On the Oregon Coast, it’s easy to get distracted by the view. But beyond the iconic sea stacks and misty shoreline, hospitality businesses are navigating complex, year-round challenges around staffing, housing, transportation, and customer expectations, all while working to grow, adapt, and stay resilient in an evolving landscape.

The good news? They’re not doing it alone.

This summer, hospitality employers from across the region gathered again as part of the Oregon Coast Hospitality Industry Sector Partnership (OCHISP), a growing coalition of business leaders and support partners working to build practical, local solutions to the challenges facing the industry. Structured as four Action Teams, each focused on a core theme, the meetings were packed with hard-won insight, candid reflection, and new ideas ready for testing.

This blog shares what we heard, what’s next, and why the work of this partnership matters more than ever.

TALENT & WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT

From Pilot Programs to Scalable Pathways

Employers have been clear: labor shortages aren’t just about bodies…they’re about readiness, reputation, and relevance. At the June 26th Talent & Workforce Development meeting, the conversation focused on solutions that go deeper than job boards.

In-School Education

Two pilot programs stood out as bright spots. The Blue Economy Fish Butchery initiative, championed by Maggie Micheals with Oregon Coast Visitor’s Association (OCVA) trained over 430 high school students this year, offering hands-on skills in seafood processing—an area often overlooked in traditional career tech programs. 

Meanwhile, Nestucca High School piloted a spring Hospitality & Tourism course put together in collaboration between Dan Haag of Tillamook Coast Visitor’s Association  and Jeremy Strober of Heartfelt Hospitality, among other supporting partners. The course featured five rotating employers and immersive field trips. Student response was overwhelmingly positive, and schools are now exploring how to expand the model year-round.

Participants agreed: these pilots won’t last without strong scaffolding. That means educators who understand the realities of CTE, logistical support for things like transportation and field experiences, and sustained industry buy-in. Paid internships, career pathway visibility, and shared templates can all help transform one-off wins into a replicable system.

Work-Readiness and Visibility Gaps 

Many employers described a persistent disconnect between what students learn in school and what’s expected in a professional hospitality environment. Skills like communication, punctuality, and basic workplace etiquette are often missing, not due to lack of potential, but lack of exposure. At the same time, there’s strong interest among employers in getting more involved with local schools, especially those offering hands-on learning. But most don’t know where to begin. They aren’t sure who to contact, how to plug in, or what support (like materials or transportation) might be expected. And in some cases, the broader perception of hospitality as “just a job” continues to influence how families and educators view the industry.

The Ask

Support the systems behind successful pilots. Invest in industry-education bridges. And make sure every coastal student has a chance to see hospitality work as a real career path, not a fallback.

What’s Next

Our team is already working to scale what’s working. We’re building out a regional Career Pathways Toolkit with real examples from coastal businesses, and creating editable templates schools can adopt. We’re identifying key employer contacts in each community who are willing to host student workers—and matching them with teachers already asking for support. We’re centralizing contacts and pilot details in a shared folder for all partners, and we’re advocating for expanded funding to sustain youth engagement programs in the year ahead. 

Most importantly, we’re not starting from scratch—we’re building from the ground up, with input from the employers who’ve already proven what’s possible.

OPERATIONS & BUSINESS SUPPORT

Systems That Make the Job Doable

The Operations & Business Support team met on July 1st to tackle the day-to-day realities of running a hospitality business—things like training, turnover, burnout, and management bandwidth. While challenges are very real, what stood out in this conversation was a shared drive to find better systems—not just more effort.

Training Is a Business Imperative

Operators across the coast want to see more accessible training, not just for entry-level staff, but for the people stepping into management roles without formal preparation. Whether it’s understanding basic cost control, setting schedules, or navigating ownership structures, the gaps are clear. Participants emphasized the need for practical, relevant tools that reflect the real decisions hospitality teams face every day.

Retention Is About Recognition

Several business owners shared how meaningful it can be to send employees to training off-site—not just as a learning opportunity, but as a morale boost. These moments show staff they’re valued, and help break the cycle of burnout that’s driving turnover. The group discussed hosting seasonal debriefs or peer-led forums to share best practices and normalize collaboration over competition.

Data Gaps Are Holding Businesses Back

It’s hard to run a business without good data. While some hotels have access to STR reports, many independent restaurants and small operators are left guessing. Some participants expressed interest in lightweight tools to help track employee engagement or benchmark regional business performance. Right now, many are going on gut feeling alone.

What’s Next:

We’re working in collaboration with Tillamook Coast Visitors Association to co-develop a regional training series for hospitality leaders. The content and format are still taking shape, but the goal is to meet people where they are with options that are practical, approachable, and rooted in real operational needs. We’re also exploring simple tools to help small businesses gather employee feedback and better understand what’s driving retention and turnover on their teams. And we’re starting to think about how end-of-season conversations and regional knowledge-sharing might help coastal businesses learn from each other before the next wave hits.

