Montreal hotels face labour shortage: union
But even with closings, the future looks ‘excellent’
Despite a few recent hotel shutdowns and another one looming, there is a labour shortage in the hotel industry in Montreal, Michel Valiquette said Thursday.
The spokesman for tourism and hotel industry workers for the Confédération des syndicats nationaux said that “there is a certain manpower shortage in the hotel industry currently — kitchen staff, housemaids, in (hotel) restaurants. We need staff, that’s clear.”
“And I would say that projections for the next few years are excellent for the hotel industry, both for Montreal and for the province as a whole. And if you ask the Association des hôtels du grand Montréal, it will tell you that its bookings are far better than they have been for some years. That’s true for 2014, 2015, 2016, hitting a peak in 2017.”
Eve Paré, president of the association, agreed there is a shortage of staff but noted that the need is “more pronounced outside of Montreal. ... In Montreal, it’s not a major problem.”
“It’s true that five hotels have announced they are closing,” but putting them all in the same context is wrong, she added.
“Each case is unique, each was based on elements that were completely different one from the other. One was converted into a senior residence, one was converted into condos, another two or three became student residences.
“But no one closed because there was no business. There was no bankruptcy, nothing like that.”
The changes are part of the natural evolution in real estate, Paré said.
“They all have one common denominator: They were all at the crossroads — either they needed massive investments to renovate or there was an offer on the table. It’s a question of return on investment. So many of them decided it was more interesting to sell,” she said.
“There’s a natural cycle of renewal in the hotel business.”
In fact, many other hotels have renovated, she said, including the Omni, the Sheraton, the Delta and the Intercontinental, and a number of other hotels will be built soon, like the Alt Griffintown and at the old Mt. Stephen Club location.
Other hotel owners have applied for — and some have apparently received — special dispensations from the city: necessary permits when their proposed hotels do not conform to existing construction guidelines and regulations.
Paré could not say how many such projects there are.
“Some are serious, but until there are shovels in the ground, I am prudent.”
All of which made Valiquette wonder why the midtown Holiday Inn on Sherbrooke St. has yet to set up a retraining committee for the roughly 100 employees who are about to lose their jobs.
Real estate firm Rosdev sold the hotel in January for $63.5 million. It will close on April 30, but Valiquette said that less than two months before that deadline, the company still has not set up a retraining committee to help the 61 unionized and other employees find another job, as Quebec law requires if layoffs number 50 or more.
“They just keep telling us they’re in discussions with their lawyers,” he said.
The CSN represents the midtown Holiday Inn’s 61 housemaids, porters and bellhops.
“They are really insecure, even distressed by this. These are mostly immigrant women in their 50s, and some of them don’t speak French. Distressed is not an exaggeration.”
One housemaid about to lose her job after 13 years said that at age 50, “I have to start all over again. That’s the hard part.
“I really don’t get it. They made $63.5 million. They can’t spend $1 million to help us? We worked very, very hard for them to make that hotel what it is today.”
Robert Genest, the Holiday Inn’s lead negotiator with the union, did not return calls at several locations, including at Rosdev, seeking comment on behalf of the hotel.