Webinar Recap: Hiring for Hospitality in 2026 – Navigating Labour Shortages and Rising Costs

“The biggest challenge is trying to find good enough quality talent in a short space of time at volume.”
– Kye Lovelace, Group Talent Acquisition Manager at KERB

In this webinar, Hector Bustillos from Reach ATS was joined by Kye Lovelace, Group Talent Acquisition Manager at KERB and founder of Badger The Recruiters, for a practical conversation about what hospitality hiring really looks like on the ground right now. The session was framed around labour shortages, rising costs, candidate drop-off, and the pressure to keep hiring moving without lowering the bar.

The tone of the session was honest from the start. This was not a webinar full of theory, polished slogans, or generic advice. It was a grounded look at what happens when you are hiring at pace, opening venues, managing lean teams, and trying to make smart decisions in a market that has become harder to read. That practical angle was built into the webinar itself, with a focus on what hospitality teams can try next week, not six months from now.

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Why this conversation mattered

Hector opened by explaining why Reach ATS wanted to run this session in the first place. Reach sees thousands of applications move through hiring workflows, which gives the team a clear view of where candidates drop off, where employers get stuck, and what parts of the process help or hurt hiring momentum.

He also set out a simple aim for the session: share what is working in hospitality, pull out practical steps, and help employers respond to the pressure coming from legislation, hiring costs, and a tighter labour market.

That framing mattered, because hospitality recruitment is being squeezed from several angles at once. Teams are dealing with fewer suitable applicants, slower hiring decisions, pay pressure, retention challenges, and the wider impact of post-pandemic shifts in candidate expectations. The event page described that pressure clearly, pointing to fewer suitable applicants, rising drop-off, and longer time-to-hire across the sector.

Kye brought a strong real-world lens to the discussion. He explained that KERB has been scaling quickly, across fixed-site venues, events, and wider projects, while keeping a strong focus on impact and opportunity.

“We scaled at quite an exceptional pace. We opened three new venues in the space of six months.”

That pace shaped a lot of the discussion. When growth moves that fast, the cracks in your hiring process show up quickly.

The real challenge is not just volume, it is quality and engagement

One of the clearest themes in the webinar was that hospitality hiring is not only about getting more applicants. It is about getting the right applicants, and keeping them engaged long enough to convert.

Kye described the biggest challenge in simple terms:

“The biggest challenge is trying to find good enough quality talent in a short space of time at volume.”

He also pushed back on the idea that “quality” always means polished CVs or long experience.

“When I talk about quality, it’s more about the attitude, and then secondary is the skills and experience to do the role.”

That distinction matters in hospitality. For many front-line roles, attitude, willingness to learn, and how someone shows up can matter more than a perfect employment history.

“If the attitude is there, there’s not necessarily always a reason that we would say no.”

At the same time, Kye was clear that candidate engagement has become harder.

“One of the biggest shifts that I have seen in the last few years has been engagement, in terms of candidate drop-off.”

That comment gets to the heart of a wider problem. It is not only that good people are hard to find. It is also that many candidates are harder to hold onto. Some disappear mid-process. Some apply widely with little real intent. Others are reassessing what they want from work altogether.

For hospitality employers, that means the process itself matters more than ever. Slow responses, unclear stages, or too much friction can cost you the people you actually want.

Candidates want more than a pay rise

Another strong thread through the webinar was the idea that pay still matters, but it is no longer the whole story.

Hector raised the pressure many employers are feeling around minimum wage increases and the wider cost of hiring. Kye’s answer was balanced. He did not dismiss pay pressure. He acknowledged it directly, including the challenge of rising costs to the business. But he also pointed out that candidate expectations have shifted in a deeper way.

“People aren’t always necessarily looking for that next massive wage increase. They’re looking to do something that contributes to something meaningful and something greater.”

He added that flexibility now sits close to pay in the decision-making process for many candidates.

“And also having the flexibility to be able to work it around things like family life.”

That matters in hospitality, where people often assume flexibility is harder to offer. Kye’s point was not that every role can be endlessly flexible. It was that trust, sensible working arrangements, and a people-first culture now help employers compete, especially when budgets are tight.

He gave a simple example:

“As long as the work is getting done and the output is there, that’s the thing that’s most important.”

He also connected this back to KERB’s employer story.

“We talk a lot about the fact that we are mission-led, that we’re centred around impact.”

That is a useful reminder for hospitality brands. If you cannot always win on salary alone, you need to be clearer about the experience, purpose, growth, and flexibility you can offer instead.

Accessibility, flexibility, and the untapped talent pool

One of the most useful parts of the session came when the conversation moved into accessibility and accommodations. This section felt especially practical, because Kye did not speak about it as a brand exercise. He spoke about it as both a personal priority and a real hiring opportunity.

