Crowds of tourists clad in flip-flops and Mickey Mouse ears will soon flock to Orlando’s hotels as another busy summer season kicks off this month.

These guests are still paying more for what could feel like a scaled-back hotel experience from prior years. Room rates continue to climb locally and nationally due in part to higher labor costs, yet pandemic-related staffing shortages persist.

Orlando lodging companies say their employee numbers have generally improved from last summer’s “significant understaffing.”

All reached by the Orlando Sentinel have upped pay and enhanced benefits in response and have shown an increased willingness to listen to employee concerns after many workers were laid off, furloughed or voluntarily left the industry in 2020 and 2021.

But one expert says Central Florida hotels are still grappling with staffing, even with those changes.

Michael “Doc” Terry, a senior instructor at the University of Central Florida’s Rosen College of Hospitality Management, estimates Orlando hotels are still understaffed by about 30% on average.

That percentage has remained about the same since last year because more tourists are booking stays and more accommodations are opening, placing more demand on a smaller labor pool, he said. Smaller chains have the most trouble because they cannot afford to pay what the larger companies, like luxury hotels and resorts like Disney and Universal, offer workers.

Hotels and guests have learned to adjust to this new normal, Terry said. The savvy traveler knows to expect a different stay than pre-pandemic while hotels work on staffing solutions.

“We’re finding ways to create a decent experience for people to come in, and those people have a different expectation in many cases,” Terry said. “Guests are understanding and hotels are improving, and we’re getting there.”

Help wanted in housekeeping

The most-needed workers in Orlando’s hotels vary.

Orlando-based Rosen Hotels & Resorts has had challenges finding people with experience in specialized positions such as culinary, engineering, and “leadership-type” roles, said Dorea Mays, Rosen’s human resources director.

Across the board, housekeeping and culinary positions appear to be the hardest to fill. Terry said housekeeping has the most drastic shortage because it is typically an untipped, lower-paying and labor-intensive job.

Hotel maids and housekeepers earn a mean wage of $14.94 per hour nationwide, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The average housekeeper wage across Florida is $13.98, though data specific to hotel roles was not immediately available. Terry said Orlando’s average wage is closer to $15 because it’s a travel hub with hotels that can afford to pay more.

After a new union contract won worker raises this spring, Disney World’s hourly housekeeper pay starts at $20 and will reach $24 in October 2026. All of the resort’s about 75,000 workers will have an $18 starting wage by the end of the year.

“We’re in a great place with staffing as most of our housekeeping roles are currently filled, and this is as a result of our tailored efforts to recruit and retain cast members — as well as our leading benefits and competitive starting wages,” Disney spokeswoman Rachel Monnier said in a statement.

Jeremy Haicken is president of Unite Here Local 737, the union representing Disney World’s housekeepers and food and beverage employees. He said Disney currently employs “several hundred” more housekeepers than in early 2020 and turnover has slowed, thanks to the union negotiating for workload improvements and higher wages.

Universal’s minimum wage will increase to $17 an hour starting next month. Spokespeople for Universal and Loews Hotels did not provide comment on hotel staffing.

Terry, whose 30 years of experience in hotel management include operating a hotel outside Universal Studios, said he understands the resort’s hotel staffing is “in a really good position” because Universal takes care of its employees and promotes from within.

Disney and Universal’s hotel staff were among the thousands of resort employees laid off or furloughed in the first year of the pandemic. Universal furloughed or terminated 2,130 employees at eight hotels between August and September 2020, state filings showed.

National data shows the number of leisure and hospitality jobs is continuing to grow but still remains below pre-pandemic 2020 amounts.

The broad leisure and hospitality sector added 31,000 jobs in April, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, but employment trails February 2020’s amount by 402,000 jobs. The accommodation industry alone is still about 250,000 employees short of early 2020’s numbers.

Florida’s leisure and hospitality sector had 1.3 million employees in April, and it gained 89,200 jobs year-over-year for a 7.3% increase. Orlando added 27,700 positions over that same period, according to the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity.

The Florida Restaurant and Lodging Association does not track employment data, but it has heard from its members that staffing has generally improved among its Central Florida member hotels from last year, spokeswoman Ashley Chambers said this week.

Still, increased demand due to industry growth means hotels are pressed to find more employees and keep the ones they have, Chambers said.

“There is no magic sauce or quick fix,” she wrote in an email. “Operators need to create a welcoming environment and demonstrate that they value their employees both monetarily and in other non-tangible ways.”

Local approach to a national issue

Recognizing a need, Orlando’s hotels are continuing to boost their pay and benefits and make workplace quality-of-life changes to attract and retain workers. Some have launched mentorship programs to help recruitment.

At Rosen, starting pay has increased from about $12 an hour pre-pandemic to $16 now, Mays said. The seven-hotel chain also introduced a pay scale based on tenure.

Its staffing has improved over the past couple of years, but it currently has around 200 fewer employees than it did pre-pandemic. Rosen employed over 4,000 people in early 2020 but laid off 2,150 between July 2020 and January 2021, state filings showed.

“I feel that we do probably better because we are smaller,” Mays said, comparing Rosen’s staffing to other area hotels. “Our brand within the area has definitely helped us, and we have seven hotels where people can transfer to for upward mobility without leaving the state or the town or the street.”

Orlando-based timeshare company Marriott Vacations Worldwide operates over 120 properties globally, nine of which are local.

Marriott Vacations Worldwide recently increased its housekeeping starting pay from $16.25 to $17.10 an hour to attract and retain people in that role, said a statement from Denise Haeggberg, senior vice president of global talent management.

It is hiring for several positions at its Central Florida properties, including in activities and recreation, maintenance, food and beverage, safety and security and reception. The pay rates for these jobs range from $15.75 an hour for most non-tipped food and beverage positions to $17.90 an hour for security.

Company data showed its local staff grew by almost 9% since July, from 4,500 to 4,900 employees. Just over half of workers have worked there for more than five years.

The American Hotel and Lodging Association said wages for industry jobs have “increased faster than average wages throughout the general economy.” The organization has lobbied Congress to help grow the hotel workforce.

Hotels are generally passing these increased labor costs onto guests, Terry said.

Data from Visit Orlando shows the average daily rate for metro Orlando’s hotels was $214 through March this year, an increase of nearly 14% from 2022.

Industry analyst firm STR found the average hotel rate across the U.S. to be $158.17 in March, an increase of 19% year-over-year, with revenue per available room at $103.35. Those numbers were $154.90 and $100.81 as of this week, a 3% and 1% increase from mid-May 2022.

Rosen Hotels has bolstered its workforce with staffing companies, Mays said. It has also found a longer-term solution by revamping its internship and apprenticeship programs, including with UCF’s Rosen College of Hospitality Management, to bring in people with necessary skills.

“We’ve created this pathway to leadership opportunity, and really met the students where they’re at and tailored their rotations based on their career goals and aspirations,” Mays said of the UCF partnership.

The Central Florida Hotel and Lodging Association sponsors similar future workforce programs at grade schools and hospitality and culinary magnet programs, President and CEO Robert Agrusa said last year.

It also offers hospitality student scholarships to area colleges and universities and provides leadership mentoring programs centered on current employees.

Hotels are in the middle of a “culture evolution” where they are improving their branding — better advertising about what they can offer prospective workers — and ensuring they follow through on promises to employees, Terry said.

“They’ve got to create a passion,” he said. “[They’ve got to say,] ‘This is a good business. … This is a great place; we’re gonna pay while we build that career for you.’ This is not old school, this is new world.”

krice@orlandosentinel.com and @katievrice on Twitter