As a commitment to its foray in the Iranian market, AccorHotels is creating several short- and long-term plans to develop the existing and future staff at its hotels.
AccorHotels Iran development officer Christophe Landais said: “Through the Accor Academy we have, the idea is to run some courses based on basic skills. But also in terms of customer-centric attitude.”
He told Hotelier Middle East: “Perhaps the longer or medium-term approach we are taking towards this is to join forces with some universities in Tehran to develop the future middle management of the hotel. That is extremely important and it has been well received from the Iranian university that we have approached, to find a way in which we can bring added value.”
“Iranians are generally very hospitable people. In the hotel industry what we are missing is middle management. In Iran, we don't have middle management which has been exposed to international standards. So, that is taking a long time to find,” Landais said.
He said the employees at the Novotel and Ibis in Tehran have been given English lessons on-site to help them cope with the guests. “We took some various initiatives; on a short-term, one of the barriers is language. They speak very little English, so we have started giving English courses for employees in the hotels. And that has resulted in a major element of success too: the staff are much more outgoing and are communicating with the guests now.”
He added: “They are also interested because they have realised that for 37 years it was a closed kind of relationship, now it has to be opened up. The theory is there, now they want to practise, and this is what we can bring to them.”
Finally, the group has been quick to identify talents within the hotel and groom them. Landais said: “The fourth initiative we are taking is to develop some training management and development programmes within the hotel. We have identified two talents, and will design management training and leadership programmes for 12-15 months.”
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