More than 85% of Bulgarian hoteliers expect it to get even harder to find staff next year, a national survey by Hotel Forum (HTIF) on the hotel job market in 2026 shows.
For now, hotels are mostly coping by paying more. Over 60% of those surveyed say the lack of staff makes it hard to keep up quality.
The survey questioned owners and managers of hotels and hotel groups across Bulgaria. Together they run just over 22,000 rooms. Seaside hotels make up about 30% of the sample, city hotels almost as many, spa hotels 18% and mountain hotels 10%. Another 8% are groups with hotels of different types.
Four-star hotels are half of the participants, three-star hotels a quarter, five-star hotels about 20%, and one- and two-star hotels 8%. Half of the hotels have up to 100 rooms, about 30% have 100 to 200, and 20% have more than 200.
Cooks and kitchen staff are the hardest to find for the second year running, named by 70% of hoteliers. Chambermaids follow with 54%, waiters and bartenders with 43%, and receptionists with 35%. Spa and wellness staff are now named by 8% of hoteliers, up from 3% last year, almost three times as many. The figures add up to more than 100% because each participant could choose up to three answers.
For the first time, HTIF also asked what the staff shortage leads to. Two-thirds of those surveyed say their teams work overtime. Slightly fewer say managers have to take on purely operational tasks.
The main cause of the shortage is working hours: shifts, weekends and public holidays, which HTIF says clearly put off many candidates. Seasonal work and pay that cannot match other sectors are each named by 40%. Respondents also cite heavy workloads and the low appeal of hotel and tourism jobs.
Pay in the sector is rising in 2026 too, HTIF data show. Half of hoteliers raised wages by up to 10%, just over a quarter by 10% to 20%, and 10% by more than 20%, though such rises are rare. Wages take up to 35% of revenue at over half of hotels and almost 50% at a quarter of them.
The share of hotels with almost entirely Bulgarian staff, where foreigners make up less than 10%, fell from 70% last year to 60% now. A year ago, hotels where foreigners were more than a third of workers made up 14% of the sample. Now they make up 25%. HTIF says bringing in workers from abroad is one of the most discussed topics in the industry.
Asked which step works best, 60% of hoteliers name pay that can compete with other industries. Half want faster hiring of workers from abroad, and 32% count on students and upper-grade school pupils for internships and permanent jobs. HTIF says attracting young people dominated the industry's answers in the past few years, but is now in third place.
On 7 October we reported that hotels on the southern Black Sea coast are hiring more and more cooks from abroad. Since the start of the year they have taken on 761 cooks and assistant cooks, and approved work visas for seasonal workers from abroad were up 185% on 2025.
In the previous survey by HTIF and the Bulgarian Association of Hotel Management Professionals, at the end of June and start of July, most hoteliers named inflation and rising prices as their biggest challenge. A fall in tourist numbers came second, and staff shortages third. In recent years, staff shortages had topped that list.