The talent story in Canada’s hotel sector is no longer just about finding people.  It is about where those people are, what skills they have, and how fast they can keep up with a business that is getting more complex every quarter.  For hotel investors, GMs, and sales teams, the gaps in talent, training, and regional capacity are now a direct revenue issue, not just an HR topic.​

Global hospitality is facing structural shortages, yet Canada’s picture is especially uneven: big-city hotels are close to fully staffed, while many secondary, rural, and seasonal locations are still scrambling to fill basic roles.  That unevenness is shaping who can take group business, who can deliver on service promises, and ultimately, which assets attract capital at premium valuations.​

Trend 1: A Tale of Two Canadas

Urban cities like Toronto and Vancouver are back in hiring mode, with demand for accommodation managers rated “very good” through 2025 thanks to steady tourism and conference activity.  Meanwhile, remote and seasonal destinations struggle with thin labour pools, short seasons, and limited access to training, which caps revenue potential even when demand is there.​

Globally, the same pattern shows up in tourism‑heavy regions, where operators warn that talent gaps are becoming a structural drag on growth.  One international report notes that the sector faces a looming shortfall where “virtually every region and subsector is struggling to attract and retain staff.  For Canadian owners and GMs, that means location strategy now needs a people lens: if you cannot staff it and train it, you cannot scale it.​

Trend 2: Training Moves Online (But Not Evenly)

Training budgets are finally creeping up, and digital learning is doing the heavy lifting in bigger markets.  Urban portfolios are leaning into mobile-first microlearning, Learning Management Systems (LMS), and blended programs that make it easy for supervisors and sales teams to upskill without leaving the property.​

Internationally, providers are setting up a high bar with fully virtual training academies for luxury and resort staff. One case study describes a platform that uses “technology-driven virtual training, VR simulations, augmented reality (AR) learning, and live instructor-led courses” to develop leaders and sales managers (globaleliteprofessionals.com).  For Canadian hotels, the play is not to copy the bells and whistles, but to borrow the logic: standardized, digital-first curricula that any property — from downtown flagship to highway limited-service — can plug into.​

Trend 3: Elite Programs for Some, Patchwork for Others

Global chains and iconic brands are doubling down on formal, structured management and sales development programs. These often include department rotations, revenue and sales coursework, and guaranteed progression for high performers, which makes those brands talent magnets in competitive labour markets.​

In many independent or regional Canadian hotels, by contrast, development is still informal: “shadow a supervisor,” pick things up on the fly, and hope the DOS or GM has time to coach.  A hospitality education resource describes how major hotel companies use “industry-focused training programs as a way of influencing employee attraction and retention.  For Canadian independents and small groups, the lesson is clear: a simple, named internal program, even if it is just structured rotations and a few external courses, signals seriousness and helps you compete for ambitious talent.​

Trend 4: Immigration and Newcomer Training as a Strategic Lever

Canada leans heavily on newcomers, students, and temporary residents to staff hotels, especially in high-demand seasons and gateway cities.  The upside is a diverse, motivated workforce; the challenge is making sure new hires get practical training, language support, and a clear path beyond entry-level roles.​

Several Canadian initiatives show that when newcomer training is intentional, retention jumps and skill gaps narrow.  Global workforce commentary underscores that “recruitment strategies are increasingly targeting immigrants, students, and part-time workers to offset gaps.  For GMs and owners, that means partnerships with colleges, settlement agencies, and sector councils are not CSR side projects, they are core to your multi-year staffing plan, especially outside the big Canadian cities.​

Trend 5: Regional Wage Pressures and Poaching

Wage growth in hospitality has been strong since the pandemic, with Canadian operators boosting pay and benefits to compete, but that pressure is not evenly distributed.  In major urban centres, large brands can absorb higher labour costs, offer bonuses, and throw in perks; in many seasonal or rural markets, smaller operators simply cannot match the package and lose people mid-season.​

Internationally, insurers and risk advisors flag labour as a top strategic issue, noting that “staffing shortages” have driven most employers to “increase wages and enhance benefits” to keep teams stable.  For Canadian investors and GMs, this reinforces that wage strategy is now a competitive weapon: transparent pay bands, clear progression, and non-wage perks (housing, transport, flexible schedules) can be the difference between chronic vacancies and a stable core team.​

Trend 6: Sales Skills Lag Behind Tech Adoption

Sales and revenue platforms have become more sophisticated, but the people using them often have not been trained to match. Smaller and regional hotels report that sales teams are still heavily reliant on email, spreadsheets, and legacy habits, even when CRM, business intelligence, and revenue tools are available.​

A global training case study highlights how modular, role-based hospitality curricula can elevate the standards of hospitality training by tailoring content to specific job families, from front-line to management (hospitalityinsights.ehl.edu). For Canadian hotels, the opportunity is to treat sales and revenue training as a defined track — not an afterthought — so that DOSs, on-property sellers, and even front-office teams can actually turn data into higher-yield business.​

Practical Implications

• Investors: Prioritize assets and regions where labour pipelines, training partnerships, and digital learning infrastructure are already in place or realistically buildable.
• Investors: Ask for clear people metrics in deals and budgets — turnover, internal promotion rates, training hours per FTE — not just RevPAR and GOP.
• General Managers: Build at least one structured development path (supervisor or sales) with named milestones, not just ad-hoc coaching.
• General Managers: Use regional consortia, colleges, and online platforms to share training content if your individual property is too small to go it alone.
• Sales teams: Push for dedicated sales and revenue training on your actual tools and key accounts, not generic “customer service” modules.
• Sales teams: Track simple, people-linked KPIs (lead response times, close ratios by seller, upsell capture) to prove that training and staffing changes are paying off.

When talent, training, and geography line up, Canadian hotels can ride demand waves instead of being swamped by them. The next few years will reward operators who treat workforce strategy with the same discipline they bring to revenue management and asset planning. The gaps are real — but so is the upside for those who move first.​

For more sales advice, contact Brent O’Connor – brent.o@telus.net