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Purpose: Talent management and in particular strategic talent management (STM) has emerged as an important issue for hospitality organisations worldwide. In this chapter, we address some of the complexities evident in hospitality organisations in relation to the practice of STM, the types of internal and external STM issues that arise and both the research and practice implications of pursuing STM in hospitality organisations.

Methodology/Approach: This chapter presents a review of the literature on the wider topic of STM, with particular focus on the integration of issues and themes identified in the hospitality management literature related to STM perspectives.

Findings: We find that STM is a topical issue for hospitality organisations irrespective of size, complexity, or geographic location. However, research that explicitly addresses STM in hospitality is nascent leaving many unanswered questions. The notion of what constitutes STM is shaped by the complexities and values of the hospitality industry itself and its meaning is not necessarily the same as in other industry contexts. However, as yet we do not have sufficient insights to reach conclusions as to what STM truly looks like in hospitality organisations.

Research Implications: Here, we add to the literature, highlighting the need for more research on the many dimensions of STM in hospitality organisations including its antecedents, processes, and outcomes and the extent to which it is different in hospitality organisations compared to multinational corporations and public sector organisations.

Practical Implications: We highlight a number of practical implications around roles, processes, practices, and skillsets to utilise a strategic approach to talent management in hospitality organisations.

Originality/Value: This chapter continues the debate as to the role of STM in hospitality organisations as well as providing a more focussed agenda for both future research and practice. We also analyse and critique the internal and external forces and pressures that shape STM in hospitality organisations.

Purpose: The purpose of this chapter is to identify innovative talent management strategies, programmes, and practices that hospitality companies use in order to identify, develop, and retain their talent. For this purpose, awardees of the Hospitality HR Award were analysed. The award is an established prize in the German-speaking area. General success factors for innovative talent management are identified and the results are compared to international research of talent management in hospitality organisations.

Methodology: The chapter uses a qualitative content analysis approach. All award winners of the Hospitality HR Award since its launch in 2013 (N=60) are analysed.

Findings: The award winners followed different talent management strategies (e.g. cultural and leadership development), programmes (e.g. apprenticeship development programmes), and practices (e.g. fast and digital recruiting processes). Reported outcomes ranged from higher job satisfaction and lower staff turnover to a better work–life balance. General success factors included, among others, the importance of alignment of owners’ and managers’ interests and an integrated view on talent management.

Practical implications: Many talent management strategies, programmes, and practices are specified that may inspire hospitality organisations to employ more innovative approaches to talent management.

Originality: This chapter provides systematic qualitative evidence for and adds to the limited body of knowledge on innovative talent management strategies, programmes, and practices of hospitality companies. Furthermore, the chapter considers both strategic and operational views on talent management.

Purpose: We generally ascribe hospitality industry talent shortages to organisations competing for dwindling talent rather than their inability to sustain industry talent pools. This chapter suggests that developing sustainable talent management and development (STMD) initiatives can address the talent attraction and retention issues the industry is facing. Following Ostrom’s (2002) design principles, we advocate for sustainable common pool resource networks as a solution for developing durable STMD initiatives to address talent shortages within the hospitality industry.

Methodology: A conceptual chapter synthesising disparate theories in a new context.

Findings: Despite hospitality organisations’ continued investment in talent management, talent shortages remain systematically embedded within the industry. These are the result of a perennial competition among hospitality firms for talent, when, instead, these firms should engage in collective efforts to sustain industry talent pools. The adoption of a more sustainable approach by incorporating Ostrom’s (2002) design principles to establish long-lasting common talent pool resource in the form of industry rather than firm-level talent pools may halt the decline in available talent.

Research Limitation/Implications: While hospitality organisations have a vested interest in sustainably managing talent, limited attention has been paid to creating sustainable industry talent pools. We propose several design principles for developing durable STMD initiatives, which require empirical testing.

Practical/Social Implications: We address talent shortages for hospitality organisations by offering the blueprint for developing sustainable industry talent pools for a collection of firms, which, on their own, would lack the experience and resources to securing a steady supply of talent. In addition, industry talent pools also have the potential to improve the general working conditions for employees in this industry pool.

Originality/Value of Chapter: This chapter addresses hospitality industry talent shortages by proposing the creation of sustainable regional industry talent pools rather than focussing on firm-level talent management practices.

As the hospitality industry continues to grow globally, the development of highly skilled and educated human capital is a major industry challenge.

