Report on Hospitality Supervision and Training Skills and Strategies

This report delves into the critical aspects of hospitality supervision and training, emphasizing the importance of cultural awareness and effective management strategies within the hotel industry. It explores the challenges of accommodating diverse cultural backgrounds, particularly focusing on the needs and expectations of German guests, and discusses the linguistic barriers that can arise. The report highlights the necessary skills for supervisors, including analytical abilities and problem-solving, and emphasizes the importance of teamwork and employee motivation. It analyzes motivational techniques to enhance employee performance and satisfaction, recognizing that employee satisfaction directly impacts guest experiences and hotel reputation. The report also addresses the need for proactive planning to manage potential issues, such as security concerns, and the significance of providing staff with proper training to ensure smooth operations and positive guest interactions.

Hospitality supervision and training skills

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Contents
Introduction.................................................................................................................................................2
Literature review.........................................................................................................................................3
Question 1...................................................................................................................................................5
Considerable issues.................................................................................................................................5
Required skill set.....................................................................................................................................6
Motivational technique............................................................................................................................7
Question 2...................................................................................................................................................9
Concerns about service level...................................................................................................................9
Recommended action............................................................................................................................10
Conclusion.................................................................................................................................................10
References.................................................................................................................................................11
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Introduction
The hotel industry is one of the best investment options that many businessmen venture in.
Opening up a hotel can bring many challenging as well as opportunities. One of the critical
phases of opening a hotel is a pre-opening phase. It is necessary to plan the opening of a hotel in
an effective way so all the problems that may arise can be tackled easily. It is correctly said, that
proper strategy will come handy when deciding on plans and budgets. Generally, creating a
checklist proves beneficial. The hospitality industry is a combination of two worlds, domestic
world, and commercial world, as they deliver the services that they promise. It can be a
challenge to maintain a balance between ‘stay that feels like home’ and ‘extraordinary
experience’ with the services and ambiance. The word ‘hospitality’ is used to describe wide
platform. It incorporates lodging, food services, front desk, leisure, convention, and security. It
can also be used to describe how a person treats another person. One of the main aspects of the
hospitality industry is behavior. It can be seen that kindness and proper conduct are very
necessary qualities that are required of staff members. Employees are the one who creates a
reputation for a hotel. In many countries ‘Employee first, customer second’ approach is
followed. As described, we will be discussing how employees affect the reputation of the hotel
that they are working for. We will also be discussing the issues that are faced by hotel employees
and guests from different diversity, during their stay.
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Literature review
Cultural impact: Though there is no comparison between cultures around the world, they all
have varied outlook towards everyday tasks. When you are working in hotel industry you come
across tourist from multiple countries. The hotel industry is one of the trades that actually faces
multiple cultures and hence it is required they behave in a proper way. Hotel Industry encounters
tourist from different diversities and it is described as a mashup of cultures that they have to
handle people from all the regions. When people of different cultures come together, they bring
their way of living life, their way of dressing up and their way of speaking with them. Let's
consider an example of Germans (Burns, 2018). Germans are said to have a very efficient
system for the day to day life, moreover, their way of living is very different from that of
Americans or to other people from across the globe. Due to globalization number of people from
different countries will be visiting your own country and so one should be prepared to provide
them with a home-like comfort. Not just for the holidays or vacations, people travel for different
reasons like for the business, and due to this diversity, we need to embrace a structure that is
suitable for all the employees as well as the guest. With reference to the case study as we know
the Germans are going to be the guest for few days so we will be assessing German culture and
behavior. In cross culture environment, it is required that the employees are efficiently trained
and know how to handle people from different countries. There are certain routine tasks that the
Germans do differently from that to citizens of other regions (Federal Ministry of Education and
Research, 2018). It is said that Germans value time a lot and they are very punctual. This is one
of the key points that Hotel staff should consider. They rarely delay. In case they are going to be
late, they will always inform beforehand so that no inconvenience is caused. If a meeting is
scheduled for a particular time, they will expect the meeting to start according to the agenda and
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this is one of the issues that might be faced by people from other culture who are not very
punctual. In Hotel industry this becomes the duty of the manager to make sure that everything is
organized properly. It is required that he have managing skills so that he can easily arrange a
meeting on time and everything goes according to the schedule. Apart from this, one of the main
problem that cultures face is of the linguistic barriers. They both might be speak different
languages which are not easily understood by each other. This can create a barrier between the
guests and the employees and it can become hard for them to understand what the guests are
actually expecting. They also have very different work ethics from rest of the world. They
consider the shift timings very seriously and they do not work on weekends or on vacations.
Even if it is very important, they will have someone to work in their place. According to them,
the time that needs to spend with the family is very critical and so when they come on vacations,
they do not like to get stuck in any kind of issues that might lead to delays.
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Question 1
Considerable issues
Germans are said to be very punctual. They value time a lot and everything that they do is
according to the schedule. There is hardly any delay in the work schedule. So in reference to the
case study manager needs to make sure that his front of house staff is ready to welcome the guest
at the arrival hours. All the preparation should be completed on time. Decoration should be done,
pamphlets should be printed, information cards should be stocked and staff should be ready for
the upcoming event according to the schedule (Rothfelder, Ottenbacher, & Harrington, 2013).
