Strengthening the Training Team in Hotels

4-star hotels in Hai Phong City need to fully inform and have a training plan to raise awareness and views of hotel leaders, from directors to department heads in the hotel, about the importance of the Vietnam Tourism Occupational Skills Standards (VTOS) in training and using security staff according to this Standard.

3.3.2.2. Strengthening the training team in hotels

Table 2.15 shows that the number of trainers at the 3 hotels is still very limited and mainly focuses on reception, housekeeping and restaurant operations. Expanding the team of security trainers is an effective measure, because they are the ones participating in the training, maintenance and development process. On the other hand, hotels must use certified trainers and assign them to submit training plans for employees in each department according to VTOS regulations. Moreover, having a team of trainers helps hotels save costs on hiring outside trainers and improve training efficiency. Hotel leaders should closely follow information on VTOS training projects to be able to register for security training courses.

3.3.2.3. Solution to complete the training process of hotel security staff according to Vietnam tourism vocational skills standards VTOS

Although training is relatively concerned in most of the 4-star hotels surveyed in Hai Phong. But basically, the training and development of security staff of hotels according to VTOS standards still has some shortcomings in methods, content or ways to identify key factors as well as necessary principles to build an effective training program. On the other hand, there are hotels that, for objective or subjective reasons, have not paid due attention to training for a number of reasons:

- Lack of awareness of achievable hotel standards and the benefits of training.

- Often focus on direct management and do not plan for the future.

- The hotel does not have enough funds for training.

For the above reasons, training in hotels still has some limitations and has not really brought about the desired results. Therefore, the first thing hotels need to do is to redefine the key elements in training.

There are three main factors that each individual needs to have to work effectively that human resource managers need to grasp: knowledge, skills and attitudes. Therefore, training should be based on these three factors to plan training as well as build training content and methods. These factors can all be developed and improved through training, however, each factor requires a different training method. For example, training in professional knowledge can be imparted through talking, presentations, and movies, but this method cannot be used to develop the second factor, which is skills, for example, using fire extinguishers, how to check electrical equipment, etc. For skills, practice and practice are necessary and effective. The third factor is the employee's attitude and perspective on work, which is often the most difficult to impart and change, even when training has a very favorable foundation. Changing teaching methods and improving students' creativity and initiative is an effective solution.

The second important thing that hotels need to focus on to design effective training programs is that hotels need to ensure they understand the following principles:

- Training can only be successful if employees recognize that learning is a voluntary process, individuals need to be self-motivated and therefore they need to be appropriately motivated. Hotels need to have a plan to reward employees who perform well in training courses.

- Each learner will have a different knowledge absorption, especially in the case of older learners. On the other hand, employees often start the training process with different knowledge, levels, motivations and attitudes.

- Feelings of insecurity, fear, inferiority or lack of confidence have a negative impact on employees' learning to improve their qualifications. Therefore, hotel human resource managers need to grasp this to have solutions to create trust as well as create a comfortable mentality for learners to achieve the highest efficiency in training.

- Training should be conducted in short, frequent sessions rather than long, scattered sessions. For example, if you have to teach new employees how to use kitchen equipment, 10 sessions of 45 minutes each will definitely be more effective than one session lasting 7 to 8 hours.

- Learners need to have an active role, which means they need to participate in the teaching and learning process: For example, the presentation method puts learners in a relatively passive role, while discussion and practice will motivate and engage learners to become more active.

- Learners need to have clear goals, their progress needs to be regularly checked and evaluated.

For training sessions to be truly effective, hotels need to do a good job of preparation. Below are the contents that need to be prepared before organizing training:

Table 3.1. Contents to prepare when organizing training [5; p. 221]

Aspect

Question	Reply
Purpose	What is the purpose of training?
Evaluate	How to evaluate training results and quality?
Responsibility	- Who is responsible for training and training costs? - Who has the right to decide on training and training costs?
Selecting training participants	- Principles and criteria for selecting staff to participate in training? - Fair competitive procedures for recruiting

Maybe you are interested!

What is for training?
Funding sources	- Hotel rules? - Provide training funding and specify when this funding will be used? - Specify procedures for funding, budget adjustments and other activities? - What are the procedures to protect the hotel's interests when employees do not complete the course or quit?
Information system	The hotel maintains information on the following: + Costs of tuition, travel, accommodation... + Training time and content + Training results
Selecting a training provider	- Who participates in the selection, who has the right to decide? - Selection process? - Selection criteria?
Organize training courses	- Time of organization? - Person responsible for logistics services (contacting lecturers, documents, drinking water, food, accommodation - if any)
Evaluate the results	- Evaluation criteria? - How to perform the assessment?

In addition, the evaluation of training effectiveness of hotels needs to be paid more attention. In fact, all 3 4-star hotels surveyed have developed training effectiveness evaluation programs, but the actual effectiveness is not really measurable. Because the effectiveness of training programs is often evaluated through two specific stages:

+ Phase 1: What do students learn after the training course?