BRANDING, MARKETING, AND BUNDLING

Filling the Gaps and Aligning the Story

On June 26, the Branding, Marketing, and Experience Alignment team met with a shared goal: improve how the coast tells its story, especially during the quieter months. For many coastal businesses, the problem isn’t summer…it’s the rest of the year. And while strong individual campaigns exist, the group agreed that fragmentation, redundancy, and missed coordination continue to limit collective impact.

OTIS: A Tool We’re Not Fully Using

OTIS, which is the statewide events database managed by Travel Oregon, powers dozens of tourism websites. But many hospitality businesses still don’t know it exists, and few understand how to get their events listed. Most access to OTIS has to go through trained “keepers” at DMOs or chambers, many of whom are already stretched thin. The result is underused calendars, inconsistent visibility, and a lot of lost opportunity.

OCVA and regional partners are now working to change that. A new Google Form lets businesses submit events directly, and OCVA staff will handle the Otis upload. They’re also repurposing those listings for newsletters and social posts, creating added visibility without extra work for operators.

Focusing on the Off-Season

Occupancy gaps aren’t a mystery. Weekday lulls from October through June. Slower stretches in November, early December, and January. The team discussed ideas like mushroom foraging promotions, fat tire biking weekends, and even charter transportation to get visitors exploring multiple communities. The demand may be there, but the campaigns need to be bold, coordinated, and timed right.

Fragmentation Still Hurts Us

Multiple attendees noted the growing overlap between marketing-focused meetings across the region. When OCVA and OCHISP were convening separate, but similar, groups, we lost momentum. The group recommended merging these efforts where it makes sense, inviting broader business participation, and collecting DMO marketing plans to start aligning efforts more intentionally.

What’s Next

We’re already taking steps to better coordinate across regional marketing partners. OCVA’s July 10 meeting began that process, and future branding conversations will be folded into their convenings to reduce duplication. We’re gathering local marketing plans into a shared folder, mapping OTIS access gaps, and working with local partners to train or recruit more OTIS “keepers” in underrepresented communities. These are small fixes, but they add up to a more connected and visible coast.

CREATIVE INFRASTRUCTURE SOLUTIONS

Housing First, but Not in Isolation

On July 1, the Infrastructure team met to focus on the structural conditions that shape workforce reality across the coast—especially housing. If employees can’t live in the region, they can’t work in the region. And while the housing crisis isn’t unique to hospitality, its impacts on the industry are immediate, personal, and unavoidable.

Lease to Locals: A New Model Looking for a Launchpad

One promising idea is the proposed Lease to Locals pilot in Clatsop County, shared by Elissa Gertler. The concept, designed in partnership with Placemate, would offer financial incentives to convert short-term rentals and vacant second homes into long-term leases for local workers. Eligibility requirements would ensure that housing reaches those who need it most, and landlords would receive direct payments in exchange for stable, below-market rents.

The program isn’t live yet. It’s still seeking nearly $1 million in startup funding, including a grant request to Columbia Pacific CCO. But it has support from all five cities in Clatsop County and could serve as a regional test case for employer-driven housing strategies if funded. The discussion raised tough but fair questions about rent thresholds, verification, and dispute resolution, but participants agreed: innovative tools like this deserve a shot.

Some Employers Are Already Making It Work.

Even without formal programs, some employers are getting creative. Brandon Kraft of LAM Hotels described how he’s personally housing staff by blending short-term, J1, and long-term units into a workable solution. Others noted that the political appetite for new housing tools is growing, but only if they’re paired with clear data, community benefit, and strong employer backing.

What’s Next:

We’re monitoring the progress of the Lease to Locals funding request and working to understand how similar models might be adapted elsewhere on the coast. We’re also mapping employer-led housing efforts that already exist, both formal and informal, to identify what’s working and where support is needed. And we’re continuing to explore how housing intersects with workforce development efforts across our Action Teams. Because job quality doesn’t mean much if the people doing the work have nowhere to live.

WHERE IT ALL COMES TOGETHER

These meetings aren’t talk for talk’s sake. Each one results in concrete action items—from writing grant proposals to drafting training curricula to mapping occupancy gaps. Every participant—whether an operator, workforce partner, or tourism leader—walks away with something to do or a clear idea of what is happening next. And thanks to the Oregon Hospitality Foundation’s ongoing coordination, that momentum doesn’t fizzle when the Zoom call ends.

Hospitality on the Oregon Coast is a massive employer. It’s also an ecosystem. When transportation falters, staffing follows. When burnout goes unaddressed, service quality drops. When housing isn’t available, jobs go unfilled. The Sector Partnership was built to reflect that reality and respond with cross-sector, industry-led collaboration.

These Action Teams aren’t solving everything overnight. But they are aligning and connecting people who used to work in silos. They’re surfacing insights that inform grants, programs, and state-level conversations. And most importantly, they’re making space for employers to lead and to be the voice, not just the audience.

If you’re not already part of the conversation, we’d love to have you. The door’s open, and the work continues. | Rebecca Donley