Why Are Latinas Making Strides in Hospitality?
Industry leaders are customer-service driven and understand the importance of having a work force that accurately represents its clientele. They also recognize that having diversity at every level of the company improves performance. Marriott, No. 11 in the 2008 DiversityInc Top 50, is an example of a hospitality company that worked to break the tradition of segregation against Black and Latino guests. (Until the mid-1960s, hotels and restaurants, among other public venues, were whites-only or Blacks-only.) Marriott leaders have recognized the purchasing power of Latinos and market products specifically to them. “I really have seen our company aggressively recruit diverse talent,” says Seidell, who also heads the company’s program to attract talent through peer-to-peer networking. “Our initiative uses executives from within the company to recruit outside talented executives from either their personal or professional networks.
