According to the president of the Association of Hotel Directors of Portugal (ADHP): "Human resources were an extremely critical issue in 2022. For this reason, [work] began to be valued more in terms of payments and this was very important", said Fernando Garrido.

The president of ADHP was speaking in an interview with Lusa agency in anticipation of the organisation's 19th congress, scheduled for March 30th and 31st, in Albufeira, during which the problems of labour and wages in the sector will be discussed.

In line with the law of supply and demand - given that the lack of labour was identified in 2022 as the most critical factor for the development of the sector, which recovered from the pandemic faster than expected -, the official said that, last year, most companies will have increased "between 15 and 20% the remuneration or benefits to employees".

"It wasn't hiring, it was retaining because in reality there were no resources and, consequently, the objective was to pay more to ensure that we were retaining people", he said.


Lack of tips


Improvements that Fernando Garrido applauds because "there ended up being a need for levelling" of remunerations, from the moment that the base of the constitution of the collaborators' remuneration changed.

"The remuneration a few years ago was based on a return basis that was given by the customer, tips. Over time, these tips began to cease to exist in such a large amount and, consequently, the employee's income ended up decreasing ", he explained.

This and other topics will be discussed at the 19th ADHP National Congress, on March 30 and 31, 2023, in Albufeira, whose theme will be “Managing in uncertainty. Rethink the future”.

ADHP represents a total of 1,200 members and celebrates its 50th anniversary this year.


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