TWIN FALLS – Tourism is the fifth largest industry in Twin Falls and plays a significant role in the city’s economy. After a difficult year due to COVID-19, Twin Falls is seeing waves of visitors from home and abroad.
While city officials and local businesses have welcomed such a surge in summer tourism, the hospitality industry is struggling to find staff, especially hotels that are enjoying record numbers.
“People have a hard time filling vacancies,” said Shawn Barigar, president of the Chamber of Commerce. “Unemployment is at a record low here. Many people have not returned to the world of work after leaving, maybe at the beginning of COVID, that is really the biggest challenge. “
The Fairfield Inn & Suites by Marriott is one of many hotels in the area battling for vacancies. The main problem they face is the number of employees who have not returned after the fall and winter and because people work for them and then decided to leave because they realized that this is not what they want to do.
“During the pandemic, we dropped to about 12 employees,” said Curtis Hansen, the general manager of the Fairfield Inn. “We went from 60 to 12 and have now worked constantly to get up again. I’m kind of joking, I think if we can ever get over 50 and hold on for a couple of weeks that would be great but it just floats up and down. “
The hotel is in the process of reorganizing its staff and still faces the daily work of providing efficient service to its visitors. The staff had to work longer hours and the hotel even implemented a new strategy called “cross-training”.
“Everyone from every department should be able to go in and do anything,” said Hansen. “If I have to make beds, one day I’ll make beds or clean other rooms. If we need help at reception, they’ll train our sales department to do that. It trains our breakfast staff and restaurant staff to be able to help in various areas. “
For the month of July, the visitor center with over 19,000 people almost doubled the number of visitors compared to the same period in 2020.
(The Chamber rates these even higher, as these numbers only include people who enter the visitor center and have signed with their name.)
“They don’t go overseas, and they may not go to resorts,” Barigar said. “It’s easy to get in your car and drive around us for 10 hours and be here. The flight to Denver certainly helped. We have seen visitors not only come from the Denver area, but also from the places they connect through. “
From the side of the hotel you see an occupancy rate of 94% in the summer months this year.
“Usage is growing every week, year after year, and we’re actually seeing some of the 2019 numbers,” said Hansen.
With some time left in summer, officials expect tourists to still travel to the area, and the Fairfield Inn is continuing to work to try to recruit more staff to meet high visitor demand.
“Job boards, we make referral bonuses for our employees when they recommend someone who can earn a bonus,” said Hansen for 90 days to get in and really learn the job. Just creativity to keep it. “
