Michael Page: hotel pay follows revenue, not years served

The salary guide The value of talent in 2027, by Michael Page, puts a data point on the table that the Dominican hotel industry should read closely: in hotels, seniority is not the factor that sets pay. According to the report, which analyses 21 economic sectors, executive salaries are conditioned by business volume managed, the operational complexity of the asset, the number of properties, the category of the building and the brand positioning. Javier Murillo, Associate Executive Manager at Michael Page, sums it up: some companies value profiles with international mobility, technological adaptability and availability for growth projects, and those professionals, especially when they change companies or build careers in global chains, can reach pay levels above those with more years of experience.

The point matters for a destination like Punta Cana or Bávaro, where the expansion of international brands and the arrival of investment funds are reshaping the asset map. The source itself notes that the biggest salary increases are concentrated in Madrid, Barcelona, the Balearics, Costa del Sol and holiday markets in the Canaries, driven by demand for specialised talent. In luxury and ultra-luxury the growth shows in General Management, Commercial, Revenue and F&B. Translated to the Caribbean, the message for a hotel director in Santo Domingo or Samaná is clear: the CV matters, but the size of the asset you manage and the brand you represent matter more. Anyone negotiating compensation in 2027 would do well to document revenue, operational complexity and positioning, not just accumulated years.

The reading for the Dominican market is one of opportunity. The country's hotel industry competes for talent with global chains offering mobility and growth projects, and that pushes local operators to sharpen their pay packages and look at the value of the role, not the service record. The Michael Page report gives no figures by Dominican destination, but it does set the direction: pay follows the business being managed. For MITUR and hotel investors, retaining executive talent in destinations such as Puerto Plata or La Romana means designing salary scales tied to asset performance and property category.

It remains to be seen how international chains translate this criterion to their Caribbean operations and whether independent Dominican hotels adjust their salary bands to avoid losing executives to global brands. That is the point to watch in 2027.