Apprenticeships have brought enormous value and benefits to the Arden Hotel.
Over the past 20 years it has expanded eight-fold, from 24 to 216 bedrooms. Apprenticeships mean that Arden continues to provide excellent service, ensuring staff are trained to the highest standards and can continue to contribute and build upon its remarkable business growth. Apprenticeships also give the hotel access to high quality vocational training through Solihull College.
Arden Hotel and Leisure Club is a family owned business that takes pride in the team spirit and supportive training environment it fosters through Apprenticeships.
Jenny Mead, hotel manager says: “We offer apprentices individually tailored support and help them settle into the work environment; motivating, nurturing, and encouraging them when they feel times are tough. Because of our location outside the town, I even liaise with parents, tweaking start and finish times when necessary to suit families giving lifts to and from the hotel.”
Jenny continues: “There is a company culture of learning at the Arden Hotel and we encourage training at all levels. For instance, I am the hotel manager, but recently studied with our apprentices and achieved a Foundation Degree in Hospitality, Leisure and Tourism Management. This helps staff on a number of different levels to learn and interact with each other. In particular it motivates and encourages the apprentices who can learn from more senior staff and envisage their own career progression.”
The Arden Hotel is also committed to key skills, recognising that they are essential and used on a daily basis. For example, all its departments are backed up by IT systems, and apprentices get involved with this technology to prepare bills, take credit cards and balance cash. Communication skills are also fostered as vital to customer service.
The departmental managers at the hotel are themselves former apprentices and make a point of getting to know the new apprentices from the start. This means apprentices immediately see the opportunities open to them, and the positions they can reach through commitment to their training. The managers, encourage and act as mentors and role models to new apprentices, helping them understand their value to the hotel and its reputation.
The Arden Hotel was a finalist in the Medium Employer of the Year category in the national Apprenticeship Awards 2008.