Hotel workers’ perceptions on soft and hard skills in Porto, Portugal

Abstract The present study assesses hotel workers’ perceptions regarding their soft and hard skills, during COVID-19 pandemic. To this end, data were collected through a survey applied to 4 and 5 star hotel workers in the Historical Center of Porto (Portugal). The results show that workers have a generally positive perception on their skills, especially in the case of teamwork, interpersonal relationship and flexibility (soft skills). Digital competencies (hard skills), present the lowest level of confidence. Data also show that essential competencies are rarely provided by the employer. Moreover, the evaluation of workers with a higher education degree only differs significantly regarding hard skills (linguistic).