One of the most effective forms of training employees is role-playing, allowing them to play the role of a guest while working with staff who are training them. Then, at other times, they will play the part of an employee and the trainer will pretend to be a guest. While this method has been around for many years, it still holds up these days.
“I tell new employees to experience the hotel as if you were a guest; that way you know and understand how the guest is feeling and you can learn the skills that you need for the job,” says Kara Lundgren, general manager of the 111-room Circ Hotel opening in Hollywood, Florida, in March.
Contributed by Laura Koss-Feder
Also effective: using all five senses during the role-play, Lundgren adds. For instance, if trainees smell garbage in a wastepaper basket or overpowering odors from the kitchen, how would that affect them if they were guests? If the lobby floor feels sticky or wet, how would that make them feel about staying at the property?
This five-senses role-playing becomes even more effective and encompassing, Lundgren says, when it is combined with cross-training. A kitchen server in-training can be brought to a guest room to role-play as a traveler examining the condition of the room. A housekeeper can pretend to be dining at the hotel’s restaurant and try food in the kitchen to see if it is too salty.
Role-playing can also be effective when small groups of trainees are paired together and offer each other critiques and feedback. Gustavo Gelover, director of F&B for the 490-room B Ocean Fort Lauderdale in Florida, created a training program geared toward new college graduates that utilized this method years ago when he worked at Mandarin Oriental Hotels.
“Training like this has helped employees feel valued, like the company had an investment in them,” he says. “This lowered turnover by about 20%.” He adds, “I would always recommend this type of training; it works well in just about any kind of property and in any kind of location.”