about their biggest problem: finding staff and keeping them. And the team often feels like a cost line instead of part of the business. Employee profit sharing is one answer to that problem. You give the people who run the hotel a share of what the hotel earns, so that how well the business does becomes their concern too.

Rocco Bova has looked at this question from both sides. He started as a waiter in Italy, went to hotel school in London and worked his way up through hotels in Dubai, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and New Delhi to become general manager of luxury resorts. Today he is a founder and consultant in Mérida, Mexico, and he is building a new hotel concept, My Humble House, with profit sharing at its core.

Why employee profit sharing matters for hotels

The standard employment deal in hospitality is a salary at the end of the month. In Bova's view, that deal keeps people at a distance. They do the work, but nothing changes for them whether the hotel makes money or not. His answer is to change the deal itself: part of the net profit goes back to the people who created it.

“The net profit or part of the net profit that is gonna be made by the company will be shared with the team member.”

Rocco Bova, 35:16

This is not charity. The hotel must stay a business, and investors still expect a dividend or a return on what they put in. Employee profit sharing in his model means a part of the profit, not all of it, so that team members feel they are part of the business and not just employees who collect a salary.

Where hotels lose money without anyone noticing

Bova came to the idea through a problem many operators recognise. In his experience, hotels lose money through their own people in three ways. He stresses that not everybody does it, but that some people always do.

• Time: you pay for eight hours a day and get maybe six hours of actual work, so the salary you pay is not fully used.
• Cash: wherever cash changes hands, small amounts can disappear, and micro theft becomes macro theft by the end of the year.
• Items: small equipment, room amenities, food and drinks from the kitchen and bars, and minibar items. Some guests who complain that they never had that beer may be telling the truth.

The lesson for any hotel is not to start from suspicion. It is to recognise that a team without a stake in the result has little reason to protect it. When part of the profit is theirs, wasted hours, missing cash and empty minibars become their loss as well as the owner's.

How a profit sharing model can work in a hotel

The concept Bova is developing combines hotel rooms with residences for sale, a business model he points out is common among large luxury brands. The difference is in how the money is split:

• A defined part of the net profit is shared with the team members.
• Investors still receive their dividend or return on investment.
• Ten percent of the net profit is set aside as an emergency reserve for the team.
• Investors are chosen on shared values, not only on the return they ask for.

That last point matters to him. The tagline of the project says it in one line.

“The tagline for my humble house is profit is the consequence of our purpose.”

Rocco Bova, 32:44

He turns down conversations with investors whose first question is the return on investment, even if that means he may never find them. The same rule shaped his career: he never chose an employer for the salary alone, but for a company that matched his values. What clients and banks now ask of hotels is the subject of a related article on ESG in hospitality.

Employee profit sharing and a reserve for the next crisis

The second part of the model comes straight from the pandemic. Bova saw hotel companies tell staff that there was no more money and end the employment of millions of people from one day to the next, with little regard for their families. In his view, the industry had faced crises before, from wars to 9/11 and SARS in Asia, and learned little from them.

His comparison is a household. Almost every family keeps a little money aside for an emergency. Hotel companies, he argues, usually put everything back into growth or into shareholders. Keeping ten percent of the net profit in reserve would not save the world, but it could keep a team paid for two months, three months, six months or a year when the next crisis comes. In that sense, employee profit sharing is not only a reward for good years. It is also a promise about bad ones.

He links this directly to today's staffing problem. Owners complain that the new generation does not want to work and is not committed. Bova's answer is that the industry was not committed to them during COVID, so staff now apply the same rule in return. A related article explains why employee loyalty in hotels has to work both ways.

“I work for you for as long as you care for me. The moment you don't care for me anymore, I don't care for you anymore.”

Rocco Bova, 42:45

Hiring and leading so a share of the profit means something

A share of the profit only builds commitment if people feel part of the team from day one. Bova's approach starts at the interview. As a general manager he interviewed every single applicant, for the back of the house as well as the front, a practice he learned at Four Seasons, where even a five-minute handshake from the general manager welcomed each new hire. A related article looks at what leaders can do for employee happiness in hospitality.

He also set clear expectations. He did not ask people to stay for life, only for at least twelve months, so that both sides would get something out of it. Leaving after three or four months, in his view, makes everyone lose. Beyond hiring, he names a few habits that turned staff, suppliers and guests into ambassadors:

• Treat team members as part of a family and lead them well, so they can deliver the owner's vision.
• Plan for the team in the building itself, including staff areas and storage that designers often forget.
• Care for guests so much that they talk about the hotel, even if they never come back.

Bova does not claim that profit sharing alone fixes staffing. His point is that the industry should look at itself before blaming the people it lost. You can watch the full conversation for his wider view on loyalty, technology and human contact in hotels.

Frequently asked questions

What is employee profit sharing in a hotel?

Part of the hotel's net profit is shared with the people who work there, on top of their salary, while investors still get their return. The goal is that staff feel part of the business, not just employees paid at the end of the month.

Does profit sharing replace investor returns?

No. In Bova's model only part of the net profit goes to the team. He is explicit that a hotel must remain a business and that investors expect a dividend or a return on their investment. He does choose investors who share his values, and he avoids those whose first and only question is the return on investment.

How can a hotel prepare its team for a crisis?

Bova proposes keeping ten percent of the net profit as a reserve, the way a household keeps savings for an emergency. That money is not reinvested in growth or paid out. It is meant to keep paying the team for a period, from two months to a year, when a crisis like the pandemic stops the business.

Why do hotels struggle to keep staff?

In Bova's view, many workers lost trust when companies ended their employment during COVID without care for their families. Staff now stay as long as an employer cares for them. He believes hotels should evaluate their own behaviour first, treat teams like family, set clear expectations at hiring and share the success the team creates.