Black Representation In Hospitality Industry Needs to Improve, Castell Report

The non-profit Castell Project, which is devoted to advancing the careers of women professionals in the hospitality industry, has issued the “Black Representation in Hospitality Leadership 2020” study, which examines the role of Black leaders across the sector.

The study was created in advance of the COVID-19 outbreak, and the Castell Project hopes to provide an update in January to highlight how the industry’s rehiring would affect Black representation.

“Black representation in leadership for the public face of the hospitality industry is not making the gains necessary to show an opportunity to Black employees,” said Peggy Berg, chair, Castell Project, Inc.

The Reports Findings are as follows:

• Black employees disproportionately lost hospitality industry jobs during the pandemic. Rebuilding its workforce will require a significant change in the opportunities offered to black hospitality employees if we desire to be viewed as an industry that genuinely promotes diversity, equality, and inclusivity.

• Only 11% of the 671 hotel company websites evaluated included black CEOs. These individuals account for just 2% of all hospitality sector executives listed on the company’s website.

• During the pandemic, black employees in hospitality were disproportionately hit, accounting for 18.8% of the hospitality employment in 2019 vs 13.6% in 2021, a 52% loss of jobs.

• Meanwhile, while black women outnumber black men at the director level, they are less likely to progress than black males.

• Black representation in leadership is heavily weighted toward human resources. HR employs 28% of black employees at the director to CEO levels. Black employees are significantly less likely to find opportunities in food and beverage, construction/design, or investment/development.

Hiring diverse talent is important according to executive director of Tourism Diversity Matters Greg DeShields, who says, “We need to rethink working in the hospitality industry and rebuild trust. This requires hiring diverse talent into higher levels of management, acting upon the importance of having leaders who reflect the demographics of our customers and creating an inclusive workplace.”

“We recognize the remarkable support of the many men and women working to advance black representation in hospitality industry leadership,” says Castell Project chair Peggy Berg.