Report: Hospitality Exec Gender Gap Shrinks but Still Large

Female representation in leadership roles in the hospitality industry is slowly but steadily climbing, but there remains ample room to grow, according to a new report from the School of Hospitality Management at Pennsylvania State University. 

Researchers considered two datasets for the report: rosters of company executives as well as conference attendance. Hotel executive data was derived from hotel analytics firm STR’s U.S.- and Canada hotel directory, beginning in 2019 and again each year through year-end 2022. Conference data was collected from attendance rosters from what the report called four of the largest U.S.-based hotel investment conferences.

Researchers found “women are slowly gaining ground at the top levels of industry leadership,” and trends of “increased diversity in executive roles have continued as the industry continues to recover from the Covid-19 pandemic.” Additionally, growth in female representation is “steady but slow, and still lags the overall representation of women in the hospitality workforce to a significant degree,” report authors wrote.

According to the report, “small gains” were made in hospitality industry CEO- and presidential-level positions for female leaders. As of 2022, executives in president-level positions totaled about one woman for every 10 men, compared with 11 in 2019. By 2022, for every industry woman CEO there were approximately 16 male CEOs, compared with nearly 18 in 2019. 

There was a much greater jump in the number of women in partner and principal roles, with 11 men holding these positions for every woman, compared to 15 in 2019.

Additionally, nearly one in four chief-level positions at hotel companies are held by women, primarily in human resources, sales and marketing roles, report authors wrote. For every woman in a chief-level position in 2022, there were about three men, according to the report.  

The report also highlighted women now “occupy an equal number of positions as men” at the director level, yet “disparities in representation increase” up the “organizational hierarchy” ladder. 

Conference Representation

Female leadership representation at hospitality industry conferences has been up and down over the last few years, according to the report. In 2022, female leaders made up an average of 19 percent chief-level roles at U.S. hotel investment conferences, down from 22 percent in 2021 but up from 13 percent 2019. 

The report was financially supported by the American Hotel Lodging Association Foundation and the Walter J. Conti Visiting Professorship in the School of Hospitality Management.