“There is a massive, untapped pool of talent sat there waiting.”

That line landed because it reframed the issue. Accessibility is often treated as compliance or good practice. Kye’s point was that it is also a talent strategy.

He explained that KERB is a Disability Confident Committed employer and that the business has been working on how to make the environment more open and easier to access.

“At every stage of the process, we always have a reminder in there about, if you need to request any accommodations at any point, just let us know.”

That is a small change, but an important one. It signals care early. It gives candidates permission to speak up. And it stops accessibility being treated as something awkward or last-minute.

Kye also explained that candidates can disclose needs at application stage if they want to, so the people team can step in early and support the experience from day one.

“That allows us to step in from day dot and know exactly what’s going on across the business so we can support their experience coming into KERB with us.”

He then widened the lens and made a point that should matter to any hospitality employer facing talent shortages:

“We should be centring around trying to actually flex the working environment to make it more available to more people.”

This section of the webinar stood out because it connected flexibility, inclusion, and hiring outcomes in a very direct way. When talent is harder to find, widening access is not a side issue. It is part of the answer.

Kye also shared practical advice for employers that want to start somewhere but do not know how.

“Start your conversations with the experts, talk to maybe a consultant, talk to local charities, impact partners.”

That advice felt especially useful because it moved the conversation away from abstract intention and towards actual next steps.

Rising costs make forecasting non-negotiable

When Hector raised April wage increases and the pressure of rising employment costs, Kye did not pretend it was easy.

He explained that KERB aims to pay fairly and above minimum, but that choice comes with cost pressure, especially when other costs rise too.

He also flagged the wider pressure coming from National Insurance contributions and the cost of retaining existing teams.

“There is a substantial cost to the business, just to retain existing team.”

What mattered here was not just the acknowledgement of pressure. It was the response to it.

“That’s where I think planning and forecasting is so, so important.”

This became one of the clearest practical messages of the webinar. Kye explained that hospitality businesses cannot afford to wait until peak season is already on top of them. Hiring has to be planned ahead, with site managers, headcount needs, and seasonal peaks all mapped in early.

“If you don’t plan in the right timeframes, especially within hospitality, it’s very easy to get into a situation where you’re going, no one’s got any time, and everyone needs to hire.”

That will sound familiar to a lot of operators. The work does not break because one thing went wrong. It breaks because everything becomes urgent at once.

Kye shared how KERB works around this by holding proactive planning conversations ahead of peak periods, meeting site managers where they are, reviewing team shape, and getting aligned before summer and winter demand hits.

He also shared one tactic that helps when volume is high:

“Utilising group assessments is the best way to try and get the volume in the door ahead of those busier peak seasons.”

That is the kind of practical detail that made this session useful. It moved the conversation from “hiring is hard” to “here is one thing that helps when time is tight and numbers are high”.

Labour shortages mean source strategy matters more than ever

When the conversation turned more directly to labour shortages, Kye gave one of the sharpest and most usable sections of the webinar.

First, he explained that labour shortages do not always show up in the same way. At KERB, the pressure can look different depending on the role.

“We do struggle sometimes on more specialist roles, or just looking at our more casual hourly roles. That’s not us specific, that’s sector-specific.”

Then he moved quickly into what employers should actually do.

“Look at where your candidates are coming from. Review by source.”

That sounds simple, but it is often missed. Too many teams keep spending in the same places because they always have, not because the channel is still working.

Kye’s advice here was refreshingly blunt:

“If you’re spending for these platforms, they need to be doing well for you. If they’re not, bin them off. Save the money.”

That line deserves to be pulled out because it cuts through a lot of passive job board habit. Rising costs mean every pound spent on attraction needs to earn its place.

He explained that KERB sees strong results from Indeed and LinkedIn, but also uses sponsored campaigns when volume needs spike, especially when hiring larger groups.

“If we know we’re going to need to hire a team of 20 and up, then we’ll add a sponsorship to a role.”

What came through strongly here was the need to use both internal and external networks well. Internal comms, newsletters, Slack or Teams, and workforce systems can all help when you want your current team to pull good people in.

For some roles, LinkedIn works. For others, it really does not.

“Go beyond the traditional norm, because you will find your people there.”

That advice widened into examples like Reddit, GitHub, and Stack Overflow for technical roles, while more local, on-the-ground tactics may work better for warehousing or site-based roles.

This section was a good reminder that labour shortages are not solved by shouting louder in the same places. They are solved by getting sharper about where talent actually is.

Growth can be a hiring advantage, especially for younger talent

Hector also asked whether hospitality businesses are leaning too heavily towards experienced hires, particularly when there is a large pool of younger candidates available.

Kye’s answer was interesting because it turned the assumption around.

At KERB, he explained, the business often attracts younger talent naturally because of its growth stage, pace, and culture. But he framed that as a strength, not a compromise.

