The decision was taken not to rush the changes because of the fear of destabilizing the brand. Training and development Training and development are currently being tackled and are regarded in many ways as the essence of the project. The aim is to introduce a learning environment into the hotel, i.e. a university within the hotel. The competencies at all levels throughout the Group are derived directly from the mission statement. As the staff work long and unsociable hours, the aim is to bring the university to them.
Certification is delivered at every stage.
From the staff's point of view, as they acquire the competences and are certified they will build up credits for a certificate qualification, then a diploma and for some a Masters' qualification. This requires negotiations with college and university providers, because not all universities are willing to provide accreditation for work-based learning. It is planned to make extensive use of development centres in implementing these changes. The approach will be piloted at one hotel in the year 2000 before being implemented throughout the Group. The next issue to be tackled is succession planning.