The London Geller College of Hospitality and Tourism (LGCHT) students learn the importance of soft skills at hospitality symposium
Intro
LGCHT hosted a Hospitality Symposium in Weston Hall on 30 November. The 75 students who attended heard from ten guest speakers about the vital attributes that will set them apart from the competition in the hospitality industry.
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The symposium began with a panel discussion moderated by Senior Lecturer in Hospitality Management at LGCHT Dr Ariane Lengyel. The theme was the soft skills needed in the industry and why they are important, from communication and emotional intelligence to adaptability and problem-solving.
The panel was made up of Anna Hoque from Arora Group, Reshan de Alwis from Premier Inn, Jason Gossop from Edwards & Finn and Pankaj Walia from Crowne Plaza. It also included Tom Alabaster from Coople, Claire Huish from Bennett Hay, Chi Hung Liu from UWL’s Careers team, and Samantha Rieu, former Hotel Manager at The Beaumont.
The panel members talked about mastering the art of guest satisfaction and team collaboration, what they look for when recruiting, how universities can prepare students for the world of work and their career advice for students.
Afterwards, students and guests had round-table discussions on recruitment, numeracy and IT skills, problem solving and analytical skills, the importance of empathy and emotional intelligence, business and customer acumen, hard skills versus soft skills, and teamwork. This allowed the students and employers to exchange ideas. After the discussions, UWLSU kindly hosted lunch for the students.
It was a pleasure to attend the Symposium and I thoroughly enjoyed it! The students were very engaged and you could sense their genuine interest in the industry,”
said Anna Hoque from Arora Group.
This was one of the best events I have been to in terms of content, organisation and, most of all, enjoyability,”
commented Jason Gossop from Edwards & Finn.
MA Luxury Hospitality student Mckenna Ehrmantraut said,
It was so helpful to be introduced to leaders in the industry, hear their experiences and find out what skills they look for when recruiting. We even got to have one-to-one conversations with them.”
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