“It’s a really great opportunity for someone to grow and develop within a slightly more complex setup or structure.”

That matters because it shifts the employer story from “come here because we need people” to “come here because you will learn, grow, and get exposure faster”.

He added that working in a fast-growing business can give people experience that would take years to build elsewhere.

For hospitality employers competing for early-career or ambitious mid-level talent, that is a strong message. Growth, pace, and responsibility can be part of the value proposition, not just pressure points.

Your careers site matters more in an AI-shaped search journey

Later in the session, the conversation moved into a newer but very real challenge: how candidates are using AI to search for jobs and employers.

Kye had recently been digging into generative engine optimisation, and his advice here was highly practical.

“Look at things like your careers page and make sure that the content that you’ve got on there answers questions more directly.”

This matters because candidates are no longer only searching in the old way. More are asking AI tools direct questions about roles, businesses, and what it is like to work somewhere.

That changes what a good careers page needs to do.

“You want to make sure that they’re getting the most authoritative source, which should be your career site, not some bad review that someone wrote about you three years ago on Glassdoor.”

That line was one of the most useful in the whole webinar. It should be a prompt for any employer whose careers site is thin, outdated, or generic.

In a market where search behaviour is shifting, the careers page is not just a brochure. It is an answer engine. It needs to explain the role, the culture, the process, and the reality of the business clearly enough that candidates, and the tools they use, can find something better than hearsay.

AI is helping and hurting hospitality hiring

The final section of the webinar looked at AI from both sides, employer use and candidate use.

Kye was pragmatic. He is not anti-AI. In fact, he gave a very clear example of where it has improved his work.

“We use it for interview transcribing. I used to spend four hours a day writing notes from back-to-back calls.”

That is a sensible use case. It saves time, improves accessibility, and frees recruiters up for work that needs more judgement.

But he was equally clear about what he does not want.

“What I don’t want to do… is implement technology that compromises the candidate experience, or removes human judgment from the loop.”

That line gets to a bigger tension many teams are wrestling with. Everyone wants efficiency. No one wants a process that feels cold, unfair, or careless.

Kye also spoke honestly about how candidates are using AI.

“The vast majority of the time, that content is just AI-generated slop that someone’s copied and pasted around across 30 jobs that they’ve applied to.”

He was talking here about personal summaries, cover-letter style content, and mass-apply habits that create noise without adding real signal.

He also pointed to the rise of automated job application tools, which are making already messy candidate volumes even harder to manage.

“I’ve received 300 CVs for this one role, how am I going to filter through this?”

From there, he raised a more serious issue.

“Candidate fraud is becoming quite front and centre for TA teams.”

That is a line worth paying attention to. As parts of recruitment become more automated, TA teams may spend less time on admin and more time on verification, judgement, and risk.

Kye even predicted where the function could move next:

“TA will end up shifting… more centred around ensuring that you’re getting genuine applicants through, and fraud mitigation.”

That felt like one of the most forward-looking observations in the webinar. AI is not only changing how hiring happens. It is changing what recruiters need to be good at.

Key takeaways for HR and talent teams

A few messages came through again and again in this session.

1. Hospitality hiring problems are not only about volume. Candidate quality, attitude, and engagement all matter, and drop-off remains a live issue.

2. Pay still matters, but it is not enough on its own. Flexibility, purpose, trust, and growth now play a bigger role in candidate decisions.

3. Accessibility is a talent strategy. A more flexible and accommodating process can unlock a wider pool of people who are ready to work.

4. Forecasting is essential. Waiting until peaks arrive is too late. Planning with site leaders ahead of time makes volume hiring far more manageable.

5. Source strategy needs regular scrutiny. Track where candidates come from, spend where it works, and stop paying for channels that do not deliver.

6. Careers pages need to work harder. In an AI-shaped search journey, your site should answer real candidate questions clearly and directly.

7. AI should support recruiters, not replace judgement. The best use cases save time and improve workflow. The worst ones damage experience and trust.

Where Reach ATS can help

If this webinar has prompted a closer look at your hospitality hiring process, that is probably a good thing.

The session made one thing very clear: hiring in hospitality in 2026 is not about finding one magic fix. It is about tightening the process, planning earlier, using data better, widening access, and being clearer about what makes your business worth joining.

Reach ATS is built to support that work across the whole hiring journey, from attraction and source tracking through to interview management, onboarding, and reporting. In a market where speed, visibility, and candidate experience all matter, having a clearer system behind your hiring process can make a real difference.

If you would like to:

• review where candidates are dropping off,

• tighten forecasting and peak-season planning,

• improve source tracking and campaign performance, or

• build a smoother hiring workflow for hospitality teams,

get in touch with the Reach ATS team to continue the conversation.

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