Why Are We Overlooking the Wisdom Right in Front of Us?
The hospitality industry has a blind spot. Experience is being ignored when we need it most.
There’s a quiet truth in the workplace that no one seems brave enough to talk about. Older people are being pushed to the sidelines. Not because they lack skill. Not because they lack energy. They are pushed aside because their experience makes others uncomfortable.
I see it every week in hospitality. It is an industry that thrives on people. Yet it often undervalues the people who know it best. The generation who kept hotels running before social media, before revenue management systems, before data became the loudest voice in the room. They understand service in a way you cannot learn from a course or a webinar. They have lived it. They carry stories that teach you far more than any training manual.
And still they are ignored. Their advice brushed off. Their presence treated as something dated rather than deeply useful. Younger colleagues sometimes think they are protecting their position by dismissing those who have been doing the job longer. Scratch the surface and it is insecurity. A fear of being outshone. A fear of being shown what real expertise looks like. So they retreat into ageist habits and make older team members feel invisible.
It is painful to watch. Especially when the answer is right in front of us. We should be turning to this generation for guidance. We should be listening to what they have learned from years of dealing with guests, managing pressure, solving problems on the spot and reading people with instinct alone. These skills matter more than ever in hospitality. Yet we push the very people who hold them to the margins.
Why are we so reluctant to see the value of a seasoned voice. Why are we not building mentorship into every hotel team. We talk endlessly about training and development yet ignore the richest resource sitting in the room. The wisdom that comes from being weathered by experience is priceless. It helps younger staff avoid mistakes. It builds confidence. It strengthens teams. It creates a healthier culture.
Instead, too many older workers are made to feel they do not fit. As if their knowledge has expired. It has not. What has expired is our patience as a society. Our ability to recognise the worth of experience. Our willingness to show respect.
When did we decide youth equals progress. When did we decide maturity equals decline. Hospitality should never fall into that trap. The best hotels in the world are built on intergenerational teams. Energy balanced with experience. Fresh ideas supported by seasoned leadership. This is how you build something with depth.
If we want our industry to thrive, we need to stop sidelining the people who know it inside out. We need to create space for them to lead, mentor and be valued. Not as relics from another era. As the backbone of true hospitality.
The question is simple. When will society wake up.