By recognizing that potential employees are as interested in intangibles such as fairness and caring, as they are in competitive salaries, retirement plans, training and recognition programs, according to Marian Barbieri, Vice President of Human Resources for New Castle Hotels. In 1999, the Fairfield County, CT-based company trimmed 9.5 points from its 1998 turnover rate of 66.5 percent, greeting the 21st century with a turnover rate of just 57 percent. That number is well below the industry average of more than 100 percent estimated by the American Hotel and Motel Association.

New Castle Hotels owns and/or manages 24 hotel and resort properties throughout North America. In addition to traditional employee incentive and benefit programs such as a 401(k) plan with company match, competitive wages and benefits, service recognition program, property incentive plans, referral bonuses and seasonal staff parties, New Castle offers its employees:
 

�It seems strange to call these programs �non-traditional� since they are based on such �traditional� values as fairness, consistency, caring and ethics,� Barbieri notes. �But with turnover in the industry at such high levels and national unemployment rates at about 4 percent, a hotel company is just spinning its wheels if it doesn�t invest as much energy toward retaining good employees as finding new ones.