Google Analytics

Monday, February 18, 2008

Staying in a Hilton Next Week and the Training Involved

Next week, I'll be presenting a pre-conference workshop at ASTD's Techknowledge Conference & Exposition on February 25, 2008 in San Antonio, Texas. Once again, I will be presenting with Matthew Monahan (see Second Life Training Presentation) The description of the presentation is below.

Learning in 3-D: Using the 3-D Web to Create Online Learning
Karl Kapp and Matthew Monahan

This informative full-day workshop examines the 3D world of Second Life from the perspective of a learner in Second Life. You should have some familiarity with Second Life and have visited the application once or twice to gain some initial comfort with the environment. During the workshop, you will become an avatar within Second Life and experience building, manipulating objects and learning within the 3D space. The emphasis will be on applying specific learning archetypes to foster learning within the 3D space. You will learn how to create Guided Tours, Scavenger Hunts, Conceptual Orienteering environments, Operational Applications, Role Plays, Critical incidents and other forms of interactive 3D learning events. You will gain hands on experience creating a mini-lesson in a 3D space and then presenting that lesson to others.

Fee: Member $405/Nonmember $505

Interesting, we are staying in a Hilton hotel. The same Hilton hotel family that just launched a virtual simulations for training its employees.

This great article, Hospitality Training Takes on Virtual Feel at Hilton. Explains how the Hilton Garden Inn hotel is creating a virtual learning environment where real-world hotel staff can further enhance their training and guest interaction.

In the environment, team members will play the role of a front-desk service agent or sign up for a position in housekeeping, food and beverage, engineering/maintenance or front desk. The game called Ultimate Team Play allows hotel team members to play their hotel-specific role and for them to see how their various actions directly affect the guest and the hotel.

As the article states, the game is designed based on scenarios that could play out at an actual Hilton Garden Inn hotel.

Players will have to stop and decide what their best courses of action will be to make sure they are able to fulfill a guest’s request and/or complete a specific job task within a limited time. Their immediate or non-immediate actions toward guests—since guest interaction will be the primary focus of the game— will directly affect the mood of the guest as well as the hotel’s Satisfaction and Loyalty Tracking (SALT) scores

Check out the article and see for yourself how the hotel chain is attempting to make the name Hilton famous for something other than its well known but mis-guided heiress, Paris Hilton.

Thanks to Jane Bozarth for the article link.

__

Catalog of Recommended Books, Games and Gadgets
Recommended Games and Gadgets
Recommended Books
Content Guide

1 comment:

Sara Boyce said...

I was very impressed with this article regarding the virtual simulation tool for training employees at Hilton Hotels.

I used to work for a well-known hotel chain and at one of the resort hotels at Disney World in Florida. Disney, of course, has a fabulous classroom and hands-on training program. However, once I got "in the field" and had to handle guests with varying moods and personalities, what was learned during the hands-on training class was pretty much forgotten. It's hard to learn how to handle a guest whose had a bad experience, or is just in a bad mood and taking their frustration out on me, the front desk agent. These situations can vary from guest to guest.

My training experience at the other hotel was even worse--I was thrown behind the front desk with practically no guidance whatsoever. Well, come to think of it, I did have a job aid to help me learn which key on the cash register did what.

I think that having this virtual simulation training would have been a great tool to use at Disney and the other hotel chain, especially to learn how to work with disgruntled or moody guests. How a front desk agent reacts to and interacts with a guest can ultimately ruin a guest's stay or make the guest's stay very pleasurable.

This simulation training tool and the SALT survey are great ways to enhance the front desk employee's interaction with a guest and also increase their confidence when performing their daily duties.

Thanks for posting the link to the article. Enjoy the conference and your stay at the Hilton, Dr. Kapp.