Carmen Canton

With over 25 years of global expertise in Human Resources, Carmen Canton has held influential leadership roles across some of the most prestigious brands in the hospitality industry, including Loews Hotels & Co, Hilton, The Ritz-Carlton, Mandarin Oriental, and InterContinental Hotels Group. Throughout her career, she has demonstrated a strong ability to align people strategies with business objectives, driving workforce engagement, talent development, operational excellence, and sustainable growth.

People Strategy Drives Business Results

At Loews Hotels, my responsibility spans both people strategy and business performance because, in hospitality, the two are deeply interconnected. Guest experience is shaped by our people, and the way team members feel, grow, and perform directly influences the results the business delivers.

Practically, I oversee the entire employee journey—from the moment they are interested to join us to how they are welcomed, developed, supported, and engaged every day. A big part of my role is making sure we focus on the whole person and their journey with us and how we, as an employer, support our team members’ holistic wellbeing.

In hospitality, people strategy is business strategy. It is not a separate function operating alongside business goals. Results are achieved through people, and creating the right culture and employee experience becomes essential.

Engagement for Sustainable Business Results

Hospitality is fundamentally a people-driven industry, which is why I do not see employee experience and business performance as competing priorities. Sustainable performance comes from engaged teams. When employees feel connected, valued, and supported, stronger business outcomes naturally follow. That perspective shapes how balance is created between evolving business expectations and the employee experience.

Today’s workforce wants a clear sense of purpose and need to understand why their work matters. They seek flexibility, opportunities for growth, meaningful recognition, and confidence that their well-being is valued. I believe well-being has become one of the most important expectations in the workplace. While the meaning of well-being differs from person to person, a holistic approach creates trust and makes it easier to establish clarity around expectations and performance.

Employee experience serves as an important guiding principle in how programs and initiatives are developed. Competitive compensation, learning and development opportunities, and recognition efforts all contribute to creating a meaningful workplace experience. I also place particular importance on social and recognition events because they create a stronger sense of belonging.

Hospitality teams often include people who have moved from different countries and may not have family or established social networks nearby. In many cases, the workplace becomes a meaningful part of their support system. Creating that sense of community is an important part of helping people feel connected, supported, and successful.

Turning Employee Voice into Action

Over the past several years, many people and culture initiatives have created meaningful impact but one initiative that made a real difference was how we approached listening to our team members. Many organizations gather employee feedback through surveys and data collection efforts. I believe the greater challenge is not hearing employee voices but determining what actions follow.

The focus shifted from simply collecting information to creating accountability around meaningful action with the insights gathered. It required stronger leadership involvement, deeper analysis of employee feedback, and clear action plans connected directly to what team members identified as important.

The goal was not only to listen but to create visible change. Many initiatives introduced across the organization were shaped directly by employee input, creating stronger alignment between organizational priorities and team expectations.

“I believe leadership in hospitality starts with creating an environment where people can thrive.”

I have seen meaningful outcomes emerge from this approach. Engagement scores improved, retention strengthened, and trust between leaders and teams increased significantly. Those improvements eventually influenced broader organizational metrics, including operational and business performance.

Leadership development also remains a major priority. Strong leaders create experiences that shape whether employees choose to stay and grow. I believe people often remain with leaders who genuinely care, which is why developing leaders who support and engage their teams continues to be essential to long-term success.

Personalization Creates Stronger Workforce Connections

Hospitality is one of the most naturally diverse industries, and that diversity remains one of its greatest strengths. Teams often include multiple generations, varied cultural backgrounds, different life experiences, and individuals at very different stages of their careers. Many enter hospitality from humble beginnings and eventually build meaningful, long-term careers around a shared purpose of serving guests.

I have learned that a one-size-fits-all approach simply does not work in this environment. Teams include people who have spent decades in the organization alongside younger generations entering the workforce with different expectations and work styles. What became clear is that, regardless of age or background, people are often looking for respect, a sense of belonging, meaningful work, connection, and recognition for their contributions. The difference is not what people value but how they prefer to engage with those experiences.

That understanding shaped a more personalized approach to workforce strategy. Recognition, communication, and engagement opportunities are designed with flexibility and choice in mind.

Communication also requires multiple channels and leadership styles that adapt to different needs. I believe inclusion should be treated as a leadership capability rather than a slogan. Leaders are encouraged to understand what brings out the best in each individual. Technology and efficiency matter, but hospitality remains centered on people serving people, which means human connection must always remain at the core of every experience.

Where Humanity Meets High Performance

We need to stop viewing employee well-being and high performance as competing priorities. The real challenge is creating the right balance between humanity and accountability. Leadership plays the defining role. Teams look to leaders to establish expectations, create culture, and model behaviors that shape the employee experience.

The future of leadership is human centered and performance driven at the same time and developing leaders on how to balance these two key components is essential.

Over the years, I’ve learned that employees rarely expect perfection from leaders but they do expect authenticity, communication, and consistency. At Loews Hotels, maintaining that balance between performance and humanity has remained an important focus. I have seen how cultures built on both care and accountability create stronger teams, better experiences, and long-term organizational success.