Talent Drain in the Hospitality Industry: An Investigation of Employee Migration from Luxury Hotels

Authors & Affiliations

Sunith Mandal *

ORCID

Research Scholar,Vivekananda Global University, India

Corresponding Author Scholarly Research India

Dr. Vikas Rana

ORCID

Associate Professor, Vivekananda Global University, India

Co-author Scholarly Research India

* Corresponding Author. Author contact details are available in the published PDF article as per journal policy.

Abstract

In the hospitality sector, the availability of skilled human resources is crucial for providing high-end experiences to guests and ensuring a high quality of service. As employee flow has been on the rise from luxury hotels to allied industries, however, it has become a problem. The significant talent drain and instability in the workforce are significant challenges. This research aims to explore the barriers and enablers that affect employees from luxury hotel moving to other allied industries and the effect of employee attrition within organizations and talent retention. Secondary data were used in the study, which was extracted from scholarly articles, industry reports, and existing literature pertaining to employee turnover, workforce mobility, and talent management in the hospitality industry. The results show that the major factors for employee migration are long and irregular working hours, work related stress, emotional labor, lack of opportunities to advance in their careers, lack of rewards, and lack of creativity in work life balance. Other fields like banking, aviation, healthcare, retail, and information technology, on the other hand, recruit hospitality workers for higher pay, a strong career path, stability and better working conditions. The study also reveals that Talent Drain has a negative impact on luxury hotels as it leads to high recruitment and training expenses, service quality, morale of employees and operational challenges. Lack of skilled workers also affects customer satisfaction and the competitiveness of the company. The analysis shows that strategic HRM practices are important to solve the problem of employee migration. Compensation, career development, employee recognition, supportive leadership, work-life balance policies, and employee engagement policies are effective retention tools and approaches. The study argues that a multifaceted and employee-centred strategy is needed to address talent attrition, and that job satisfaction, organisational commitment, and career development potential are three areas in which to take action. The results offer important implications for hotel managers, HR professionals, and policy makers interested in enhancing the sustainability of the tourism workforce and retaining their employees in the high-end tourism industry.

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Copyright © 2026 International Journal of Commerce, Management and Social Sciences. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License . Authors retain copyright and grant the journal the right of first publication.

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References

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