Online training motivates and trains limited labor pool for high influx of international visitors near Capital Reef National Park
Scottsdale, AZ (March 9, 2017) – With one million visitors annually to Capital Reef National Park in south-central Utah, the Red Sands Hotel has turned to HMBookstore online education to train and certify its employees on operations throughout the hotel such as housekeeping, service culture, food and beverage, special event planning, revenue management, guest services and more. Located in Torrey Utah, a rural city with a labor pool challenge, the Red Sands Hotel owners utilize HMBookstore’s over 110 diverse courses ranging from entry-level to management positions to train/cross train employees on role responsibilities and elevate confidence in servicing guests despite a lack of hotel industry experience.
“We were introduced to HMBookstore’s self-paced education solution at the time when our employees needed more professional development education to supplement on the job training,” said Amber Christenson, co-owner and operator of Red Sands Hotel. “The mobility aspect of HMBookstore’s education tool gives employees ultimate flexibility to take each course and us, as owners, to monitor progress through test results. The ability for an employee to revisit individual role and responsibilities and how he or she integrates within the property has been beneficial for cross training and instilling the importance of providing the highest level of service to our guests.”
A challenging aspect common among hotel properties located in rural areas is access to a large labor employee pool. Because employees may not be from a hospitality industry background, access to easy-to-use solutions for professional education and development is critical. Christenson notes that using a program focused on training, teamwork and engagement helps to relieve issues they used to encounter and touts the benefits of implementing has been numerous. “Our guests arrive from all over the world bringing vast experiences and a big city atmosphere to our small town. Courses and videos on guest engagement and phone etiquette, for example, offer suggestions and are extremely useful in motivating and building employee confidence for greeting and interacting with guests.”
Other benefits Red Sands Hotel has enjoyed are effective job function cross training to ensure coverage in all areas, onboarding and training results with relevant course material and role play techniques, motivating tools like certificates of completion rewarding achievement and the ability to monitor employee progress and scores via the HMBookstore’s administrative portal.
HMBookstore offers a systematic beginning, middle and end training approach to achieve lower employee attrition, reduce costs and improve service culture scores. Regardless of where a property is in terms of training, the online learning management system can be helpful for owners and operators to assess their property’s current processes and identify new avenues for improved operations. For properties wanting to customize coursework based on individual property or employee needs, the module-based coursework offers the flexibility to alter the process and select custom topics.