This is considered just a start of the journey in refurbishing the hotel. When entertaining
Germans one of the serious issues that the manager will face is of linguistic barriers. As Geert
Hofstede, the famous writer of Culture’s Consequence, an influential book published since 1980,
said in an interview, “I would say that understanding of other languages is almost a necessary,
albeit insufficient, condition for the understanding of the phenomenon of culture”. Language
differences often result in miscommunication. It is said that every next door in Germany speaks
a different language. It is very important that there is proper communication between the guests
and the employees to make sure that everything goes smoothly to avoid any distractions. It is
necessary to make sure that the staff is given proper training on how to handle the delegates in
proper official manner. It could be possible that they speak English, or they may not speak
English, so he needs to make sure that employees can easily communicate with them. Front of
the house team is the first team that they will meet and interact with and hence their impression
should be the best. When it comes to the presentation, the entrance should be properly
maintained, furniture should be properly organized (Crick & Spencer, 2011). Moreover, it is very
important that the staff available at the front desk are fluent in languages that will be spoken by
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the delegates. It is necessary that the staff understands what guests are trying to communicate so
that they can provide them with better services. Another factor that needs to be considered is the
way of providing your views. In some cultures, giving the feedback directly to the manager when
asked is considered polite whereas in certain culture it is considered rude and feedback should be
provided in one to one discussion or by an email or in a personal meeting. The manager needs to
make sure that employees are aware of the work culture and work ethics of the German delegates
so as to make sure that they do not an offend or create scenarios that are not favorable for the
image of the hotel (Billikopf, 2009). Phonetics is also one of the key points that should be kept in
consideration. Certain words that have considered normal in one language can be considered
rude or abusive and offensive in other persons’ language, so employees should be aware of all
the words that are not acceptable in German language, including slangs that they might hear,
which will help them be more aware of the expressions that the guests will try to communicate
in. It is also important to pronounce the words in correct way to look more presentable. Having a
background idea of the German culture will be really helpful for the employees (Research,
2017).
Required skill set
When working in the hotel industry, employees will face people from different cultures and
different diversities. It is not uncommon for the guest to expect certain facilities that might be
common in their own country but are not common in place they are visiting, and so the
supervisor should be prepared for these kinds of situations. He should have analytical skills so
that he can tackle all the issues and problems that were not highlighted by the manager. It is the
responsibility of the supervisor to make sure that his team works efficiently and without any
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glitch. Having a sharp mind and having problem-solving skills will come handy in certain
conditions (Kwok, 2012). As stated in the case study, during the visit of the German politicians
there will be a high amount of security. Apart from the security from the hotel, outside security
might hamper the day to day activities of the hotel employees. This can lead to a rise of a new
problem. It will be beneficial for the hotel staff and supervisor if they plan all these things prior
to the visit of the customer. The team should be trained properly on how to handle the official
security in such cases. In case if the press conference is scheduled, staff should get guidelines on
how to act in presence of media as every person will be under surveillance. There should be
proper agenda, describing the limitations of the employees on the scope of the work. It is
mandatory that employees of the hotel are aware of the certain areas or situations that they
should stay away from (Baum, 2002). Generally, in these scenarios, everything can run smoothly
if teamwork is shown. It is important that the supervisor promotes teamwork and determines that
the spirit of his team members is boosted. Even when hiring a staff, it is important to make sure
that their problem-solving skills are good. Since the employees are the face of the hotel, it is
important that they are humble, polite and helpful towards the guest. Only when the staff is
properly trained and a proper plan or agenda is made, it will ensure that everything runs
smoothly throughout the stay of guests (Yusuf & Anuar, 2014).
Motivational technique
In hospitality organization, it is important that employees are satisfied with their job because
they are the ones who will be facing the guest and if they are satisfied and happy then they will
project it on the guests. Hotel staff are the only ones interacting with the guest, so the reputation
of a hotel can be made or destroyed by the employee's actions. Hence it has become one of the
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practices to make sure that the employees or the staff are happy with their jobs so that they
perform better. Consequently, to enhance the performance, human resource group has always
been keen on motivating the employees (Nabi, Islam, & Hossain, 2017). Employee motivation is
not a new term for the employers. Generally, policies like employees first customers second are
followed in many sectors to motivate the team. According to this policy, the satisfaction of the
employees and staff working with the organization are given more importance than the customer.
The preference is always given to the happiness and safer work environment for the staff which
in turn will provide the best services to the customer and this will lead to better service delivery.
This is one of the approaches that the supervisors can follow during the Germans visit. The
supervisor should make sure that all the requirements of the staff are taken care and the staff is
happy to work in safe environment. They should not have any issues or it can be said that they do
not face any difficulties to ensure that everything runs effortlessly. Moreover, to motivate their
employees they can provide them with positive feedback or rewards that will again enhance their
experience, which in turn will help them in providing better service to the guest since they are
the ones that the guest will be cooperating with (Ahmed, 2015).
