Recruitment and skills gaps in Fontainebleau and Oxygen SCOTT HURRELL AND DORA SCHOLARIOS
Fontainebleau and Oxygen are two leading multinational hotel chains with a strong focus on customer service. Two of their UK outlets, however, reveal contrasting fortunes in terms of workers’ customer service skills. The exact nature of the hotels’ service brands differs considerably. Oxygen staff described the hotel as ‘young’, ‘fresh’ and ‘stylish’. The building itself had won design awards and had a minimalist interior complemented by modern art prints. There was an emphasis on informality when serving customers with employees allowed discretion over service encounters and their appearance at work, to supplement their designer uniform. Oxygen employees were required to be ‘funky’ ‘friendly’ and ‘individual’. Fontainebleau’s service brand was much more formal, and characterised as ‘traditional’ and ‘professional’. The hotel had opulent décor, with antique-style furniture complemented by classical art prints.

Employees had to adhere to rigid brand standards, reinforced through regular training. Employees were expected to interact with customers in a highly formal manner and be ‘polite’, ‘clean’ and ‘tidy’. Fontainebleau provided an industry-standard uniform and had strict staff appearance guidelines. Managers in one branch of Fontainebleau reported that a number of current staff were not fully proficient in customer service skills (known as skills gaps). Managers reported such gaps in approximately 25 per cent to 30 per cent of front-line service staff; rising to 60 per cent on the reception desk (although many receptionists were new). In Oxygen, no customer service skills gaps were reported. Fontainebleau had a staff turnover rate of 75 per cent in the previous year and Oxygen 42 per cent. Both hotels used a variety of recruitment methods. Oxygen, however, relied more heavily on recruiting from university campuses and was also slightly more reliant on recommendations from current employees. The rationale for staff recommendations also differed between the hotels. In Fontainebleau the HR manager believed that recruiting through employee recommendations fostered a happy team environment, whilst in Oxygen there was more emphasis on the fit between people and the establishment. Formal job adverts also differed. Whilst Fontainebleau tended to emphasise details about the job and benefits of working for the company, Oxygen emphasised the brand. One advert, for example, gave a picture of the inside of the hotel alongside the words distinctive’, ‘unmistakable’, and ‘unique’ before adding ‘but enough about you’ and then describing what Oxygen offered to employees. This advert mirrored a customer advertising campaign, with near identical wording. Oxygen (unlike Fontainebleau) also took applicants on an establishment tour as part of the recruitment process. The reception manager reported that he found the tour especially useful to allow candidates to assess the reality of their expectations of the hotel.
Questions
1 What factors could potentially have led to Fontainebleau experiencing higher levels of customer service skills gaps than Oxygen?
2 What perspectives on recruitment discussed in the chapter can be used to analyse Oxygen’s superior performance in terms of skills gaps and staff turnover?
3 Are there any apparent contradictions in terms of the recruitment approaches of Fontainebleau and their subsequent experiences with turnover and skills gaps?
4 Are there any potential drawbacks with Oxygen’s approach to recruitment?