How to Speed Up Seasonal Hotel Recruiting (and Beat the Competition)

The race for seasonal staff

Every year between February and April, thousands of Italian hotels compete for the same chefs, waiters, and receptionists. The shortage of seasonal staff in tourism is no longer a temporary emergency — it's a structural condition that demands new strategies.

The numbers are stark: in 2025, 45% of seasonal positions in Italian hospitality were left unfilled or filled late. Whoever starts recruiting earlier and manages the process more efficiently simply wins the season.

Yet most hotels still handle applications via email, evaluate CVs one by one, and communicate with candidates through phone calls and messages. A process that takes weeks when the market allows only days.

The bottleneck: document collection

Even when the right candidate is found quickly, the process stalls at the bureaucratic stage. Residence permit, criminal record certificate, HACCP certification, tax code, IBAN: collecting all the documents needed for hiring takes an average of 12 days using traditional methods (email, scanner, registered mail).

Meanwhile, the candidate receives an offer from another hotel and accepts. The property starts over. This cycle repeats dozens of times every pre-season, burning time and resources.

Digital recruiting: from application to contract in 72 hours

OneStaff features a recruiting system with a visual kanban board: each candidate moves through selection stages (New → Under Review → Interview → Documents → Hired) with a single click. A Match Score algorithm automatically assesses CV compatibility with the open position.

The real acceleration happens during document collection: the candidate receives a link, uploads documents from their smartphone, and digitally signs the contract. Admin verifies and approves everything from a single dashboard — without printing a single sheet.

Our clients have cut the average time from candidate identification to actual hiring from 18 days to 3. In a market where every day counts, that's the difference between opening the season fully staffed or with gaps.

Building a loyal seasonal staff database

The real strategic advantage of digital recruiting is the database that builds over time. Every seasonal worker who has been at your property stays in the system with their full history: reviews, documents, department and accommodation preferences.

When the new season approaches, a single click lets you re-contact the best people from previous seasons. No more 'do you still have the number of that brilliant chef we had two summers ago?'. The system remembers everything.