Glion to offer bespoke training to ME hotels

The Glion Institute of Higher Education is offering bespoke training programmes to hotels worldwide for select groups of staff, with a particular focus on the Gulf Region, North Africa and Asia Pacific.

Anouk Tenten, partnership manager at Glion explained that instead of simply “bringing education to the market” by training undergraduate students, the school wants to be an “educational partner” with the Middle East hotel sector, working with existing staff to encourage skill development.

Tenten commented: “We create bespoke programmes for hotels or hotels groups and we’ve also been approached by retail groups and luxury brands that recognise their need for improved leadership skills.”

The company has already created bespoke training courses in finance, marketing and communications, HR as well as specific management and leadership courses.

Tenten explained that the demand for bespoke training courses has increased with hotel groups planning expansion for Expo 2020 and with the need to retain talent, particularly at management level more crucial than ever.

“It has to do with retaining staff as well,” she said. “If you look at plans for opening hotels, the groups that have good managers want to keep them so they need to train them in the skills they need to move up to the next level.

“Perhaps they have been in a role for the last 10 or 15 years but lack the skills to move on to the next level, and we show them how to do that, looking at options for both horizontal and vertical career movement.”

Glion currently has an agreement with Accor, Banyan Tree, Taj Hotels & Resorts and collaborates with Rotana and Hyatt Hotels. According to Tenten, the company has lots of requests for more hotel partnerships and eight potential Middle East proposals with “major hospitality chains” have arisen in the last few weeks.

Additionally, the company now offers face to face classes on site in the Middle East, besides classes delivered at the Switzerland and London office. There is also an online option for students, and courses can be done 50% online, 50% face-to-face as per client requirements.

As well as providing training, Glion’s affiliated office is focused on helping hotels attract Emirati staff. The team visits UAE schools and informs students about the potential of the hospitality industry in terms of career development.

The Glion Institute of Higher Education is an international hospitality management institution based in Switzerland.

It was the first private, university-level Swiss hotel management school and is one of the recommended higher education institutions by the UAE Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research.