PALMA DE MALLORCA — In just three months RIU Hotels & Resorts has delivered 22,138 hours of staff training focused on the prevention of COVID-19 infection.
Looking to provide the company and its employees with the best possible tools in the face of the pandemic, RIU says the online training program includes webinars complemented by face-to-face training on practical application and crisis management. There’s also been an audit of implementation in all of RIU’s hotels.
The company launched an online training portal in record time, in the months when tourism operations were on hold. Now that this first phase of online training is done, the RIU team has established the 17 safety protocols in the RIU Manual in all the hotel departments: reception, housekeeping, dining room, bar, kitchen and technical services and more.
The program has included online seminars and face-to-face training, plus a series of essential tools for monitoring, coordinating and communicating with the operational team in the hotels has also been launched through the RIU Hotels Training Portal. Using this tool, directors and trainers can ask the experts questions and contribute comments or points of improvement based on their experience as they implement the measures.
“Training is the responsibility of every person who has a team in their charge,” says Pere Torrens, head of the RIU Hotels training department. “They are responsible for the teams knowing how to do their jobs. For us, training the staff is one of the main tools for changing the company and people, and a clear example of this is the application of the anti-COVID protocols.”
RIU properties also get an initial visit from consultant Preverisk two weeks after each property reopens. Preverisk conducts an external audit with a verification that helps detect possible errors, with a view to the hotel team being able to rectify them as soon as possible and apply the changes to the relevant areas, says RIU.
Preverisk then makes a second and a third visit to ensure compliance and guarantee that the protocols are being implemented properly. From June to September this year, a total of 60 RIU hotels have achieved COVID-19 Hygiene Response certification.
