Hotel Association trains members to enhance standards

The Ghana Hotels Association on Wednesday opened a two-day training workshop for owners and managers of hotels in the Greater Accra Region to enhance operating standards in the industry.

Mr Herbert Acquaye, the President of Ghana Hotels Association, said the training programme was also aimed at setting a benchmark that meets international best practices.

He explained that many of the small hotels and guest houses in the Greater Accra Region operated with different benchmarks and that did not speak well of the industry.

“There is the need to set standards that every hotel owner and manager agrees to,” he said, in an address to over 50 hotel owners and managers.

Mr Acquaye said the workshop was the first of a series for hotel owners and managers and the Association intended to organize such training programmes in all regional branches.

He expressed the hope that the workshops would build the capacity of hotel owners and enable them to ensure that everything went well in their facilities.

Mr Edem Kpodo, Board Chairman of the Ghana Tourist Board, lauded the Ghana Hotels Association for the initiative and said the industry needed such kinds of training to enable them to give clients the best services.

He said: “Most of the time, hotel owners concentrate on making their facility beautiful but neglect the need to employ qualified staff to man their facilities.”

Mr Kpodo, therefore, advised owners and managers of hotels to pay attention to giving quality services to their clients and help enhance operating standards.

Participants would be taken through topics like Best Practice Processes, Attraction and Recruitment, Employee Satisfaction and Involvement, Communication, Facility and Environmental Management.

Source: GNA