Marriott Cincinnati Airport Business Case Study
How Upshift Solved Marriott Cincinnati Airport's Staffing Challenges

About the Company
Marriott Cincinnati Airport is a Northern Kentucky based franchise of the International Marriott Brands that provides hotel rooms and banquet/event services.
You can visit their website here: https://www.marriott.com/hotels
The Challenge
Though the Marriott Cincinnati Airport has many rooms and a large banquet hall, not all of their space is constantly utilized, which results in their labor needs being variable. Additionally, the hospitality industry has high turnover leading to lots of time sunk in recruiting. Before Upshift, Marriott Cincinnati Airport utilized a few different temporary agencies. Even with a few agencies though, the quality of help they received was not high even though the cost was.
Enter Upshift
Upshift started by staffing banquet servers and BOH kitchen staff for events at the hotel. After seeing success in this area, the Marriott enlisted Upshift’s assistance in finding staff for positions in their housekeeping department with extremely variable labor needs – Laundry Attendant. Less than 12 hours after posting their first Laundry Attendant shifts, they were filled, and the Marriott Cincinnati Airport continues to utilize Upshift for both banquet servers and laundry services. Upshift was also able to help Marriott Cincinnati Airport bring down costs. Before Upshift, they were billed at set bill rates by the agencies they were working with. This resulted in perverse incentives.
For example, Marriott Cincinnati Airport was paying $21/hr for a temporary dishwasher but did not know what the dishwasher was making. When the dishwashers were asked, they said they were making $9/hr. Using bill rate based billing incentivizes agencies to charge clients the highest possible amount and pay the worker the least amount possible.
Upshift utilizes a markup-based model that aligns the incentives of all parties involved. In the above scenario with Upshift, the client raised their pay to $12/hr, resulting in a $16.8/hr bill rate. This saved Marriott Cincinnati Airport $4.2/hr in bill rate and allowed them to attract and retain higher quality talent through a pay rate 33% higher than the agencies were offering prior.
Results
Thanks to Upshift, Marriott Cincinnati Airport has attracted much higher quality workers for their events due to Upshift’s industry-leading digital platform. The transparency in wages allows Marriott to pay what they want to attract the best talent. The willingness of those traditionally outside of the temporary labor sphere to pick up these shifts has resulted in a large increase in worker’s quality!
“We use Upshift in several areas of our hotel. From our housekeeping department including laundry attendants and room attendants to using banquet servers and dishwashers in our event center and restaurant. We have had great success with Upshift and have found a variety of skilled individuals. Several Upshifters are currently on the conversion plan as an UpShift-to-hire.”
Bobbi Ward
- Manager

Learn More About Upshift
Simplify your staffing through Upshift. Click below to schedule a time to speak with a member of our team or learn more about Upshift.
Learn More About Upshift
Simplify your staffing through Upshift. Click below to schedule a time to speak with a member of our team or learn more about Upshift.
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