As many hospitality businesses use January to take stock of their priorities for 2026, conversations around team structure, investment plans and future growth naturally come to the forefront. Now is a natural point of reflection and reset, making it a good time to step back and consider whether your people strategy is truly set up to support what comes next.
In hospitality, building strong teams has always required a blend of commercial understanding, operational insight and a clear appreciation of culture. With shifting guest expectations, tightening talent pools and evolving demands around technology and sustainability, the need for a structured, flexible approach to people strategy has only increased.
At Hospitality People Group, we expect three workforce themes to likely influence decision-making across hospitality in 2026: skills, leadership and investment readiness.
Skills
Alongside core operational capability, demand is increasing for skills linked to digital systems, data confidence and personalisation. Many businesses are also seeing that capability in sustainability, compliance and reporting is no longer niche, particularly as expectations from guests, teams and investors continue to rise. In practical terms, this means rethinking not only who you recruit, but how you train, retain and develop the talent already within your organisation.
Leadership
Leadership expectations are evolving quickly. In 2026, effective leaders will again be those who can deliver commercial performance while managing change with clarity and consistency and finding opportunities amongst the challenges this industry continues to face. Teams want direction, but they also want leaders who communicate well, build trust and create stability in fast-moving environments. Developing leaders across departments, not only at the top, is increasingly central to resilience.
Investment readiness
For owners, operators and investors, people strategy is closely tied to confidence. Retention levels, leadership continuity and engagement all act as indicators of how well-positioned a business is to scale, reposition or weather uncertainty. A strong people strategy supports operational consistency, protects guest experience and demonstrates that the business is built for sustainable performance.
People Strategy
With these trends in mind, the start of the year is an ideal time to focus on the practical building blocks that underpin a strong people strategy.
Annual review meetings
Annual reviews should not feel like a process to complete and file away. Used well, they create clarity on expectations, performance and development priorities. They also provide an opportunity to understand what motivates individuals and where support is needed, which is particularly important when retention and engagement are under pressure. The most effective review conversations are forward-looking, grounded in business needs and honest about what success looks like over the year ahead.
Succession planning
Succession planning is often associated with senior roles, but in hospitality, it is equally important across operational and specialist functions. Identifying future talent early helps reduce risk, strengthens continuity and supports growth plans. This can involve mapping critical roles, assessing readiness and building targeted development pathways. It is also one of the clearest ways to improve retention, as it shows people there is a future for them within the business.
Employee feedback
Listening to employees remains one of the most valuable tools available, particularly when labour markets are tight and expectations are changing. Whether through surveys, focus groups or structured check-ins, feedback provides early insight into engagement, operational friction and cultural health. The most important part is what happens next. Acting on feedback, even in small ways, builds trust and signals that leadership is paying attention.
Employer branding
Employer brand continues to shape recruitment outcomes. In hospitality, candidates are making quicker decisions and placing greater value on culture, development and leadership style. Employer brand is not simply marketing. It is reflected in how teams are managed, how opportunities are communicated and how consistently values are lived day to day. For businesses aiming to attract strong talent and retain key people, employer brand is now a strategic asset.
Learning from 2025
As businesses complete full-year reporting for 2025, this is also a useful moment to compare and contrast outcomes with previous years to identify patterns and trends. Headline figures matter, but so do the underlying indicators: turnover rates, absence levels, time to hire, internal promotion rates and engagement feedback.
Looking back across multiple years can help distinguish between one-off challenges and recurring issues. It also supports more confident decisions now, whether that is investment in training, reshaping team structures or adjusting recruitment plans based on where talent pools are shifting.
Building recruitment into the wider strategy
People strategy and recruitment are closely linked, especially when businesses are planning growth, restructuring or investment activity. A useful reference point is the FM Recruitment blog When to Engage a Specialist Recruiter: Advice for Hotel Owners, Operators and Investors, which explores how specialist support can add value not only when a vacancy appears, but during planning and decision-making stages too.
Early conversations, for example, during budgeting or restructuring, can help clarify team design, benchmark salary expectations and create more realistic hiring timelines. This is particularly relevant in commercially critical roles, where success depends on finding candidates who understand the pace and priorities of hospitality.
Flexing strategy for the year ahead
Many hospitality businesses will already have plans in place for 2026. However, the best strategies are rarely fixed. They flex and adapt to improve based on the current situation, whether that is a change in trading conditions, a shift in candidate availability, or new insight from employee feedback.
Building in regular review points across the year can be a simple but effective way to keep plans aligned with reality. It allows you to respond proactively rather than reactively, and to refine decisions using evidence rather than assumptions.
Looking ahead
With full-year insight from 2025 now available, and the opportunity to compare trends over previous years, businesses can take on 2026 with greater clarity and confidence. And if specialist recruitment support forms part of that picture, engaging early and strategically can often lead to stronger, better-aligned results.
If you would like to discuss your people strategy for 2026 further, please get in touch.
Guy Lean, Managing Director – Madison Mayfair
+44 7813 009787/ +44 20 8 600 1180 / [email protected]
Dan Akhtar, Managing Director – HPG Advisory Services
+44 7808 157796 / +44 208 600 1166 / [email protected]
Chris Denison Smith, Managing Director – FM Recruitment
+44 7775 711923 / +44 20 8 600 1160 / [email protected]
Andrea Shaw, Director – FM Recruitment
+44 7714 236469 / +44 20 8 600 1160 / [email protected]
