Higher costs of living and larger concentration of hotels in urban markets increased compensation dramatically. These regions saw much more new build construction and greater competition for employees. Compensation can also be correlated to the characteristics of a location. For example, managers at hotels located in center city and resort areas earn substantially more than their counterparts at hotels located along highways or in the suburbs. Such discrepancies are attributed to operation complexity and high costs of living.
Most hotels offer some form of health coverage to their employees.
The perquisites of housing and autos continue to decrease in the lodging industry. As the industry remains financially healthy, we predict a continued increase in compensation levels for most hotel property employees. We suspect that compensation increases will outpace the rate of inflation for the foreseeable future. The irony is that although hotel occupancies and room rates continue to increase, the public markets have battered hotel stocks. If hotel stocks continue to languish, employees that have incentives tied to stock price will likely see their overall compensation packages remain flat or decrease.