When millions of Israeli guests and tourists will be visiting the busy Eilat hotels this summer, most of the staff who will take care of them from tidying and cleaning the room before their arrival, to handling every request throughout their stay, are asylum seekers and foreign workers. They will be greeted with the big smile of Genet Hagos, who came to Israel from Eritrea 12 years ago, as soon as they enter the lobby of Leonardo Plaza in Eilat, which she manages.
“I came from Eritrea to Israel and to Eilat in 2009, and I arrived at the hotel where I still work at to this day. I started as a waitress in a dining room, then I became a barista, then I was promoted to supervisor in the dining room, then, to the poolside “snack-bar”. It was hard work in the heat, but I became good at sales and the hours were great. Three years ago, I moved to the lobby, as a manager. On my first day there, I didn’t know any of the computer software, but my supervisor taught me how to use everything and by the second time I was doing everything on my own.”
The Israeli hotel industry includes about 500 hotels and employs about 42,000 workers. Out of all the hotels in Israel, Eilat alone employs more than 10,000 people, of whom today about 1,500 are refugees and asylum seekers, according to Yoav Bachar, VP of Human Resources of the Israel Hotel Association.
Genet (first on the right) with hotel colleagues / photo credit: Genet Hagos Gebrmikael
As the lobby manager, Genet, 32, has been carrying a heavy responsibility at the height of the summer season, similar to the stress and chaos at an emergency room triage, the hotel lobby in Eilat leads to tense situations and challenging encounters.
“There’s no way there won’t be any mishap throughout a day’s work, because it’s a huge hotel and there are a lot of people here, but somehow you have to get through it.” Genet avoids sharing one specific case, although obviously there were many.”People who think they own the hotel, and tell you things, and write in the comments later (on the website). I’m all for avoiding situations like this, even if I get angry, I go to the back, drink some ice-water, I have no other choice.”
Over the years, this composure, along with a lot of motivation, talent, and hard work, has earned Genet the confidence of the hotel manager, and together with a diverse and supportive staff she succeeds in managing the hotel-lobby in the morning, and family life with four children in the afternoon, while her husband goes to work at another hotel in the city.
“The children were born here, they are grown up and they ask me, what am I, an Israeli? Am I Eritrean? Sometimes when something happens at school, they come straight home and ask these questions. I was born here; I don’t know Eritrea.”
“It’s good at our hotel, whether it’s in the food and beverage department or housekeeping, everyone helps each other. If someone is sick or late, an employee will come from the dining room, I can help in the lobby and vice versa. Everyone helps, manager, deputy, room service, so if someone is late for a shift there will always be someone backing up and you don’t feel alone.” Among the hotel employees, a team made up of a wide range of nationalities and languages: Israelis, Jordanians, Palestinians, Ukrainians, Sudanese and Eritreans.” The hotel accepts every kind of employee, the main thing is that they must be hard workers. ”
Photo credit: Genet Hagos
When Genet talks about her work at the hotel, her bubbly voice becomes serious and formal, conveying confidence and dedication. “I’m in front of an audience a lot, we have to maintain restraint and politeness,” she says. “Even if a guest lashes out at you, and even if he is wrong, or makes an unreasonable demand, everyone should be respected, to give them a good experience that they would return to the hotel.”
As she leaves the hotel grounds, she encounters other challenges, which she shares with the asylum seeker community in Eilat.
“Life here is not easy, the children are in school, but the school is very far, and we don’t have a car, which is a big problem. The only solution for families like us, is a private taxi which costs 500 shekels a month. We can’t pay for all of them, so we only pay for the younger two.”
But when it comes to her children, the difficulties that arise are not just logistical. The deep fracture is in her identity, that of her children, vis-à-vis the environment and the country in which they live.
“The children were born here, they are grown up and they ask me, what am I, an Israeli? Am I Eritrean? Sometimes when something happens at school, they come straight home and ask these questions. I was born here; I don’t know Eritrea.” When she talks about her children’s future, her calm tone changes. Unlike the hotel, here she is speechless. “I think about the children and what a feeling it is. It’s really hard.”
I welcome every employee, whether refugee or Eritrean, Sudanese or Ukrainian asylum seeker, who stays here and advances inside the hotel.”
Yoav Bachar adds: “As long as the State of Israel does not grant them an identity card but Form Section 2(a)5″ there is still difficulty” Bachar refers to a document that asylum seekers receive from the Ministry of Interior that officially states that they are not allowed to work, although it is not strictly enforced.” It just makes it harder for employers,” says Bachar, “Some employers find it very confusing, and they don’t want to deal with it.”
The hotel industry in Israel has seen manpower shortages for the past two decades and has turned to the Ministry of Interior for visas for foreign workers. For Yoav Bachar, the dedicated asylum seekers, who work in hotels and are well acquainted with the nature of the work and the demands, are an asset and he wants to reward them accordingly. Not only because it will benefit Israel’s tourism and economy, but because it is the right thing to do.
“The refugees who stayed here, in Israel in general and in Eilat in particular, have upgraded from the cleaning and housekeeping jobs they started with and transitioned to other jobs in the hotel, and this is a phenomenon that seems natural and positive to me. I welcome every employee, whether refugee or Eritrean, Sudanese or Ukrainian asylum seeker, who stays here and advances inside the hotel.”
Genet’s success and integration in the hotel tells the stories of hundreds of other asylum seekers who have been in Israel for over a decade, and as Bachar testifies, these workers are at ease with the Israeli industry, economy and society, but when talking about hope or aspirations for the future, Genet looks forward, and her thoughts move again to her children’s future.
“I really love Israel. When I came here, I didn’t know a word of Hebrew. And now I have a livelihood, and a family, but when I see that my children will grow up here, I don’t want them to work the way I do, I respect my work, but it’s not enough. They need more.”
Bachar regrets the narrowing of employment opportunities for refugees and the difficulties posed by the state on their way to integration here. “Israelis have training and educational institutions, all kinds of subsidies and courses run by the Ministry of Labor, there can be a computer course, high-tech or a cooking course, and asylum seekers don’t have access to that and it’s definitely a problem, it’s very bad.”
“As a young barista, I made a lot of coffee. From time to time there are competitions between the hotels in Eilat and every time I would reach first place. The third time they said to me: You again? And that’s how they noticed me. It’s hard work, it’s very hot there, but the hours were good and I was good at sales, I worked a lot of time there.”
“I want to start a business, a coffee bar, things I like to make, pastas, toast, I know the field well and I think I can succeed.” Genet once again speaks with passion and confidence, but when it comes to the future, she maintains restraint. “But if it’s in Israel, it all starts with an ID card, right now, there’s nothing to dream too much.”
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