WorldHost is a popular customer service solution for a diverse range of businesses, from hotels to hospitals, events to facilities management firms. However, education providers are increasingly discovering the benefits WorldHost has to offer.

Providing the critical skills needed to offer a deliver an unrivalled level of customer service and communicate effectively with visitors, the globally recognised programme is a great solution to train future talent in the principles of service excellence. The real appeal from a college perspective however is how the programme can enhance their commercial offer and support local businesses.

Fife College has been quick to catch on to this. Striking up a partnership with the Fife Tourism Partnership and Fife Council Tourism Department, they’ve been offering the programme to local tourism businesses to help them recover from the pandemic and ensure visitors to the region receive the warmest welcome.

After staff at the college were trained and approved to deliver WorldHost, the partnership initially setup three cohorts of WorldHost training. Promoted out by Fife Tourism Partnership to local businesses, the cohorts were run as open courses funded by Fife Council.

The training which is shown to increase staff motivation, build better communication between staff and customers, and improve customer service ratings proved extremely popular. Participants not only left the training with newfound skills, knowledge and confidence in their approach to customer service excellence, but also benefited greatly from networking with other local businesses – with some even forming new partnerships.

A further nine cohorts funded by Fife Council have since run and three more are planned for the autumn. They attracted employees from golf clubs, cruise liners and museums, to name a few. The college is now looking at further markets to promote the programme to and already has plans to deliver the training to local high schools.

Approved WorldHost trainer for Fife College, Fiona McLeod comments:

“I think WorldHost is a brilliant programme and I’d certainly recommend it to other colleges as a way to boost your commercial offer. We’ve received so much positive feedback about the course from local businesses. It’s really energised those attending to deliver the highest quality welcome and level of service which we know is so important for growth of the local tourism industry. The programme can be delivered to employers, volunteers, college students and even local schools – it’s a win-win.”

To find out more about becoming approved to deliver WorldHost, get in touch.