Hotels buying up property to house staff due to shortage of accommodation

Shane O'Grady of Guys Bar and Restaurant in Clifden, Co Galway, in his purpose built staff accommodation. Photograph: Aoife Herriott“A perfect storm” and “a nightmare” is how one west of Ireland hotelier and a restaurateur have described the staffing and related accommodation crisis as the height of the summer season approaches.

“I gave a lovely Spanish man a position last month as a kitchen porter. We have taken two properties we had for Airbnb off the market to use to accommodate staff. I offered him a room in an apartment with other staff but he wanted to bring his wife and small child over and live in that room. She was available to do some housekeeping work for us. However, I wasn’t comfortable with the space they would have as a family.

In Galway city and the village of Barna long-time restaurateur Michael O’Grady says staffing issues have been “a nightmare” this year. “Since the pandemic some of our regular staff have a new perspective on life and don’t want to work split shifts or in the evenings. Of our 72 staff, the core were historically from the industry. During the pandemic some of them returned back home to their native countries in Europe whilst others left the industry altogether,” he says.

Back in Westport Michael Lennon, hotelier and former national president of the IHF, suggests a more radical long-term solution regarding accommodation shortages. This is as other hoteliers in the town resort to purchasing properties to accommodate staff, while there are suggestions one hotelier is in the process of buying a B&B to accommodate staff.

'I had to take my apartment off Airbnb to house them'. You're part of the problem, buddy.

Boo hoo

More agency crap.

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