Are you a leader in the hospitality industry? Are you in charge of your hospitality staff training? Do you have the desire to equip your staff with exceptional soft skills? Then this article will help you better understand which professional development training programs are suitable for your talents.
After more than 25 years in Paris, we developed dedicated training programs for hospitality businesses to promote French Art de Vivre worldwide. Our unique programs target the fundamental skills your employees will need to ensure your business thrives.
Importance of soft skills for hospitality staff
Hospitality staff plays a major part in a hospitality business's brand and reputation. The way your employees present themselves and communicate to your guests has a huge impact on your brand's reputation. Having good technical skills is not enough in the hospitality industry; hospitality staff needs to ensure they have excellent soft skills to properly assist their customers. Knowing how to deal with a check-in process, setting a table, or taking an order are not the only skills to develop for hospitality professionals. To cater to guests' needs, it is essential to develop additional 'people skills' on top of excellent technical skills. This article will help you select the best professional development training workshops for your hospitality staff.
Soft skills needed for hospitality staff
What could be the essential soft skills needed for hospitality professionals? Most of us have been to a restaurant before; what would be worse than a poorly groomed waiter or waitress? Would you trust this person to carry your food or would you be concerned and questioning the health and hygiene practices of the entire place? It is easy to assume that personal appearance and grooming are essential aspects of hospitality professionals.
In addition to good presentation skills, customers usually expect additional soft skills from hospitality professionals, starting with communication skills. I’m sure we can all remember a time when an unfriendly hospitality staff got on our nerves. When deciding to use hospitality services, customers usually expect to be treated well, simply as the guests they are. When a hospitality professional behaves the wrong way with a guest, it is the entire company's brand and reputation that is at risk.
Last week, I went to a very nice restaurant with 10 of my students, the service was great, the food was excellent, and we were all having a great time until a rude staff member started to give us attitude. We only interacted with her at the end to pay for our meals. In only a few minutes, she managed to be rude to everyone, significantly changing our experience in this restaurant. We decided to address this matter directly with her, however, with another group she could have ended up with 10 poor online reviews. She would have ruined in 2 minutes the great work the kitchen staff and service staff did for more than an hour.
Your employees represent your company and the way they behave impacts your company's brand and reputation. More than being able to develop good verbal communication skills, it is essential for hospitality professionals to develop excellent listening skills as well as body language awareness.
Hospitality businesses often deal with guests from all over the world, this is why hospitality professionals need to learn more about etiquette and protocol as well as cultural differences. Developing your staff’s cultural intelligence is the key to assisting international guests with different needs and expectations.
Of course, no business skills would be complete without excellent customer service skills, focusing both on internal and external customers.
Tailored hospitality training workshops
Your brand’s image relies heavily on the individuals that make up your company. Your employees represent your company and the way that they present themselves and communicate reflects on the way your company is perceived by potential clients. Take a few minutes and ask yourself, which of the following soft skills do your hospitality staff benefit from?
Communication skills
Body language awareness
Personal presentation & uniform
Grooming & personal hygiene
Etiquette & Protocol
Cultural intelligence
Management & leadership
Soft skills in sales
Team building
Customer services
Train the trainer
Customer feedback and reviews can also help you assess your team’s needs. Bad reviews are never pleasant but we can always learn from them. Once you’ve highlighted the ideal training programs for your staff, simply contact us to work on your training strategy!