The hotel runs with a skeleton crew during the quiet winter months.
skeleton crew
idiomA crew consisting of the minimum number of personnel needed to maintain and operate the basic functions of something, such as a business, a factory, or a ship.
Origin
disputed originFrom skeleton (“(military) small number of soldiers in a regiment far short of its full strength; (especially attributive) bare essentials, minimum”) + crew, metaphorically referring to a crew being bare bones rather than adequately fleshed out.
Because of the holiday, the office is operating with a skeleton crew until next week.
The factory maintained only a skeleton crew throughout the strike to ensure that the essential machinery remained operational and safe.