Salaries in the Middle East hospitality industry are expected to witness a freeze or fall in the next 12 months, revealed hoteliers who answered the Hotelier Middle East Salary Survey 2016.
This year, 36.4% said they do not anticipate being awarded a pay rise in the next 12 months, while 27.6% were unsure.
Swiss-Belhotel chairman and president Gavin Faull told Hotelier that he thought salaries will remain flat. “I think salaries will be flat because they grew so fast in the last five or six years – Dubai’s cost structure will become more realistic too. It’s an averaging game, and always an issue of maintaining rank and file service level.”
Hearteningly, 23.8% of the participants had been given a pay rise less than six months ago, while worryingly, 31.4% said they had never received one. Pay cuts have not taken place, however, with 93.8% saying they have not received a pay cut in the last 12 months.
This feeds into the general sentiment of a pay freeze, with one survey respondent saying: “There will be no pay decreases, however, also no increases”, and another added: “Told no pay rise for anyone.” One expressed: “Even though everything in Dubai is more expensive our boss already told us there will be no increase.”
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However, few respondents said their salary is set to increase due to a promotion and expansion of responsibilities. Another respondent was positive and said: “We are a growing company and the company knows how to look after employees even during recession time.”
Those who said salaries will fall added that “seeing the market conditions, [the company] is very unlikely to increase the salary in this financial year”, while another said that the “company does not want to increase payroll cost at this time”. An anonymous respondent added: “[The] industry does not look good at the moment.”
In terms of comparing salaries on a global level, there seems to be a shift in thinking. Last year, nearly 50% said they thought their wages were on par with global levels, with 45.4% thinking they earn less. However, for 2016, the situation has reversed – 41% think they earn a global average, while 45.6% believe they earn less than average compared to global salaries. Regionally, 14.2% felt their salary was above average, compared to 4.9% in 2015.
Read the full results of the Hotelier Middle East Salary Survey 2016 in the June 2016 issue of Hotelier Middle East.
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