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The purpose of this paper is to investigate US lodging properties’ organizational employee‐retention initiatives and practices, and to examine the impact of those initiatives on employee turnover and retention.

Using the Directory of Hotel & Lodging Companies, a convenient sample group of 24 management companies are selected. A self‐administered mail survey instrument is developed to measure and test organizational initiatives and practices on employee turnover and retention. Using SPSS 16.0, two statistical tests are employed to test study hypotheses. Correlation analysis is used to identify the relationships between predictor and response variables. Likewise, regression analysis is used to examine the relationships between predictor and response variables hypothesizing that the effectiveness of practicing the human resource management organizational initiatives on management and non‐management retention and turnover will differ.

The findings reveal that Corporate Culture, Hiring and Promotions and Training practices influence non‐management employee retention. At the same time, Hiring and Promotion practices impact management retention, as well. Moreover, Organizational Mission, Goals and Direction, and Employee Recognition, Rewards and Compensation were found to positively reduce non‐management employee turnover.

Owing to the study methodology and the relatively low response rate, generalization of the study findings is limited. Future replication studies are recommended.

The findings will equip lodging organizations and industry professionals with the contemporary tools to proactively reduce employee turnover and for maintaining employee retention. This should have a positive impact on workforce productivity.

This study makes a major contribution to the relative influence of the practice of eight study‐defined organizational initiatives on turnover in lodging businesses.