Kingston College Students Take Over Hotel
Travel & tourism students take on Putney Premier Inn Fulham
On Monday (8th February) students from Kingston College studying Travel and Tourism took part in a ‘take over’ at the Premier Inn located on Putney Bridge for the day.
Fifteen students got some hands-on experience running a busy London hotel with 179 bedrooms, an on-site restaurant and hundreds of guests. Each student was given a job description and was assigned a role such as Operations Manager, Receptionist, Duty Manager and Restaurant Team Manager. Premier Inn team members were on hand throughout the day to ensure all ran smoothly for guests and to offer their expertise to these hospitality professionals of the future.
The students took on the full responsibilities of each role and ran a busy breakfast, lunch and dinner service in our Thyme restaurant as well as checking guests in and out at reception. They also handled customer enquiries and made sure all housekeeping duties and bar services remained at the excellent standards Premier Inn guests have come to expect from the UK’s top rated hotel chain.*
Lidija Sinicina, Operations Manager at Premier Inn London Putney Bridge, who organised the ‘takeover’ said:
“Here at Premier Inn we are keen to provide young people with opportunities to learn and develop. Hospitality is one of the fastest growing industries and we are constantly looking for passionate and talented individuals to furnish our team with. Our aim was to offer the students as authentic an experience as possible and by the end of the day we wanted them to leave with the confidence to apply for similar roles in the industry once their studies are completed.”
One of the students who took part, Luis Ornelas, said:
“This experience has been invaluable. It was great getting to learn what an Operations Manager at Premier Inn has to deal with on a daily basis – it’s not an easy job! I even managed to get into the kitchen to help with breakfast preparation under the watchful eye of the head chef Victor in the on-site Thyme restaurant. I look forward to starting my career in the hospitality industry when I finish my course!”
On the 9th April 2015 Whitbread PLC, owner of Premier Inn announced its commitment to create more than 6000 apprenticeships by 2020 to not only support Whitbread’s future success, but to also help a new generation to achieve their full potential. In each area of the UK, Premier Inn has been supporting a number of initiatives aimed at students and adults to help them grow and develop their employability skills.
February 10, 2016