Local Hotels Experience Layoffs, Hour ReductionsA hurting economy has forced many Warsaw hotel owners and managers to recently layoff or reduce its employees' hours.
Bruce Shaffner, Ramada Plaza Hotel owner, Warsaw, said the hotel laid off four of its employees in mid-December.
Shaffner and his brother Steve own the hotel, where there currently are 45 employees.
In mid-December there were three maintenance employees and one front-desk employee laid off. Bruce attributed the layoffs to a decline in business.
Bruce said he doesn't expect the hotel to lay off any other of its employees, and said the hotels employees' hours are based on the number of rooms rented.To compensate for the laid-off front-desk employee, the hotel's management team is covering the front desk with other employees helping out.
Bruce said there also have been some housekeeping and laundry attendants who have quit that haven't been replaced.
"We will add to our staff as business increases," Bruce said. "Our business is based on the number of rooms rented, and when it's slow we don't have the need to have all the employees here at that time."
Mike Stetzel, Ramada Plaza Hotel general manager, said the hotel plans to hire back the laid-off employees once business picks back up.
Stetzel said this time of year is normally a slower period for the hotel's business, but business has dropped more than it has in the past.
"It's different than what we saw before. When snow melts away, the phones start ringing, but not the same amount like we are used to," Stetzel said.
Allen Marsh, chief engineer for the maintenance department at Ramada Plaza Hotel, said besides himself, the only other employee on the hotel's maintenance staff is a part-time employee.
Marsh has served as the hotel's chief engineer for 12 years. He said it was hard to see three employees in his department laid off.
"They were good friends and employees, and these are people who have worked for me for years and we never had to go through this situation before so it's been very tough," Marsh said.
Other Warsaw hotels are experiencing layoffs and reduction in employees hours.
Charles Plummer, Comfort Inn & Suites manager, Warsaw, said the hotel laid off three front-desk employees in January due to slow business. The hotel also has reduced its 11 housekeeping employees hours from 30 to 40 hours per week to 20 hours a week.
The hotel currently has five front-desk employees and a total of 11 employees.
He said, although the three employees were laid off, plans are to rehire them when business picks up. Plummer said he expects not to lay any more employees off.
He said he expects business to pick back up this month. Plummer said the hotel already has 20 to 25 groups scheduled to stay at the hotel for this month through August.
Carl Hill, Holiday Inn Express manager, said the hotel has not laid off employees, but have cut back its employees' hours since mid-January.
He said housekeeping employees generally average 24 hours a week and now work 12 to 15 hours a week.
Hill said the hotel had a part-time position available for housekeeping the first part of January and received 100 applicants for the position that has since been filled. He said the hotel has been getting about a dozen phone calls a week inquiring if the hotel is hiring.
"That provides a sense of the number of people looking for jobs in the county," Hill said.
Jay Patel, manager of Super 8 Hotel, Warsaw, said, although the hotel has not had to lay off its employees, it has been receiving an increase of job applications from people looking for jobs.
He said, over the past five months, the hotel has received six applications a day from people looking for jobs.
Kathy Harper, Hampton Inn manager, said that after Christmas the hotel cut its employees' hours by 10 percent. The hotel has a staff of 14 employees and the majority of the employees are part time.
She said the hotel is booked on weekends this summer.
Upendra Patel, Days Inn manager, said the hotel has not experienced layoffs.
"Slowness in business is normal this time of year, but we expect for it to pick back up in April to June," Patel said.
