People development, succession pathways key for Raffe Hotels
Raffe Hotels and Resorts, which owns Plantation Island Resort was recognised with the Fiji Excellence in Tourism Award 2022 in the new category – Of training and Development. This category recognizes tourism organizations that have demonstrated a commitment to improving customer service and experiences through employee training & development.
Group Manager – Learning, Capability & Quality Altaab Khan said the company supports a dedicated Learning, Capability, and Quality Team, with a focus on people development and succession pathways.
“This philosophy is executed across all levels of the company, where the success of our guest’s experience is a measure of the investment in our Staff,” he said. “Thank you all well-wishers for all your love as we accept this Gold Prize. This Organizational award is for our passionate leaders and team.”
“As the inaugural recipient of this prestigious award, we wish to extend warm congratulations to all nominees and recipients of the 2022 Fiji Excellence in Tourism Awards and a heartfelt Vinaka Vakalevu for the support of our valued guests.”
Mr Khan is also working on current learning development plans for the group in 2023 and will be enabling the team to participate in Quality Circle Projects, Fiji Business Excellence Framework Implementations, and Quality Frameworks
benchmarking the business with higher standards.
“We believe in continuous learning and are working on building a great learning culture in our Business. We would like to congratulate and send positive vibes to all nominees for the various awards this year by the ANZ Excellence in Tourism Awards.”
Interview with Mr Khan How important is this award to the property set up
Being a finalist and winner for this award is huge itself. Raffe Hotels & Resorts proudly employs 480 + team members and majority of them are employed remotely, which is at our Plantation and Lomani Island Resort.
Operating on the Islands is not as easy as it would be on the Mainland, however, we are very passionate about ensuring that our team members are continuously developed with the right skill sets. We have developed a Customized Guest Culture / Experience Program locally called “Guestology” under the banner of Bula Spirit. It is all about going above and beyond guest expectations.
The group has done a lot of development in 2022 given a post covid operational environment and it’s great to see our team members thriving every day in our Resorts. We have now re-structured our Training Team to Learning, Capability and Quality division, empowered to take our teams to the next level.
This nomination is a great recognition to the entire business and also highlights the importance of continuous learning.
We live in the VUCA world, where we need to UNLEARN to RELEARN.
Can you elaborate on the training and development undertaken?
The group had strengthened its Policies, Procedures, Code of Conduct, and all inspired by the Raffe Values.
The Learning and Development Pathway starts from a robust onboarding program, mastering standard operating procedures, learning compliances such as Food Safety Management system, Allergen Management, Responsible
Service of Alcohol, Mind that Child, First Aid, Sea Safety, Fire Safety, Upselling Skills at various levels, Supervisory development, Mindset Shift Coaching, and Mentoring Sessions, Coaching for Leaders, Microsoft Mastering Skills, Management Development, Environment related Trainings, Guestology Program which comes in 3 Pillars, Money Minded Program, partnering up with Industry networks such as Fiji Women’s Crisis Centre, Fiji Police, International Finance Corporation for an intensive program on – Respectful Workplaces, Collaborating with Local Universities for learning opportunities and all accompanied by loads of on the Job Trainings. All these are aligned with internal growth, promotions, recognition, and awards.
We have invested in REVINATE which serves as our CRM and this is a very resourceful tool in enabling us to improvise on our Guest Experience.
The group has recruited a Business Improvement and Quality Officer to assist the Training Team to improvise the SOPs and develop quality management projects across the group.