(St. John’s, Antigua, January 23) A 5-day Certification Training Programme for Front Desk Employees came to a close last Friday (January 22) with all 25 participants writing the American Hotel & Lodging Educational Institute’s (AH&LEI) Hospitality Skills Certification Exam for Front Desk Representatives.

The participants represented fourteen (14) hotels across the island, and have a cumulative total of 130 years experience in the hospitality and tourism industry.

The training and re-training exercise emphasised the importance of the role of the Front Desk Staff as front-line employees, critical to customers’ level of satisfaction and (their) rating of their service experience.

The Participant’s Manual titled: Going the Extra Mile: Service Skills for Front Desk Employees. crafted and published by AH&LEI highlighted all the specific areas and issues under the responsibility of the Front Desk Representatives and covers the full range of service skills that they need in order to deliver maximum levels of guest service while functioning in a productive and efficient manner.

During the evaluation session, all participants were full of praise for the Facilitator, Jennifer Calhoun, President of J&J Calhoun Associates and Director, of the Hospitality & Training Institute, Prince George’s Community College, Maryland. Calhoun was a former Director of AH&LEI Seminar Programmes.

Comments echoed by the participants included:

“The most helpful part of the Workshop was the deeper understanding I gained of the ways in which I could help improve my customer service skills to better serve the guests.”

“After being through this week’s programme, the knowledge I have gained makes me feel more confident and empowered to handle difficult situations, particularly in dealing with irate/angry guests, which was my weakness.”