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Question 2
Concerns about service level
One of the main aspects of hospitality is meeting the demands of the customers. When
entertaining guests, they might have some different perspective on what they are expecting and
what they are going to get. But as a host it is necessary to provide the services that were
promised to the customer or as it can say, to maintain the trust of the customer in your own
organization. Initially, requirements of the customer or guest staying at the hotel could be
planned and make sure the services that are expected of them are easily available. If in case hotel
does not provide required service, they need to make sure that the customer is aware of it, so that
later on no one is in compromising place (Crick & Spencer, 2011). It is better to define the
agenda and services in the agreement that will be approved by both the parties. But in some
scenarios, it might happen that the host is having a hard time delivering the services promise to
the customer. However, in these kinds of situations, it is best if the hotel staff go out of their way
to help the guest and make their stay peaceful. One of the issues that the staff might face is
miscommunication. Due to which they might be unable to deliver the services to the guests. This
can happen because they do not understand what the guest is expecting or asking them. In many
cases, it is seen that even though the facility is available at the hotel, but due to the lack of
understanding staff fails to communicate it to the guest. In such scenarios, the supervisor should
be aware of all the terms and words that will be used by the guests during their stay. He should
make sure that is staff is aware of all the common words that they will be using. Tour of property
can be proven helpful in such case. Another important point that supervisor should keep in mind
is that his staff is always ready to help the guests and they are not demotivated if a certain
unexpected issue arises (Lee & Raschke, 2016).
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Recommended action
It is mandatory for the managers and supervisors to form solution for the matters beforehand, for
the issues that might be faced by the staff when they will interact with various cultured people.
They can be provided with special pieces of training for spoken language and the way they need
to behave. This can prove very helpful in many situations. These are some of the approaches that
the supervisor should follow at the start. Staff should be aware of all the difficulties that they
might face. Since employees in front of the house are the ones to deal with guests on most of the
occasions, they should have good analytical skills so that they can take quick decisions in case a
situation arises (Lee & Raschke, 2016). But in case any unconventional issue is faced, the
supervisor should be humble enough to acknowledge the situation. If required, he can hire
professional help on the spot and make sure that problem is resolved. As in the end, the primary
goal is to provide the guests with the best services.
Conclusion
In the end, we can say that when engaging with people from multiple cultures, certain points
need to be kept in mind. As it is said "you can take a man out of the village but you cannot take
the village out of a man", which explains that even if the guest is at the foreign land they expect
certain services that might be very common in their own country. All the teams must be prepared
to tackle a situation that arises due to cultural difference. It is very important to remain humble
and understanding during problematic situations. Moreover, employees should be given proper
training on how to handle cultural diversities as it is one of the leading issues that is being faced
by the hospitality industry.
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References
Ahmed, S. (2015, June). Employee motivation total project. Retrieved from
https://www.slideshare.net/ShaikAhmed16/employee-motivation-total-project
Baum, T. (2002). Skills and training for the hospitality sector: a review of issues. Journal of
Vocational Education & Training, 54(3), 343-364. Retrieved from
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13636820200200204?src=recsys
Billikopf, G. (2009, June 01). Cultural Differences? Or, are we really that different? Retrieved
from https://rategain.com/blog/7-quick-tips-for-your-hotel-pre-opening-in-2017/
Burns, R. (2018). German Cultural Studies: An Introduction. Retrieved from
https://www.questia.com/library/3677406/german-cultural-studies-an-introduction
Crick, A., & Spencer, A. (2011). Hospitality quality: new directions and new challenges.
International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 23(4), 463-478.
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Federal Ministry of Education and Research. (2018). Germany's Culture and the Arts. Retrieved
from www.research-in-germany.org: https://www.research-in-germany.org/en/discover-
germany/culture-and-the-arts.html
Kwok, L. (2012, November). Distinguish Ourselves with Exceptional Analytical Skills.
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exceptional-analytical-skills/
Lee, M., & Raschke, R. (2016). Understanding employee motivation and organizational
performance: Arguments for a set-theoretic approach. Journal of Innovation &
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Knowledge, 1(3), 162-169. Retrieved from
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2444569X16000068
Nabi, M., Islam, M., & Hossain, M. (2017). Impact of Motivation on Employee Performances: A
Case Study of Karmasangsthan Bank Limited, Bangladesh. Arabian Journal of Business
and Management Review. Retrieved from
https://www.omicsonline.org/open-access/impact-of-motivation-on-employee-
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Research, R. (2017). 7 Quick Tips for your Hotel Pre-Opening in 2017. Retrieved from
https://rategain.com/blog/7-quick-tips-for-your-hotel-pre-opening-in-2017/
Rothfelder, K., Ottenbacher, M., & Harrington, R. (2013). The impact of transformational,
transactional and non-leadership styles on employee job satisfaction in the German
hospitality industry. pp. 1–14. Retrieved from
http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.900.9093&rep=rep1&type=pdf
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617. Retrieved from http://www.aessweb.com/pdf-files/JASR-13-2014-4(11)-603-
617.pdf
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