Hospitality Turnover: 3 Key Findings
- Annual turnover in hospitality is estimated at 74%, which is roughly five times higher than the 12–15% average for other industries.
- Losing a single employee can cost businesses nearly $10,000 on average in recruiting, hiring and training.
- Stagnant wages and rising living costs, burnout from understaffing and the lure of better opportunities elsewhere are driving the exodus.
Hospitality turnover rates remain alarmingly high in 2025 — with annual churn nearing 74%, nearly five times the national average.
For restaurants and hotels, that means constantly replacing staff, absorbing training costs, and risking service inconsistency.
This guide explores what’s driving the trend and what employers can do to keep their teams intact.
Why Hospitality Turnover Keeps Rising: What’s Driving Workers Away?
Multiple converging factors have fueled an unprecedented wave of resignations in the hospitality sector.
For starters, wages have failed to keep up with the cost of living, leaving many hospitality workers feeling underpaid.
A recent industry poll found 40% of hospitality employees saw no pay raise in 2024, and another 25% received only a 1–2% bump.
Another major driver is burnout due to chronic understaffing and overwork.
Years of labor shortages have stretched remaining staff thin, leading to exhausting schedules and high stress.
Nearly half of hospitality managers report feeling burned out themselves, and 64% have seen employees quit specifically because of burnout.
At the same time, more attractive opportunities in other industries or the gig economy are pulling hospitality workers away.
During the pandemic, hundreds of thousands of restaurant and hotel employees were laid off, and many never returned.
Instead, they've found jobs in other sectors like retail, delivery or freelance gig work that offer better pay or flexibility.
Roles With the Highest Employee Turnover in Hospitality Industry
Certain positions in hospitality bear the brunt of this turnover crisis, with annual attrition rates that are astonishingly high even by industry standards.
Front-of-house restaurant staff and kitchen teams are especially affected, as are some hotel service roles.
Below are the roles experiencing the highest churn — essentially the “revolving door” jobs of hospitality — and the data behind their attrition:
- Servers and Bartenders: These customer-facing roles consistently top the turnover charts.
Many view their jobs as temporary, and the pressures of impatient customers and reliance on tips contribute to quick exits.
Recent data shows about 41% of front-of-house restaurant employees quit within a year of starting.
- Kitchen staff: Long hours in hot, high-pressure environments for modest pay lead kitchen staff to burn out.
In fact, back-of-house positions have roughly a 43% one-year turnover rate, slightly higher than their front-of-house counterparts.
The average restaurant kitchen employee lasts only around 110 days in the job.
Housekeepers: In hotels, the housekeeping department sees some of the fastest turnover.
Cleaning guest rooms is physically demanding, often thankless work, and Housekeepers are frequently short-staffed.
A recent study found an astonishing 55% of Room Attendants left their job within the first 90 days of hire.
What a High Staff Turnover Costs the Hospitality Industry
The fallout from these rising turnover rates is immensely costly — both financially and operationally — for hospitality businesses.
One immediate impact is the direct expense of replacing employees.
Losing a single employee can cost hospitality businesses $9,932 on average in recruiting, hiring, training and lost productivity.
High churn also undermines service quality — it can take up to two years for a new hire to become “fully productive”.
Beyond the dollars, operational performance and service quality take a hit when turnover is high.
Constantly losing experienced workers means many roles are perpetually filled by relatively new, less experienced staff.
Research indicates it takes one to two years for a hospitality employee to become “fully productive” in their role (i.e., master the menu, the property, the service standards and/or efficiency tricks).
If most employees aren’t sticking around that long, hotels and restaurants rarely reap the benefits of a seasoned team.
Instead, businesses face continual training cycles and a dining room or front desk run by whoever is newest on the team.
The result can be slower service, more mistakes and a decline in customer experience.
High turnover also drags down team morale.
When employees see colleagues coming and going constantly, it can be demoralizing.
Veteran staff who remain are often tasked with extra work (to cover empty positions) and training duties for each new hire class.
This added burden contributes to their burnout, creating a vicious cycle.
Employee Retention in Hospitality Industry: Can It Be Fixed?
Faced with this churn challenge, many hospitality businesses are urgently adopting new strategies to improve retention and make service jobs more appealing.
A top focus has been raising pay and benefits to better align with employee expectations.
After years of wage stagnation, restaurants and hotels have started upping their compensation.
In fact, recent data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that hospitality worker wages have risen about 30% on average in the last four years.
Improving workplace culture and career growth opportunities is another retention tactic.
Many hospitality workers quit due to poor management or lack of advancement.
In response, some restaurants have launched mentorship programs and clearer promotion paths to show employees a future with the company.
Establishments are also investing in better training and onboarding, so new hires feel supported rather than overwhelmed.
Will Turnover in Hospitality Industry Ever Stabilize?
The next few years will be critical in determining whether hospitality’s labor crunch finally stabilizes or becomes an ongoing norm.
There are some optimistic signs that the worst may be behind us.
As of late 2024, the quit rate in hospitality had begun to tick down from its peak.
Government data showed that by December 2024, the monthly quit rate in accommodation and food services was 3.8%, which is lower than the previous 4.6%.
However, turnover is still far above historical norms.
The same dataset shows quits in hospitality remain the highest of any sector and anecdotal reports confirm many hotels are still struggling to find enough workers.
If the economy stays strong and alternate job options abound, hospitality could continue to see elevated churn.
Ultimately, the path to retaining its workforce will hinge on the industry’s willingness to address the root causes of dissatisfaction.
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Written by Lidija Misic
Lidija holds a BA in English Language and has lived in five different countries, where she has worked in various roles, including as a flight attendant, teacher, writer and recruiter. Her biggest passion is crafting great content and reading. She is particularly passionate about creating punchy copy that inspires people to make positive changes in their lives.
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