The Perception of Soft Skills and Their Training at Hotel Front – Office in Connection to CoVid-19 Pandemics

Abstract

This paper deals with soft skills training in the hospitality industry during the pandemic of Covid - 19. Based on the semi-structured interviews with hotel and front office managers, the main topics of communication with clients and their issues were identified, and the insufficiencies in employee approach towards these situations. The findings show that the employees are not prepared for critical situations and need proper soft skills training. This paper proposes virtual reality as a platform for real situation training, including feedback and in-training evaluation.

Systematic Literature Review of Employability Skills of Hospitality Graduates after Covid-19 Era

“…Currently, the hospitality industry in the current context is being influenced by the worldwide Covid-19 pandemic, resulting in changed consumer trends in tourism, gastronomy, and hospitality (Chalupa & Chadt, 2021). New employment opportunities will be created as a result of digitally enabled growth, although it may also mean that human cognition becomes more complex as a result of digitally enabled growth (World Economic Forum, 2017;Ruhanen et al, 2021).…”

“…Meanwhile, in the hospitality industry, sought-after personal qualities include a commercial mindset, optimism, proactivity, independence, interpersonal skills, inventiveness, and drive (Susaeta et al, 2020). Chalupa & Chadt (2021) also emphasized that flexibility, professionalism, empathy, and emotional resilience are equally vital attributes. Williamson et al, (2020) underscored the importance of emotional intelligence for hospitality workers who need to be able to empathize with others effectively in addition to committing.…”

How Do Hospitality Workers Perceive Their Work Skills before and after the Lockdown Imposed by the COVID-19 Pandemic?

“…Studies also indicate that the hotel industry is concerned with hiring people who combine their social skills with techniques (hard skills), as both are critical in delivering excellent services and enabling quality experiences (Marneros et al 2020). On the other hand, some studies suggest that hotel industry employees are not prepared to deal with critical situations, requiring more training to develop certain social skills (Chalupa and Chadt 2021). Therefore, for understanding whether tourism sector workers have the demanded soft and hard skills, it is essential to provide competitive services in this post-crisis period, so that deficiencies and improvement opportunities can be identified and addressed.…”

The Influence of the Internship Program or Work Practices of the Business Development Agency of Syiah Kuala University on Leadership, Critical Thinking, and Communication Skills

“…In the world of work, that job performance and the ability to maintain a high level of job performance have made training and development programs an important part of business operations. On-the-job training differs from formal education and learning methodologies, in that adults share different characteristics for learners and young students (Chalupa & Chadt, 2021). Researchers are interested in researching this study because the phenomenon of internships is still considered normal by some people, in fact, internships have many new things that can be learned seeing the phenomenon of internships in business entities unlike the views of the general public.…”