+ Phase 2: How do students apply the knowledge and skills they have learned into practice to perform their work?

Most of the 4-star hotels surveyed in Hai Phong have successfully evaluated the learning outcomes of students in phase 1. However, evaluating the effectiveness of the entire course by assessing how students apply the knowledge and skills they have learned to their actual work is a complicated and time-consuming issue. In reality, students may have acquired new skills and knowledge in the course very well, completed the training program excellently, but were not able to apply what they had learned to their work. Therefore, to avoid waste in training, hotels need to pay attention to evaluating the effectiveness of the entire training process by evaluating the changes or progress of students in their work performance after training.

For phase 2, one or a combination of the following training effectiveness evaluation methods can be applied:

- Experimental analysis: The security department in hotels can select two groups to record the performance of each group before applying the training program. Then, select one group to participate in the training process, while the other group continues to perform normal work. After the training period, record the performance results in both quantity and quality of work between the two groups: the trained group and the untrained group. Analyzing and comparing the performance results of the two groups with the training costs will allow to determine the effectiveness of the training program.

- Evaluate student changes: Evaluate student changes based on the following criteria: reactions, memorization, behavior and goals:

+ Reaction: Evaluate the trainees' reaction to the training program: do they like the program? Is the program content relevant to their actual work?...

+ Memorization: Test students to determine whether they have mastered the principles, skills, and requirements of the training course?

+ Behavioral change: Did employee behavior change as a result of attending the course?

+ Objective: Did the trainee achieve the training course objectives? Demonstrated by changes in work productivity and quality of work performance of the trainee.

- Determine the goals, basis and steps to build a training program for tour guides according to the tour guide skill standards of the enterprise.

3.4. Recommendations

- The General Department of Tourism needs to increase the time to organize regular training sessions for trainers and leaders of hotels in need. To do this, it is necessary to use propaganda and education measures, and have incentives to help hotel leaders change their perspective, actively participate, and popularize the application of VTOS standards in training. If necessary, issue regulations requiring hotels to organize VTOS training.

- The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the General Department of Tourism, and the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Hai Phong need to make the Vietnam Tourism Vocational Skills Standards a mandatory standard for granting hotel professional certificates in tourism training and vocational training establishments, with the aim of standardizing hotel staff and improving service quality. In addition, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism also needs to consider

Consider including hotel security in the Vietnam Tourism Occupational Skills Standards (VTOS) 2013 because of its importance.

- Hai Phong Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism needs to have strict management policies on the quality of tourism human resources, the quality of products and services according to the ranking standards of hotels, manage reasonable price policies at different times, and protect the legitimate and long-term interests of tourists.

Summary of chapter 3: The application of Vietnam Tourism Occupational Skills Standards VTOS in ensuring safety as well as in training activities for security staff at hotels is important, contributing to standardizing service quality and providing services to guests. Based on the basic theory and practice of applying VTOS standards to ensure safety in 3 hotels Camela, Avani Hai Phong Harbour View and Huong Duong International Village in Hai Phong and the current status of training and operation according to VTOS standards with security staff of 3 hotels, the thesis has proposed a number of solutions to complete the application of Vietnam Tourism Occupational Skills Standards VTOS in the field of security - safety at 4-star hotels in Hai Phong in particular and hotels in Hai Phong and nationwide in general.

CONCLUDE

People want to protect their lives from dangers, especially when they travel far from their regular residence. Therefore, in tourism, ensuring security and safety for guests is a particularly important issue, not only at tourist destinations but also at the accommodation facilities where guests stay. Guests coming to hotels always want to live in an environment that ensures security and safety. The thesis with the title: "Applying Vietnam Tourism Occupational Skills Standards (VTOS) to research the field of security - safety in 4-star hotels in Hai Phong" studies security and safety in 4-star hotels in Hai Phong city.

With the contents deployed, the thesis has focused on solving the following main issues:

• Theoretically, the research results have shown that security and safety are necessary and legitimate needs of guests. At the same time, the thesis has also approached the system of Vietnamese tourism vocational skills standards in the field of security and safety to apply quantification in evaluating the training and operational activities of employees, especially security staff of 4-star hotels in Hai Phong.

• In practice, the thesis has assessed the current status of applying Vietnam Tourism Occupational Skills Standards (VTOS) in the field of security and safety in 4-star hotels in Hai Phong, thereby providing appropriate solutions for applying VTOS in training and using staff to ensure security and safety for 4-star hotels in Hai Phong.

Through the study of the practical application of Vietnam Tourism Occupational Skills Standards (VTOS) in the field of security and safety at 4-star hotels in Hai Phong, the thesis also shows that training in an organization is a necessary task.

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