Melaka hotel industry takes hit following workers shortage

MELAKA - The hotel industry in Melaka is in a state of disarray as it faces labor shortages, a problem that has yet to be resolved.

What was worrying was that most hotels in the state were not able to provide optimal services to customers and tourists, especially during the school holidays.

Malaysia Budget Hotel Association's (MyBHA) Melaka chapter president Sazali Sabri said since last week, most of the accommodation places were full, but they were facing constraints in workers and food and beverage (F&B) department.

He said the shortage of staff in the sector was a critical issue and majority of the members of the association have experienced the same thing.

He said there were some lodging places that have 500 to 600 rooms, but only half of them were being utilised due to the lack of cleaning staff.

"This is a critical issue that is haunting us and what is worrying is how it has affected the quality of our services.

"Most budget hotels in Melaka do not want to miss out to accept tourists including Singaporean travelers and if this situation continues, it will be difficult for the industry to recover after the Covid-19 pandemic," he said when contacted by Sinar Harian on Thursday.

Sazali said despite offering a salary exceeding the minimum salary of RM1,500, they were still unable to attract locals to join the industry.

"We were forced to take part time workers and offer them a RM100 daily pay instead of the hourly rate like RM5 or RM6 per hour.

"Usually, when we need 10 part time workers, there would be only two or three people who would show up and this is not enough," he said.

He said the members were hoping that the next half of the year could give them a chance to breathe and that they would be making profit again after not being able to operate throughout the Movement Control Order (MCO).

He had added that if the issue was not resolved, people would be worried as they have to suffer losses.