The benefits of training

The purpose of training is to improve knowledge and skills, and to change attitudes. This can lead to many potential benefits for both individuals and the organisation. Training can:

· Increase the confidence, motivation and commitment of staff

· Provide recognition, enhanced responsibility, and the possibility of increased pay and promotion.

· Give a feeling of personal satisfaction and achievement, and broaden opportunities for career progression

· Help to improve the availability and quality of staff.

Good training enables the manager to build people’s capability, which will often have remarkable results. Training should be viewed as an investment in people; it must be real, operational and rewarding. Training requires the co-operation of line managers, adequate finance and resources, time, skilled staff and a supporting appraisal system.

 

The hospitality industry operates in a very competitive environment with rapidly changing consumer requirements. In order to meet these consumer trends a lot more emphasize should be given to the hotel staff. Hotel staff’s behavior should say they care about and respect their customers, colleagues and employees. In customer's mind, there is often little difference between one hotel and the competitor's. What make the hotel stand out are the professional touches—the manners. Manners are a form of communication. The slightest lapse can cost money. Good business etiquette equals higher revenue.

Here are examples of good manners successful professionals display:

· Address clients formally, be polite and smile.

· Dress appropriately for customers.

· Understand the customs of international guests.

· Turn cell phones off.

· Send brief e-mails that are clear and spelled correctly.

· Do not "overindulge" at company or industry events.

· Do not criticize co-workers in front of clients.

· Do not tell potentially offensive jokes in front of customers and co-workers.

· Attend industry functions to focus on the customers, not for the food and drink.

 

I’ve been working as a hostess in the Rickshaw restaurant in the Corinthia Towers Hotel for more than a year. It’s a great opportunity to see how the food & beverage department in a five-star hotel really operates. Our restaurant is rated the best Asian restaurant in Prague, and it was awarded with Seven Stars and Stripes award. Before I started my work the manager introduced me to the restaurant staff, showed me the kitchen, the dining area, explained me my duties and responsibilities and gave me a list of useful information that included basic hotel description, important phone numbers and telephone standards. It took me about a week to learn and remember all my duties and be able to work without any guidance. From my personal point of view, I can say that even though I’d learned all that I was assigned the first week of my work, I’m still learning new things because I have a direct contact with customers. Training is a really long-lasting and never-ending process. I was impressed by the high standard of the staff, the commitment to work and desire to satisfy customers’ needs and exceed their expectations. For example, eye glasses that we can offer to our guests in case they have forgotten theirs, the green tea that we serve as a welcome drink and pour it from the beautiful Chinese teapot, the whole atmosphere in the restaurant is very relaxing and welcoming. And it’s not only the excellent oriental cuisine that is prepared by the professional Thai chef, but also the wait staff’ service that make people come back to our restaurant.

In my opinion hospitality and all its segments will need a more efficient and sophisticated structures due to growing competition, high customer’s expectations, globalization and fast-changing world economy. The future success of a hotel depends on the ability to foresee and being open-minded for new changes. The key organisational trends nowadays are: visionary leadership, globalization, diversity, flexibility, flat structure, customer focus, zero defects, and being in the information fast lane. The organisation must be able to respond to increasingly globalized sales and labour market.

Diversity means the organisation must respond to a workforce that is heterogeneous sexually, racially, and chronologically; innovation and conflict/communication issues; and different styles of interaction, dress, presentation, and physical appearance.

Flexibility in the modern hotel organisation means assuring that systems, processes, and people can respond differently to different situations; fewer detailed rules and procedures; greater autonomy and encouragement of initiative; and lifetime employability rather than lifetime employment.

The trend toward flatness in hotel organisations means fewer levels of management, workers empowered to make decisions, and fewer differences in responsibility. Traditional organisations that follow well-documented rules must be raplaced by modern ways of organisation that can balance discipline and flexibility.

A customer focus must reflect business decisions at all levels of developing and operating a hotel organisation.

Hotel services are based primarily on people, not on computers or other equipment. It is very difficult to meet the standard of zero defects in service. Today customers expect a consistent and predictable level of service wherever he or she traveled, that is the standard, not the exception, as is the expectation of sophisticated technology in hotel rooms to support business needs.

Today’s hotel organisation must recognize the need for visionary leadership. A focus on leadership in ideas, information, inspiration, vision, and teamwork is more applicable todays than the old command-and-control model of leadership.

Being in the information fast lane is critical. The role of  information technology is not only in back office support for accounting and reservation systems. Information technology today influences all aspects of business from corporate strategies to organisational structure. Information technology must enable organisations to react faster to market needs and fulfill the customer demands both quickly and accurately. Information technology delivers, but it has to deliver the right information to the right people at the right time.

 

Literature.

 

1. Denney G. Rutherford, Michael J. O'Fallon. Hotel management and operations. John Wiley and Sons, 2006. ISBN 0471470651, 9780471470656.

2. Jeremy Huyton, Sue Baker, Pam Bradley. Hotel management and operations. Cengage Learning EMEA, 2001. ISBN 1844800903, 9781844800902.

3. R. K. Malhotra. Encyclopaedia of Hotel Management and Tourism. Anmol Publications PVT. LTD., 1997. ISBN 8174884882, 9788174884886.