The problem is never one week. It is the week you did not plan for.
Most hotels do not have a staffing problem on paper. The rota is written, the shifts are covered, the numbers add up.
Then a conference rebooks on twenty-four hours' notice, banqueting needs six extra hands by Thursday, and Saturday check-out lines up with a wedding setup at the same time.
You can either burn out the team you already have, or you can call an agency and hope the person who arrives has worked a hotel floor before. The reason "hope" is the right word is that most agencies send people who have not. Somebody rocks up in the wrong uniform. Somebody has never made a bed to a five-star standard. Somebody does not turn up for the split shift you booked them for.
We built Albion because both of us have run hotel floors ourselves and know what a bad agency booking costs a general manager the next morning.
How we run against a hotel's calendar
Three things make the difference here, and none of them are complicated.
We keep a bench of hotel-experienced staff. Not people who have done a bit of hospitality somewhere. People who have worked in London hotels, know the difference between banqueting service and a la carte, and can hold themselves like a member of your team from the moment they walk in.
We send the same faces back. Once someone has worked at your property and got on with your head housekeeper or F&B manager, we send them again. Your standards do not reset every booking, and the team you have already trained stays trained.
One person answers the phone. Not a rota, not a ticket, not an out-of-hours line that goes nowhere. If it is Saturday afternoon and you have lost your night porter, you speak to someone who can actually do something.
The roles we cover
Front and back of house. Waiters, runners, hosts, bar staff and baristas for restaurant, bar and lounge cover. Chefs and kitchen porters for breakfast service, banqueting and a la carte.
Housekeeping. Room attendants, floor supervisors, public area cleaners.
Banqueting and events. Silver service, plate waiters and event floor crew for weddings, conferences and functions.
Night cover. Night porters and duty cover for overnight and split shifts.
If a role is not on that list, ring us and ask. The answer is usually yes.
How fast is four hours, honestly
Four hours is what we can usually do in central London on a weekday if you ring us before midday. It is what happens most of the time, not what we promise on a wall.
Same-day cover is a rescue. Two days out is a match. A week out and we can send someone who has worked your kind of property before, in the uniform you use, and will want to come back.
Outside zone one, add travel to the timing. We will tell you honestly on the phone what is realistic. If we cannot cover it, you will hear that from us straight away rather than at six o'clock.