Drama in the hotel

It can be very embarrassing when restaurant guests know more about wine than the person serving them. The increasing expertise of guests drives some people to provide in depth training for their employees, while others try to cash in on the thirst for knowledge. A half of all students participating in sommelier training are “civilians”, who simply want to know more about wine. The other half are from the bar and restaurant business, generally sent to the course by their bosses. The profession of baristas is similar in the respect that you don’t have to own a cafe to be interested in coffee. Of course, barista or latte art courses can be delivered in our cafe if we happen to have one. Cooking courses are a little like Tom Sawyer getting the fence painted. We get people to help us do our job and they even pay for it. In the US, some hotels have already specialised in guests who come to learn in their kitchens. Though promoting e-training in the HoReCa sector is a priority for the EU, it is still quite surprising for us to see the number of online sommelier courses operating in the US. Some people call these courses “virtual education”. In any case, webinars (seminars on the Internet) are popular among students. Drama courses are used in a variety of fields, including the training of hotel staff. For example, the Domina Hotel Group has paid USD 125,000 for a ten session drama course for all employees from two of their hotels. We also need to address some problems, like the shortage of people fluent in foreign languages urgently. An example of a positive attitude is the Spanish Wine Strategy within which foreign language skills are one of the priorities. Another example from the field of education which can also be of interest to us is the training provided by the local government of the Danish city of Holstebro for HoReCa employees . In the course called “Safe Nightlife” they are not only trained to defend themselves but also to prevent crime.