THE PROJECT

The Project

A receptionist in today’s thriving business world is so much more than someone who answers the telephone. She or he is the first person that customers meet, so the impression she or he makes represents the entire business. Faced with new kinds of systemic risks, like COVID-19, receptionist must also perform more demanding tasks for risk mitigation and they are the first persons that face the customers. They must always become ready for what comes next and safeguard the company’s guests and staff, in particular having the knowledge, skills and competences to respond to their safety, comfort and accessibility requirements.

Fitch estimates that COVID-19 will cause a major drop in European hotels' occupancy and these will not recover until 2023. It is sure that when reopening comes, the demand for receptionists will raise. Taking into consideration the fact that many of the existing workforce was forced to select different career paths and the new challenges the recent pandemic revealed, the need for competent training will be apparent.

WELCOME comes to address this need by developing and offering a modern online digital platform with training content in the form of 3D simulations (role play scenarios based on a service design mapping approach). The high-fidelity 3D realistic simulations that will be created with Unity (game engine) will offer advantages such as high user engagement, interactivity and feedback. Leading from the impacts of the coronavirus situation and prevention measures, the platform will include also COVID-19 management-related scenarios. Social distancing, sharing information about the virus, techniques and tools limiting person-to-person contact, techniques to identify and deal with risky situations and much more will be part of these scenarios.

The platform will offer a fast and affordable way of training front desk officers, shortening learning curves. The trainee will run the scenarios interacting with virtual visitors at a hotel reception and at the end of each scenario will be able to see (in a form of animation with the same avatars) the proper behaviour and identify possible mistakes. The scenarios will be categorized under different topics that will be selected through the organization of focus groups in each country (taking into consideration existing qualifications in each country).

It is expected that the platform will significantly increase the average recall rate of trainees compared with existing methodologies. The platform will be accompanied by an authoring tool where the scenarios would be easily translated and modified to address specific needs. Authorized users will be also able to create new scenarios according to their needs. The platform will consist of self-study elements in the form of 3D simulations as described above (accessible through the web and mobile devices) but will also offer an online assessment tool through real time interaction between the assessor(s) and the trainee inside the virtual environment of the reception (using cloud networking servers). A management tool will be dealing with the organization of the online assessments that will be taking place at set dates and times. Email notifications will be automatically sent to the trainees at set time before the assessment. The interaction during each assessment will be saved in a narrative form.

Objectives:

The objectives of the project are to:

develop an innovative online platform for the training of hotel receptionists on communication skills.
create a number of simulation scenarios that will be role-played by the trainee inside the platform
develop an online synchronous 3D assessment tool that will be used in order for the trainees to interact with assessors as if they were customers and receive a certification.
train tutors to use the platform in order to be able to translate and customize the scenarios to specific needs (different cultures, circumstances, etc). -train assessors to be able to organize and perform online assessments
disseminate the results of the project through tourism associations, professional communities, VET networks, EPALE, etc.