The WHO/World Bank states that 15% of the world's population lives with some form of disability, yet this degree of diversity cannot be found within the management levels of the hospitality industry. In order to obtain this, diversity should also be found within the student cohorts of hospitality educational institutions.

This chapter seeks to examine how the hospitality educational sector policies and practices contribute towards the full inclusiveness of students with disabilities and by association towards the diversity found within the higher levels of management within the hospitality industry.

The findings suggest that implicitly students with disabilities are being discouraged from enrolling upon and successfully completing a degree in hospitality management, a growing necessity for a management career within the hospitality industry. Therefore, a shift of perspective is required to see disability not as a personal health condition of individuals. However, the hospitality educational sector should seek to embrace more innovation, with the adoption of technology that seeks to create access and meaningful encounters with student from all sectors of the society; in addition, the sector can help overcome the often negative societal attitudes and perceptions displayed towards people with disabilities. This can be achieved by integrating positive images of students with disabilities and clear and transparent policy statements in public facing material, which is often used as marketing and promotional material for institutions. In this way, the hospitality educational sector would be seen to be taking positive steps in preparing talent drawn from all section of society and can be regarded as an active agent in the achievement of UN Sustainable Development Goal 4 with a goal of full inclusiveness within the hospitality higher educational sector.

Purpose: The purpose of this chapter is to explore the use of employer branding as a key strategy in talent management, in an effort to retain employees in the context of the Irish hotel industry.

Methodology/Approach: This chapter was part of a wider body of research, and combines this discussion with a sequential mixed-method approach. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 18 hotel general managers in Cork City/County, and these were combined with 417 employee questionnaires conducted in the same hotels.

Findings: This chapter finds that hoteliers in Ireland are aware of the necessity to tackle the area of employee retention, are conscious of the importance of positive employer branding to aid in decreasing employee turnover, but that many are just at the genesis of their journey in the area of talent management. Indeed, many hotels have not yet implemented a talent management plan into their organisation and need to be more innovative in their approach to talent management through positive employer branding.

Practical implications: Employees strongly believe that those hotels which possess a positive employer brand have more committed employees, while those with negative reputations in terms of their employment affect an employee’s intentions to leave the business. Therefore, employers must put strategies in place to enhance their employer brand if they are to attract and retain employees.

Social implications: The chapter makes recommendations to hotel managers as to how employer branding can be utilised as part of their overall talent management strategy to increase employee retention in a challenging employment market, improving overall performance, and leading to sustained competitiveness. The areas of talent management, employer branding, and employee retention are interlinked, and it is imperative that hotels implement strategic initiatives in these key areas.

Originality/value of paper: This chapter contributes to the overall talent management area, offering further guidance to operators who are embarking on this strategic direction. It supports the link between talent management and employer branding.

Notwithstanding the emergence of hospitality education around the world, the hospitality industry itself has struggled to establish a talent pipeline of young ambitious managers. Typically, only 30% of hospitality students are predicted to develop their careers within the hospitality industry, while the remainder will relocate to other industries such as retail, banking and consulting. Although this manifestation has been globally documented, most studies have simply adopted a quantitative approach in defining this phenomenon; hence, despite its scale being appreciated, less attention has been paid to defining the underlying causes which drive this concern. This study contributes to this issue by interviewing 18 students at three key stages of their practical placements, namely, pre-, during and post their placement, drawing on the ‘Principles of a Sustainable HRM ROC framework’. This chapter concludes with significant findings from which some recommendations have been formulated.

Efforts to contribute to the Sustainable Development Goals are increasingly part of tourism business planning, forming part of their business policies, linking with society and generating a sustainable hotel offer. The great impact it causes and, which in the short term it will achieve, digital tools in hotel activities can be evidenced. It will also help to collect the information that serves for the certifications of hotel companies. In spite of all the efforts, there is still a great knowledge gap that needs to be filled to achieve the expected business results and that it can be evidenced that the hospitality industry is now more than ever focussed on the care of its workers and on contributing to the sustainability of the world.

Forecasting is a vital part of hospitality operations because it allows businesses to make imperative decisions, such as pricing, promotions, distribution, scheduling, and arranging facilities, based on the predicted demand and supply. This chapter covers three main concepts related to forecasting: it provides an understanding of hospitality demand and supply, it introduces several forecasting methods for practical application, and it explains yield management as a function of forecasting. In the first section, characteristics of hospitality demand and supply are described and several techniques for managing demand and supply are addressed. In the second section, several forecasting methods for practical application are explored. In the third section, yield management is covered. Additionally, examples of yield management applications from airlines, hotels, and restaurants are presented.