Major hotel brands talk about diversity, inclusion and human values, yet quietly exclude professionals who have crossed the age of 60.
Professionals who built the foundations of modern hospitality.
Professionals who dedicated a lifetime to perfecting what service truly means.
This contradiction exposes a question we can no longer ignore:
Are 60+ professionals being rejected because of higher salaries.... or because of pure age prejudice?
In an industry based on empathy, intuition, crisis management, and human connection, it is astonishing to see how experience is now treated as a liability instead of an asset.
But the truth is simple:
A hotel without experienced leadership loses stability, loses identity, and loses excellence.
No algorithm replaces intuition.
No “fresh face” replaces four decades of wisdom.
No corporate trend replaces the emotional intelligence of someone who lived hospitality before it became automated.
Professionals 60+ are not “outdated.”
They are the last generation who truly learned hospitality from the ground up.
And they bring something that no training program can manufacture:
- Deep industry knowledge
- Emotional intelligence
- Crisis-proof leadership
- Diplomacy and stability
- Loyalty and long-term vision
- VIP guest mastery
- Mentorship and team development
- Ethics and responsibility
- Negotiation power
- Brand credibility
Ignoring all this is not innovation.
It’s blindness.
Hotels that reject experienced leaders are not saving money — they are losing excellence, culture, stability, and guest trust.
Hospitality exists because of the people who gave their lives to it.
To exclude them now is a betrayal of the very values the industry claims to defend.
So the question stands — clearly and loudly:
Is the industry rejecting 60+ professionals because of cost…
or because of discrimination?
If hospitality wants a strong future, it must stop discarding the people who carried it this far.
Experience is not a limitation.
Experience is leadership.
Jose Alexander Mazeto - Follow
Hotelelier|Especialista em Hospitalidade na Consultoria Independente | Gestão de Experiências de Hospedagem
