Exploring service outsourcing in 3–5 Star hotels in the Accra Metropolis of Ghana

• Outsourcing is well understood by hotel managers in Accra.
• Areas of outsourcing include waste and security management, and staff recruitment.
• The primary reason for outsourcing was to improve performance.
• Some hotels did not outsource because of limited specialised suppliers.
• Poor quality of outsourced staff was a major challenge faced by hotels.

Outsourcing is one of the strategic tools used by organisations to meet a myriad of objectives in the Western world and Asia. Hotels in Ghana are engaged in one form of outsourcing or the other. However, little is known of what actually happens in these hotels as existing literature on the subject matter is from the perspective of Western and Eastern industries. It is for this reason that the study set out to explore how hotels in the Accra Metropolis of Ghana employed outsourcing as a business strategy. The study specifically sought to examine how managers understood outsourcing, the activities outsourced, the reasons for outsourcing and the challenges faced by these hotels. The findings indicate that outsourcing is well understood and although there are important reasons for outsourcing, there are also teething challenges that must be overcome if outsourcing is to become a strategy of choice in the hotels.