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Hotel highlights Glasgow Welcomes training benefits

12 Sep 2011

Karen McNulty, the HR Manager at Cosmopolitan Hotels, has a clear vision about the benefits of in-house staff training. “It gives staff the same aim – and the same viewpoint of the company’s ethos,” she says. “And this is of huge benefit to the future of a business.”

Karen was keen to qualify as an in-house trainer for the city-wide Glasgow Welcomes: Delivering Service Excellence programme, because she could see the long-term benefits of being able to offer all staff the same training in a cost effective way.

To date, Karen, who qualified as an in-house trainer in December, has delivered the Glasgow Welcomes 1 day training programme to around 70 staff, and another 50 are due to participate throughout October and November. By the end of March, Karen says that all staff at the two Cosmopolitan Hotels, the Erskine Bridge and the Normandy, will have received the same “highly valuable” training.

The benefits are already starting to show. Karen says: “In hospitality the customers are obviously very important. But sometimes staff can forget about their own important role in delivering great service, and  the Glasgow Welcomes training has helped to bring the focus back to this.

“Customer service has to be the best if we’re to encourage repeat custom and at Cosmopolitan Hotels we want to be renowned for offering excellent customer service.”

Through the delivery of the Glasgow Welcomes programme Karen focuses on the “customer journey”.

She says: “There needs to be a consistent message throughout the hotel and from all staff members. From the maintenance staff, to the chefs, to the front of house employees, the message needs to be that customer service must be excellent at every "touch point" of the experience.

“I definitely feel that the in-house training has helped to get this message across to all the staff and we are all taking the business forward in the same positive way.”

Karen reports that the management at Cosmopolitan Hotels has been delighted with the in-house training benefits.

She says: “The course for trainers which I attended was offered at a subsidised rate, which was really helpful, but the real benefit is that now all the training I give to my team is free. This is very cost effective, and also means we can tailor the content to our own needs, and deliver it to suit our staff rotas.

“I could see the bigger picture from the outset and I knew that this type of training would reap benefits and I believe it is.

“I really believe that training helps to grow a positive business.  Our staff are certainly more motivated and customer focused as a result.”

All businesses small and large can give staff the chance to participate in Glasgow Welcomes training through the Glasgow Tourism Service Initiative.  To find out more about the courses keep an eye on our events page. Delivering Service Excellence takes place in September/October  while a Train to be a Trainer course takes place on November 1 and 8.