Review of Employer-employee relations in hotels

Abstract

Reviews the book, Employer-employee relations in hotels by W. I. Hamilton (1925). The former director of the Research Bureau of the American Hotel Association tells how hotels are using and should use personnel methods comparable to those used by other large business enterprises. In part the book brings together in accessible form a series of articles published in the Hotel World. Managers and department heads of hotels for the first time have available a summary of the methods for securing and maintaining a satisfactory and satisfied corps of workers' in their business. If the statement of one hotel training school is to be trusted, the annual change of managers, housekeepers and chefs costs the hotels nearly four million dollars. Four chapters on training in hotels are particularly suggestive. With the exception of pensions, all the "fifteen good roads to good will in industrial relations" listed by the Metropolitan Life are found in hotels and described briefly. No hotel, however, has a properly functioning centralized personnel division, although some use the title of personnel manager. When information is lacking, it is the fault of the business which is just beginning to give more systematic attention to improving its personnel. Its vaunted service to the public is rarely backed by corresponding interest in service for its own employees, although instances of notable achievements are described. Hotel men will surely find this authoritative review a pace maker. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)