As the winter season approaches, ski areas across Austria are facing a dramatic labor shortage, making the search for waiters, cooks, and other hospitality staff extremely difficult, almost an impossible mission.

Although exceptional wages as well as completely free accommodation and meals are being offered, interest in this seasonal job is surprisingly low, and the number of serious candidates who meet the required criteria is even smaller.

In the hospitality sector, in fact, an unprecedented battle is being fought for every employee, because there are no longer enough seasonal workers. As the portal Fenix Magazin, writes, the problem escalated after the coronavirus pandemic, when a large portion of qualified professional staff from Austria permanently left hospitality and embarked on other professional paths. Business owners point out that even before the crisis it was difficult to find domestic labor, but now the situation is incomparably worse and is forcing them to look for workers far beyond the country's borders.

As a concrete example of the difficult situation, the case is cited of the owner of a hotel property in Tyrol in Fliess, who had no choice but to publish a vacancy through the Austrian Employment Service, AMS, for a waitress or waiter from abroad. The job is offered for the upcoming winter season, the duration of which is set from December 18, 2025 to April 6, 2026. The desperate search for staff has therefore become everyday reality for numerous hoteliers fighting for the survival of their winter businesses.

The offer for the position of waiter or waitress is very attractive and includes a minimum monthly gross salary of 2,200 euros, along with a stated willingness to pay additional compensation for qualified candidates. What makes the offer exceptionally appealing is the fact that accommodation and meals are completely free for the duration of the season. These are extremely favorable conditions that should attract workers from all over Europe, yet despite this, filling the positions is progressing slowly and with many difficulties.

In order for candidates to apply, appropriate knowledge of the German language is required, which is crucial for communication with guests, as well as independent, dedicated, and courteous work, while work experience in serving drinks and food is desirable but not decisive. However, despite the clear requirements and excellent conditions, the response has not met expectations, so the hotel owner from Fliess stated that so far, unfortunately, only unserious applications from Morocco have arrived, which only deepens the already alarming labor shortage crisis in Austrian tourism.