With the Millennium Stadium set to stage the very first event of the London 2012 Olympics - Women’s Football - Cardiff has started polishing up its hospitality act, with hotel staff the first to be trained in an Olympics-developed customer service programme.

To mark the landmark event, Lesley Griffiths AM, Deputy Minister for Science, Innovation and Skill, presented special lapel pins to staff of The Royal Hotel Cardiff.  The Royal is the first hotel in the Welsh Capital to undergo WorldHost customer service training.  The programme is regulated by People 1st, the sector skills council for hospitality, leisure, travel and tourism. 

A locally-based consortium of New Directions Training in partnership with Christie Wells Associates were awarded the contract to deliver the training, and will be expanding the programme to other public-facing organisations including hotels, tourist attractions and taxi companies.

Speaking at the hotel, located close to the Millennium Stadium which will also host 11 of the men’s Olympic football matches, Lesley Griffiths said: “The London 2012 Olympics are providing a real impetus for Wales to further improve its visitor offer.

“The WorldHost programme will clearly play a key role in helping organisations boost customer service skills levels in the hospitality and leisure industry, which is a vital component of our tourism economy.

“This training will provide people working in the tourism industry with valuable transferable skills while the companies they work for will also reap the benefits that a skilled workforce brings to a business. I commend the Royal Hotel staff on becoming among the very first in Wales and the UK to qualify in the WorldHost programme.”

Following extensive research with over 5,000 employers across the UK, People 1st identified the urgent need for a world class customer service programme. After mapping all existing programmes to the research findings, People 1st adopted WorldHost following its successful implementation at the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics, where it was used to train 39,000 volunteers and tourism staff. 

People 1st has now licensed 20 trainers to deliver the programme in Wales and is expanding the network across the UK to train 200,000 hospitality and tourism personnel ahead of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Phil Raynsford, Strategic Programmes Director of People 1st Cymru, said:  “The UK overall is ranked 14th in the international customer service rankings.  Our research found that 86% of businesses that implemented customer service training said generating repeat business was a key benefit while 18 percent said they saw increased sales.

“We have contextualised the WorldHost programme to meet the needs of the tourism industry here in Wales so that organisations of all sizes can deliver both excellent customer service and a unique Warm Welsh Welcome to visitors from both home and abroad.”

Jon Swingler, Manager of The Royal Hotel said: “Cardiff is well practiced in hosting international sporting events, and our hotel being so close to the Millennium Stadium, is no exception.  But there is always room for improvement to boost the capital’s tourist reputation; we welcome the opportunity to adopt and champion the very latest in Olympic-oriented customer service standards.”

WorldHost training covers four customer service training components.  These encompass the principles of customer service, service for customers with disabilities an ‘ambassadors’ workshop for volunteers, and service across cultures specifically designed for customers from abroad

Caption: Samantha Lawson, staff member at The Royal Hotel with her WorldHost lapel pin