Travelodge has today taken a big step forward in developing the skills of a generation of workers in the hospitality industry.
The budget hotel company has opened a ground-breaking Skills Academy, located inside the Coventry Travelodge. The Academy, the first of its kind in this country, is a training centre specifically designed for hospitality. It was set up by the National Skills Academy for Hospitality, providing a stimulating training environment with interactive technology and seminar spaces.
Due to the rapid growth of the hospitality sector in general and, in particular, budget hotels, the Skills Academy at Coventry Travelodge will help to develop the customer service and management skills in the hospitality industry to create a world-class workforce, delivering the skills that employers need. Travelodge believes such training centres are key to developing standards of excellence that are needed across the industry.
In order to provide a home for the Academy, the hotels previously vacant meeting rooms have been refurbished with state of the art training equipment, new furniture and the all of the rooms have been re-decorated. This Academy will be open seven days a week for companies to hire and the training centre also hosts a Customer Service course each week.
Travelodge's Chief Executive Officer, Guy Parsons, sits on the board of the National Skills Academy for Hospitality and believes that focusing on the development of people and skills is fundamental to the future success of the hospitality industry.
Travelodge prides itself on developing its employees from its internal fast track hotel management programme to the budget chain's bespoke degree in hospitality in partnership with Kingsway Westminster College.
Due to the success of Coventry Travelodge's Skills Academy, the budget hotel chain is looking to accommodate more training centres like this in a further 20 of its hotels with meeting room facilities.
Guy Parsons, Chief Executive, Travelodge, commented:
"Our people are at the heart of our business and having a high standard of customer service is vital to our competitive advantage as a growing business. Training in customer service excellence is key for hotel operators like Travelodge as it promotes loyalty among the nine million customers we get each year. I believe the hospitality industry will benefit tremendously from Skill Academies, ensuring our industry is ready to serve the influx of customers the UK will see during and after the 2012 Olympic Games."
David McHattie, Chief Executive, National Skills Academy, commented:
"This is a great example of a big business supporting the industry and smaller businesses. This innovative training centre allows us to make the inspirational training solutions we identify more accessible and at the best value. In challenging economic times both companies and individuals need to stand out from the crowd and the generosity of Travelodge means that more people will have access to the best development programmes that help build careers and businesses."
Alex Price, Hotel Manager for Coventry Travelodge, said:
"I am really proud to be the manager at Coventry Travelodge. My staff will now be able to attend the training courses that will develop all of our skills ready to serve the many customers we get at the hotel. Its amazing what you can achieve at Travelodge - after starting as a receptionist six years ago, I could only dream of running a city centre hotel complete with its own Skills Academy."
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