An opening date does not move; the permit calendar does not compress. Between the two sits a plan that starts eight to twelve months before the first guest and delivers trained teams on site for pre-opening. This page shows how a hotel opening is staffed from the Philippines, with an illustrative plan for a 150-room hotel — an example of structure, not a client case — and a calendar that counts backwards from the opening.
A 150-room upscale hotel opening with an overseas intake of fifty: eighteen housekeeping (fifteen room and public-area attendants, two floor supervisors, one laundry), twelve F&B service (ten servers and bartenders, two head waiters), ten kitchen (one sous-chef, three chefs de partie, four line cooks and commis, two stewards), five front office across shifts, and five supervisors and support (a housekeeping and a kitchen supervisor counted above, plus maintenance and night staff). Local hiring covers management, sales, the remainder of front office and the flex. The numbers are illustrative; the structure — departments, supervisor share, phasing — is what matters.
In the Gulf the whole calendar compresses to four to five months; in Croatia it aligns with the seasonal cycle; in Germany and Austria it lengthens with qualification and language steps.
Fifteen per cent over-selection into a warm pool is standard for an opening: between selection and departure a handful of candidates will withdraw or fail a medical or a document check, and an opening cannot wait for a new round. Reserves complete the same documentation and certificates, travel if needed, and otherwise become the first hires of the post-opening wave.
A weekly pre-opening call between your opening team and our programme lead; a dashboard per hire through the gates — selected, certificates, permit filed, permit issued, DMW cleared, flight, arrived; housing and induction readiness tracked on the same sheet. Risks are named early — a slow permit office, a certificate backlog, housing not ready — and the phasing is re-planned rather than the opening missed.
Recruitment runs through our own DMW-licensed agency, Prime Search Manpower Agency Inc. in Makati (licence DMW-027-LB-11182024): your company is accredited at the Migrant Workers Office for the destination, the job order is registered with the DMW, and every worker leaves Manila with a verified contract, medical clearance, pre-departure orientation and an Overseas Employment Certificate. Recruitment follows the employer-pays principle: no cook, waiter or room attendant pays for an interview, a skills test or a place on a shortlist. Your company is the employer from day one; we never employ or lease the workers.
Everything here is subject to the immigration route, labour-market rules and sector requirements of the destination country and Philippine DMW rules.
Ten months before opening in Europe, five to six in the Gulf, aligned with the seasonal cycle in Croatia. Later starts are feasible with a smaller overseas share and more local hiring.
Yes — brand standards, service scripts and systems familiarisation can be taught at our Makati facilities between selection and departure, with your trainers where you want them; property-specific training still happens on site.
Phasing is re-planned around the gate that slipped — housekeeping and kitchen first remain the priority — and reserves and local hires cover the gap; we name the risk weeks ahead on the dashboard.
No — it is an illustrative plan to show structure and calendar. Published results are on the case-studies page.
General information for employers, not legal or migration advice. Rules change; we re-verify before each hire.