Hotel Managers’ Perceptions of the Soft Skills of Gen Z Employees: A Qualitative Case Study in Bacolod City
Keywords:
Generation Z, soft skills, hotel employees, hotel managers, hospitality industry, qualitative case studyAbstract
This qualitative case study examined how hotel managers described the soft skills, work-related capabilities, and developmental needs of Gen Z hotel employees in Bacolod City, Philippines. The bounded case comprised managerial accounts of the phenomenon across three selected accommodation establishments. Three female department managers—two from locally owned hotels and one from a Philippine hotel chain—were purposively selected as participants. Data came from semi-structured, recorded interviews conducted from February to April 2024 and were analyzed manually through Lichtman’s 3Cs process of coding, categorizing, and conceptualizing. The managers’ accounts produced three overarching themes: relational and customer-service competence; work-related and digital capabilities; and emotional well-being and professional regulation. Participants perceived technological fluency, competitiveness, responsiveness to immediate feedback, and capacity to learn hotel systems as strengths. They also described developmental needs involving empathy, guest-facing confidence, sustained attention, initiative, time use, and emotional regulation. The findings suggest that participating and comparable hotels may benefit from structured onboarding, experiential customer-service practice, clear feedback, coaching, and mental-health-sensitive supervision. Because evidence came from three managerial perspectives and excluded employee, observational, and documentary data, the themes are contextually grounded and are not universal descriptions of Gen Z workers.
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