American Hotel and Lodging Educational Institute
Cutting Edge Hospitality Training
The Challenge
“With 97 percent of American teenagers playing games, it is time for the hospitality industry to revamp its tired old ways of training new employees,” says Scott Chapman, Vice President, Training and Development, American Hotel and Lodging Educational Institute. AHLEI turned to Gronstedt Group to develop an innovative game for students of hotel management, which won both the 2017 Learning! 100 Award and the Training Magazine’s eLearning Design Challenge (eLDC).
The Solution
The Guest Experience game puts learners in a 3-D, high-fidelity, virtual hotel. Players explore the hotel environment with the goal of maintaining hotel brand and security standards. As they move through the hotel they are presented with issues such as wet floors, blocked fire exits, non-compliance with ADA regulations, property damage, and signs of child trafficking. A guest experience score shows how well the players are improving guest satisfaction and safety. The game also uses a timer to raise the stress level and motivate action. Hospitality skills are built and reinforced as the player progresses through each level, providing a feeling of mastery and accomplishment. Leveling up to increasingly more difficult levels keeps players focused and engaged. The game goes beyond task-oriented challenges to develop an anticipation of customer needs and emotional connections with guests. Social media (including Facebook and Trip Advisor comments) is integrated into the game experience, providing clues to solve the guest experience challenges.
