The iconic Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island is holding back on its $3 million expansion plan because of the uncertainty that it faces, like other resorts and hospitality outlets in the popular Straits of Mackinac region, over staffing. Limits on H-2B visas for seasonal workers from outside the U.S. have combined with reluctance to look for work from those receiving health benefits from Medicaid and other forms of assistance to create a situation where, as a Chamber of Commerce official put it, “anyone [who wants one] can get a job within 10 minutes.”
Cranes—the kind that move on tractor treads, not wings—should be filling the air in Northern Michigan’s Straits of Mackinac region, The Detroit News reported, as the area continues to get national attention from travel outfits that cite its pleasant summertime climate and the appeal of the quaint resort towns that dot Lakes Michigan, Huron and Superior.
Hotel rooms are in hot demand in the region, the News reported, and bars and restaurants are brimming with visitors. But Dan Musser, owner of iconic Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island, is holding back on expansion plans, because he can’t find the staff to support a larger operation.
“It’s not just the Grand Hotel, it’s all of northern Michigan,” said Musser, whose hotel was just named a top travel destination by TripAdvisor. “If we had any kind of certainty about staffing, we could invest and expand.”
Musser is ready to go with a $3 million build-out of suites on the hotel’s top floor, the News reported, but the plans are on hold while he works to solve his workforce challenge.
The solution, the News noted, rests with two highly charged political debates: immigration and welfare reform.
The Grand Hotel, like many northern Michigan resorts, is heavily dependent on seasonal workers from other countries—its 750-person staff includes 300 foreign workers who arrive in the spring and return home in the fall, without costing a single American his or her job, the News reported.
Most come on H2B visas, the News noted, but those entry permits have become scarcer as immigration policy tightens. As reported by C&RB earlier in June (http://clubandresortbusiness.com/2018/06/overwhelming-demand-leads-latest-h-2b-visa-lottery/), The Grand and other resorts have had to enter a lottery to divvy up the immigrant workers and hope for the best.
“We did OK this year, but we have no idea how we’ll fare next season,” Musser said.
Absent comprehensive immigration reform, investing money in the tourist economy is high risk, the News noted. Across the bridge in Mackinaw City, Mich., that’s exactly the gamble facing Joe Lieghio, who delayed the hoped-for June 1 debut of his newest restaurant.
“As of today, I’ve been able to hire one cook,” said Lieghio. “No bartenders, no wait staff.”
Lieghio, who has eight restaurants and 20 hotels in Mackinaw City, is also going slow on completion of a 220-room hotel, because he can’t recruit hospitality workers. And the pay isn’t the problem, the News reported.
“Bartenders and wait staff up here can pull in $200 to $300 a night with tips during the season,” he said.
“Anyone can walk into Mackinaw City right now and get a job within 10 minutes,” confirmed Jamie Mersch, chairman of the local chamber of commerce.
Lieghio even offers subsidized health insurance, but says he can’t compete with Medicaid, the News reported.
“I hear all the time from people who turn down my job offers that they don’t want to lose their welfare” by taking a seasonal job, Lieghio said.
So he’s encouraged, the News reported, by the Michigan state Legislature’s efforts to attach work requirements to Medicaid and food stamp benefits.
“Anything we can do to get people back in the workforce would be great,” Lieghio said.
Lieghio is currently operating at just over 80 percent of capacity, the News reported. With more employees, he says he could run at 100 percent, and build more rooms and restaurants, creating even more jobs.
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