“In life, you have to take chances.” Gustavo dreams of flying from Brazil to work in the hotel industry in Portugal (and here is a solution to the lack of manpower)
At the Brazilian hotel, more than 90% of the clients are from the country itself, the lack of contact with foreigners can create a barrier when working in Portugal. Thus, there are more achievements in crossing the Atlantic In the Vila Galé group, exchange programs are gaining scale – and alleviating the lack of manpower in tourism
The speaker fills the space around the pool. Gustavo da Silva is enjoying the pop songs that are internationally successful. He knows the rhythm by heart, he molds himself into it on the tour that starts at the towel counter, available to those who want a place in the sun. “During the day, I like being in the pool better. There is water, dancing, partying”. In Brazilian hits, the lyrics also do not fail.
It’s his first job as an animator at a hotel. Since May, the days of this 23-year-old have never been more the same – neither his nor those of 300 other workers from the municipality of Barra de Santo Antônio, in the Brazilian state of Alagoas, which has around 16 million inhabitants and where fishing is the main source of livelihood.
Gustavo works at the tenth unit of the Portuguese group Vila Galé in Brazil. There, the hotel industry is still a discovery. “When the hospitality opportunity came up, I had no idea of the sectors that existed”, he recalls. “When I saw animation, it enchanted me at first. When I was younger, I did theater. So it was all about. It was time to show a little.”
He had to learn “everything from scratch” for the new challenge. Gustavo had already worked as a waiter and merchandiser. But, in his new job, there are things that captivate him much more: the contact with people from different realities – and the possibility of doing an exchange program in Portugal.
“The desire to go to Portugal already existed before working here. I always wanted to take my art around the world. When I knew about the exchange relationship, I didn’t think twice”. Gustavo da Silva never left Brazil. But he knows that Portugal lacks workers. The Vila Galé group sees the sending of Brazilian collaborators as a way of mitigating the problem, even taking advantage of a high season in Portugal corresponding to winter in Brazil. At the moment, in the areas of entertainment and catering, there are 10 workers under this program.
But many others, like Gustavo, want to join.
Quantity x Quality
Gustavo started his first job in the hotel business with the desire to visit Portugal. “It can be considered fast, but the plan to go to Portugal is not for now. It’s a long term plan. From acquiring experience, to other resorts from Brazil”, he points out.
Especially because for the Vila Galé group, with 27 hotels out of 10 in Brazil, it is necessary to fulfill a set of criteria to cross the Atlantic Ocean. Starting with “home” time, at least two years, combined with training and a good performance evaluation. Internal mobility is also a priority, with visits to other units in Brazil. There will then be a time interval for the exchange between countries. But there are, exceptionally, for example, two cooks, who will treat Porto before the pandemic, which ended up staying in Portugal.
In Brazil, which has a very young population, there is no shortage of candidates. In this group alone, 2500 people work. “I have a great uptake, but they are people who are available and willing to become hoteliers. Not that training is respected, we don’t have a large number of ready-made curricula for the hospitality industry. Our great challenge is to form, especially far from the big cities, today we have improved resorts”, explains Marina Mendonça, coordinator of the training and selection area of Vila Galé hotels in Brazil.
If in the past, Brazil was taken over by the Portuguese as an opportunity to enrich their curriculum in the hospitality industry, today the scenario is reversed. Candidates like Gustavo have already been attracted by the opportunity for a European experience. Why? “Everyone talks to me about the quality of life, the expectation of being in a country considered safer, with better health care. many leadership areas and go to do more operational functions when they go to Portugal”, reveals the manager.
But for those who recruit, even knowing that choices are increasingly helping to overcome a more notorious problem in Portugal, “it always gives that grip on the heart”, he acknowledges. “Letting go is like a mother letting a child leave the house. I understand it’s part of the process. And it is still a success for us, because we are training and delivering quality professionals”, confesses Marina Mendonça.
barriers to change
for the government of tourism authorized labor, foreigner, country visa on human rights, power of attorney, work, permit to foreigners. The new rules are not yet in effect. But, despite this step, there are other barriers for those who want to move from Brazilian to Portuguese hotels. The offer, like the market, is different.
Starting with the scale, explains administrator Gonçalo Rebelo de Almeida. For example, the recently opened Vila Galé Alagoas has 513 rooms, which is unparalleled in Portugal. Then the language challenge, no matter what accent: In Portugal, you have to deal with Portuguese-speaking customers, which they are not used to, because 90% are Brazilian”.
Moving to another country also means finding a home. If, in exchange programs, the group provides accommodation, the lack of affordable housing to work in the hotel’s heads, accessible to an inefficient transport network, can make the emigration and hotel structure a truly inefficient transport network – especially in the interior, where the chain has bet on strength.
Even so, Gonçalo Rebelo de Almeida says he is committed to feeding this solution, investing “increasingly in exchange programs”. “We have a very large school, where we train professionals. This mobility serves as motivation,” he says.
swivel chair
Gustavo da Silva’s favorite place is a disco. There you will find replicas of the swivel chairs from the talent show “The Voice”. He sits down for a photo, grinning. But it is the stage that calls him. At night, he says, he likes it when there are plays to perform. For these opening days of the hotel, with a program full of activities for guests, the dramatic side will take over all spaces of the to resortespecially in the area dedicated to the youngest.
“What we do is art. And art is to convey love to people. We know another culture, which is Portugal, and being able to take some of this art from Brazil there is important. First I want to be here, learn as much as possible. And then go there and take all the knowledge you acquire,” she says.
The plan is set, admitting to pass through the interior of Portugal and leaving the big cities to others. “Seeing the smile we put on our guests’ faces is happy”. And is there no fear in leaving the homeland, rumor to the unknown? “In life, you have to take risks. I’m taking my art. No matter what difficulties I will encounter.”
*the journalist traveled to Barra de Santo Antônio, Brazil, at the invitation of the Vila Galé group