Hospitality players now have another solution to address the perennial concern of skilled staffing, as Singapore-based Boost expands its presence in Asia.
Boost provides mobile training programmes, which include English and Chinese languages, vocational training for F&B service, housekeeping and upselling skills. Last month, it appointed Horst Schulze as director and board member.
Schulze comes from a career in the hotel industry spanning more than six decades, including co-founding The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company and founding The Capella Hotel Group. He will advise Boost on course content and curriculum and apply his own experience of service excellence to Boost’s mobile training programmes.
He explained: “Mobile training technology provides employees with the ability to learn consistently and continuously. For language learning this is vital as constant, bite-sized, regular learning is key to mastering a language. Mobile training is also very flexible.
“I intend to work with the Boost team on their curriculum and training programme, looking for ways to refine and level up their training.”
Launched in October 2018, Boost is currently used in 225 hotels in Asia to train more than 20,000 hotel employees. Hotels engaging the solution include Shangri-La Hotels & Resorts, Hyatt Hotels, Marriott International, Hilton, Accor Hotels, InterContinental Hotels Group, and some “small, boutique hotels”, said Allan Taylor, CEO of Boost.
The mobile training solution has been positively received in the region, remarked Taylor.
He shared with TTG Asia: “A typical reason that hotels would hold back on employee training is the belief that they will leave anyway, so why invest in training? Our clients especially know this to be short sighted and understand that if they train them, educate them and certify them then not only will they have more confident, highly skilled employees but they will also have loyal employees who will think twice before leaving. They get the double benefit of better guest service and lower employee recruitment and training costs.”
He mentioned that one of Boost’s clients, The Continent Hotel Bangkok, has seen a five per cent increase increase in upsell revenue year-on-year since it started on the Boost Upsell programme.
“We are seeing the same kind of results from our other hotel partners around the region, with many general managers noticing a substantial increase in the confidence of their employees, which in turn leads to better guest service,” observed Taylor.
Boost is headquartered in Singapore and has offices in Indonesia, Japan, Thailand, China, as well as R&D centres in China, Vietnam and Ukraine. Taylor revealed that the company will open in the Middle East in 2020 and continue expanding in South-east Asia with a focus on Vietnam.
The Boost suite of mobile solutions is available on Android and iOS mobile devices, and to hotels and resorts.
