Every year, the same scenario plays out: the summer months arrive, tourist numbers rise, hotels reach high occupancy rates, restaurants see a significant increase in demand, and teams are put to the test.
But is seasonality really the only challenge?
In reality, seasonality merely highlights problems that exist throughout the year: difficulty finding talent, high staff turnover, the need to onboard new staff quickly, managing complex timetables, and a growing demand to ensure an excellent customer experience without compromising staff wellbeing.
In the hospitality and catering sectors, peaks in demand are becoming increasingly unpredictable. Events, weather conditions, last-minute bookings or changes in customer habits can cause staffing requirements to vary significantly.
Without structured planning, these variables often result in staff being overworked, increased absenteeism, operational errors and higher staff turnover.
Planning as a competitive advantage
During seasonal peaks and amid an exponential rise in demand, many companies no longer plan just for the following week. Rather than merely responding to immediate needs, workforce management (WFM) solutions prepare organisations for what lies ahead, enabling them to transform operational data into strategic insights, anticipate future staffing requirements and support more informed decision-making.
These tools use forecasting mechanisms based on historical activity data, bookings, events, or other business indicators to estimate future staffing requirements.
Therefore, managers are able to:
- Forecast requirements by role and by period;
- Allocate teams according to specific skills;
- Adapt timetables to actual demand;
- Identify potential staffing shortfalls in advance;
- Simulate different scenarios before implementation.
This forecasting capability results in more agile operations, whilst ensuring compliance with labour regulations and enabling more efficient management of available resources during the summer months.
Smart flexibility as an operational solution
In many of these businesses, the operational pressure of the summer falls on smaller teams who find their shifts extended or restructured with virtually no room for manoeuvre. The consequences are felt not only in the quality of service, but also in staff motivation: when the team does not know in advance what their working day will be like, when they will be able to rest or what to expect, the risk of staff turnover and a poor working environment skyrockets.
It is at times like these that features such as SISQUAL® Open Shifts make a difference, by offering available shifts to hospitality and catering professionals, allowing them to choose their preferred date and time and thus filling the gaps caused by labour shortages in the sector. This model increases flexibility, ensuring that last-minute needs or peaks in demand are quickly met without compromising service quality.
A better quality of life for employees
Good workforce management not only benefits the company, but it also significantly improves the employee experience. When there is predictability in working hours, a good work-life balance and greater transparency in team management, employees’ commitment to the company increases.
Through solutions such as the SISQUAL® Quality of Life APP, employees can request shift changes, manage absences and monitor their timetables directly from their mobile devices, improving convenience and reducing operational friction.
Seasonality will continue to be a reality in the hotel and catering sectors. However, its impact can be significantly reduced through continuous planning, supported by data and operational intelligence.
As such, companies that utilise WFM solutions help create organisations better equipped to respond to current and future challenges, balancing operational efficiency, legal compliance, flexibility, and staff wellbeing.
Because, ultimately, the companies that manage their people best are also those that succeed in delivering the best experiences to their customers.
Would you like to know how to optimise your teams to cope with seasonal peaks?
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