The future of the hospitality industry, and therefore hospitality education, has been a growing question in the minds of students, hoteliers and investors. While hospitality education institutions have always endeavoured to be forward looking, the pandemic compelled them to even innovate even more on content and modes of delivery. Juan-Francisco Perellon, Chief Academic Officer, EHL Group tells Vinita Bhatia that currently, even – or especially – GMs and other top executives must self actualise, reskill and keep up with the changing world. The global pandemic accelerated the transformation process in the educational landscape considerably.
Hence, the Swiss institute of tourism and hospitality studies is helping graduates gain the training that will allow them to adjust to the changing future of the industry. It is developing a growing portfolio of lifelong learning solutions that tie into the undergraduate and graduate diplomas and is pursuing a strong internationalisation strategy with its campuses at Lausanne, Passugg and Singapore.
Does hospitality education still have a place in the future? Or will hotel companies internally groom deserving candidates and fast track them up the corporate ladder making formal hospitality education redundant?
Quite the contrary. Hospitality education is not only about technical knowledge, but also about learning adaptability, empathy towards one’s teams and customers and providing novel, sustainable approaches to problems never encountered before. What hotel companies are increasingly realising is that the learning process must now absolutely be a lifelong endeavor. Hence, more of them are either incorporating learning solutions or partnering with learning institutions to invest in knowledge acquisition based on current trends, knowledge and technologies.
However, you will only ever learn what is being taught in that hotel, for that hotel’s specific needs. This cannot replace a university experience with a global outlook, where students experience a multitude of business models and best practices in addition to building an invaluable network that will serve them throughout their life.
How will the hospitality industry look like in the future?
While the world embraces the new normality and looks towards what it might hold for the hospitality industry, sustainability, safety and hygiene will remain at the forefront. Customers will challenge the hospitality businesses on how they manage these elements during their stay.
Hoteliers will have formulate relevant innovative strategies and implement these within each establishment. Looking at the up-and-coming travel trends for 2021, some guest expectations will focus on sustainability, wellness and technological innovation. The hospitality industry’s future is promising as there is a huge pent-up demand for individuals to visit their bucket-list hotels and dream destinations.Therefore, when restrictions are lifted and normal life can resume we foresee a positive outlook for the industry.
The nature of urban hospitality is also experiencing a seismic shift. City hotels are rethinking their purpose, and their role within local communities, since they aren’t likely to see business-travelers flocking in like they used to for a long time.
How can hospitality institutions create training programmes that focus on these changes and allow students to adjust to the changing future with greater ease?
By remaining close to market requests. We mustn’t simply explain the shifts that have happened, but we have to feel the ground shifting under our feet and help all industry stakeholders reposition themselves. This industry proximity is entirely integrated into the learning experience through class projects, course content, student-business projects, company visits and round tables, and partnerships that take many different forms.
Are millennials disinclined to pursue career opportunities in hotel operations?
A recent study conducted with over 500 graduating hospitality management students shows that they are still very passionate and keen on getting into this exciting professional path, so long as their expectations are met. It showed that social value is their most important criteria.
The research stated that graduates attach the greatest importance to having a respectful work environment, a good manager/ supervisor, friendly relationships with colleagues and a team atmosphere.
Other priorities are career development opportunities, getting recognition for their accomplishments, diversity of tasks and an empowering working environment.
The least important for the graduates were the reputation value attributes represented by good quality of company products/well-known products, good reputation of the company among friends, good company
to have on the CV. Values and priorities are shifting, and it is our responsibility to make sure the managers we train are as well-equipped as can be.
Hospitality education is not only about technical knowledge, but also about learning adaptability, empathy towards one’s teams and customers, and providing sustainable approaches to novel problems.
Given the growing technology adoption, how can hospitality students balance digitisation with humanisation to enhance the guest experience?
COVID-19 has played a major role in further accelerating the digital transformation of our education portfolio and with it fears that technology will wipe out jobs and human relationships in its wake. Of course, it is very important to ensure future hospitality leaders are up-to-date with the most modern technology or trends in the sector.
However, market trends show that as the world becomes more digitalised, consumers are looking for a real, concrete and personalised service. The main challenge for upcoming hospitality managers is to improve guest experience, which involves perceptions and emotions.
Technology is not only to better serve the customer; it is a huge driver for process optimisation and data-based decision making. Therefore, it will be a great tool for tomorrow’s professionals, rather than their demise.
Graduates attach great importance to a respectful work environment, a good supervisor, friendly relationships with colleagues and a team atmosphere.
How can students be trained in adaptable soft skills, like emotional intelligence and empathy?
Hospitality is all about people and providing a guest with excellent service and memorable experience. In addition to the hard skills (e.g. project management, marketing, accounting, finance, etc.) in the hospitality industry, customer satisfaction requires highly demanded soft skills and emotional intelligence.
To help our students excel as professionals, we offer a dedicated and caring learning environment to incite the development of soft skills. This includes an excellent student to professor ratio; mindfulness workshops; a plethora of group projects; spiritual and psychological counseling.
How can hotel companies have a proactive approach towards training, especially for their executive team, rather than a reactive one, so that they are better equipped to deal with any future business disruptions?
The answer is lifelong learning! The pandemic brought many unprecedented challenges and among them is possibly the greatest shake-up in education in a century that has forced governments, employers and educational institutions to rethink the way learning is conducted.
While solid public policies on lifelong learning are needed so everyone can acquire skills that allow a successful integration and transition in the labour market, education institutions are not the only ones that ought to lead the way. Hotel companies can also seize the opportunity to ensure that no one is left behind by recreating the career development process of their employees and adjusting it to the concept of lifelong learning.
