7 of February, 2025

Effective management of hospitality vacations can be particularly challenging. How many holiday days does each worker get? How can you ensure all shifts are covered?

Don’t worry, in this article we will share 7 keys to managing employee holidays effectively. Keep in mind that you can automate the process with Sesame HR, avoiding manual errors and saving time with the vacation manager.

How many holiday days are granted in hospitality?

Maintaining fairness and balance of rest for the employees of your hospitality business is a complicated task. For everyone to be happy and get the necessary rest, you must comply with the established regulations.

A good start to managing holidays in hospitality is to know the laws and sectorial agreements. These regulations must be complied with to maintain a balance between profitability and employee rights.

Firstly, how many holiday days are granted in hospitality? According to the work contract, the total number of days is calculated based on the total number of hours worked.

However, the agreement dictates that annual vacations must last a minimum of 30 calendar days. Please note that those days could vary depending on the type of work schedule your employees have.

Don’t confuse national holidays with rest days or national or autonomous festivities.

It is important that you establish the available annual days for each employee from the start, in each individual contract. This way, everyone will know when they can enjoy their holidays without any guaranteed future misunderstandings.

Keys to managing holidays in hospitality

Managing holidays in hospitality is not an easy task, especially if you have a small business. Luckily, there are tools nowadays that can help relieve the administrative burden, like Sesame HR.

With the following keys, you can easily manage your employees’ holidays. Keep reading!

1. Stipulate available days in the contract

Stipulating the available days for holidays in the employee contract will help you avoid misunderstandings and prevent job satisfaction from being affected.

It is important to stipulate a number of holiday days in the contract that concurs with the provisions in the hospitality agreement we mentioned earlier. Furthermore, if you decide to modify the parameters of the available days, it will be much easier to inform them about the new conditions.

2. Plan them annually according to activity

Organizing hospitality holidays based on the seasonality of the business is a basic point to maximise your company’s efficiency.

That is, you can establish in what intervals it is preferable to use those holidays and how many employees can be absent at the same time. With Sesame HR you can plan these annual vacation periods easily.

Sesame HR allows you to automate the whole process, from employee requests and approvals, to the monitoring of used days off.

This guarantees that essential workers or those most qualified for certain tasks have priority when determining vacation periods.

3. Establish a priority order

Establishing a priority order is essential for managing holidays in hospitality. Not all employees can enjoy their days at the same time, so it is important to know how to prioritize the allocation of holiday days.

Here are some keys to help you establish a priority order for the allocation of holiday days:

Organize an annual calendar for planning and designate the appropriate number of employees as needed at each stage.
Consider individual needs, such as the maximum allowed duration, the preferred place and the preferred time of year for each employee.
Prioritize those employees with more seniority in order to foster loyalty.
Set different specific categories to those with specialized responsibilities such as chefs or managers, as they must guarantee their availability at certain times of year.
Use a digital system to record the information.

Sharing these criteria with the staff in a transparent manner will contribute to improving the employee experience.

4. Negotiate in advance

Similarly, it is vital that you make sure to negotiate holidays in advance. This negotiation will not only give you the opportunity to plan the workload, but it will also prevent any later issues, such as conflicts within the team.

To plan holidays in hospitality in advance, you should consider the shift indicators to balance rest among all employees.

Automating processes with a vacation manager like Sesame HR’s will let you keep a thorough control over the management and tracking of employee holidays.

5. Automate processes with a vacation manager

A tool like this will help you establish control over the days that have been enjoyed or not, knowing that you will always have the correct record.

Some of the most praised features of Sesame HR software are its powerful functionalities for employees to request their holidays from anywhere with simple steps and its real-time monitoring.

Furthermore, you can:

Easily establish rules and restrictions to control the amount of days that workers can request.
Set which ones must be modified after a request is approved.
Use a visual calendar to check all pending requests and decide when they are approved.
Set automatic notifications to inform workers about the status of their requests.

6. Organize shift schedules

An organized shift schedule can ensure that hospitality holidays are evenly distributed among all your employees during the busiest periods.

To facilitate shift management, Sesame HR offers a complete tool for automation of the process. This means you won’t get overwhelmed with managing and controlling the schedules.

In addition, the tool incorporates rules to prevent conflicts between the assigned shifts. This prevents burnout or excessive tiredness at work. It also helps you to ensure that you respect the minimum hours of mandatory rest between daily working hours or on consecutive weekends.

7. Keep a record of requested and taken days

In addition to stipulating the days available in the contract, an essential aspect to consider when managing vacations in the hospitality industry is to keep a record of the days each employee has requested and taken.

To do so, you can choose Sesame HR software, which allows you to handle all processes related to this matter automatically, in an organized and reliable manner. This tool offers you the ability to:

Configure the annual planning.
Check the remaining vacation balance for each employee.
Generate HR reports on the days requested and taken.
Send notifications to approve or reject requests.

Install Sesame HR to manage vacations in the hospitality industry

Are you looking for an easy and efficient way to manage vacations in the hospitality industry?

You’ve seen it! Sesame HR software automates all processes related to vacation management. It not only ensures that your employees enjoy their well-deserved annual break but also that they continue to comply with the established schedules.

With Sesame HR, managing vacations in the hospitality sector has never been easier. If you would like to request a 14-day demo to try our HR software, don’t hesitate to sign up. We look forward to seeing you!

Ricardo López has built a solid career in the field of human resources, excelling in payroll administration, labor relations management, and employment advisory services. His academic background in labor law and human resources, combined with his experience in companies such as Zeus - Smart Visual Data, Sesame HR, and Grupo Noa's, has allowed him to develop a comprehensive understanding of workforce dynamics and personnel management. With over 10 years of experience, he has demonstrated strong expertise in benefits administration, HR documentation, and career counseling. Ricardo continues to contribute to the efficient and people-centered development of the organizations he works with.

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ricardolopez

HR Content Specialist

7 keys to managing employees’ holidays in the hospitality industry