Thursday, August 27, 2009 CENTRE FOR APPLIED LEARNING AND CLEMENTS GOING FOR GOLD
Staff from the Centre for Applied Learning (CAL) and Clements Coffee shops were recently presented with the Gold Award for participation in the Northern Ireland Tourist Board’s Welcome to Excellence customer service programmes.
The Welcome to Excellence training programmes have been designed to assist individuals and organisations in the tourism, leisure and hospitality industry to provide first class standards of service to all customers. The Northern Ireland Tourist Board recognises that high levels of customer service are essential if Northern Ireland is to continue its success as a world class visitor destination. The Welcome to Excellence programmes ensures that the customer experience at the heart of its training
Louise McKinstry, Tourism Training Liaison Officer at NITB commented,
“These awards ensure that customer experience remains high on the agenda for the tourism and hospitality sectors in Northern Ireland. If Northern Ireland is to succeed as a visitor destination it must be able to deliver a world class experience and customer service, and it’s critical that we equip our industry with the skills they need to do this.”
Gold Awards recognise the commitment of organisations who have trained a high percentage of their staff (90%+) in the Welcome to Excellence customer service programmes. Both the Centre for Applied learning and Clements Coffee shops received the Gold Award.
The Centre for Applied learning was commended for its excellent level of commitment to customer service and staff development, and five members of staff from CAL have been trained to deliver the Welcome to Excellence programmes.
Steve Hare, CAL Chief Executive said,
“As the internal shared service training centre for the Northern Ireland Civil Service, CAL is committed to providing the highest levels of customer service. CAL has a hard working team who pride themselves on delivering the best possible training, placing customers at the heart of its training to ensure they have an excellent experience. CAL is delighted to have received the esteemed Welcome to Excellence Gold Award from the Northern Ireland Tourist Board as recognition of our commitment to customer service and staff development.”
Clements Coffee shops previously received a Gold Award from NITB in 2006 and they have continued to use the Welcome to Excellence customer care principles in all of their 10 shops.
Alexandra Harron, Clements Donegal Square Shop Manager said, “Clements Coffee shops train all staff in the Welcome Host programme and all supervisory and management staff in the Welcome Host Plus programme. We feel the Welcome Host and Host plus courses present a framework for everyone at Clements to work together to improve the quality of service and hospitality we offer customers.”
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NITB Chairman, Howard Hastings presents Steve Hare, CAL Chief Executive with the Welcome to Excellence Gold Award.
(L-R) Alexandra Harron, Clements Donegal Square Shop Manager and Lisa Evans, Clements Operations and Training Manager, receive the Welcome to Excellence Gold Award from NITB Chairman, Howard Hastings.
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
A ‘Welcome’ First for Stepping Stones Trainees.
At a recent Mayoral reception at the Civic centre, hosted by the city’s Mayor, Councillor Ronnie Crawford, thirteen Stepping Stones Trainees received the ‘Welcome Host’ Award.
This prestigious training award was sponsored by the Lisburn Business Education Partnership. It is an award held in high esteem by employers in the hospitality and tourism industries as well as many other sectors in which customer service skills are central.
The Stepping Stones trainees received the award by completing and passing the ‘Welcome Host’ training which is part of the Northern Ireland Tourist Board’s ‘Welcome to Excellence’ suite of customer care programmes.
NITB first introduced the Welcome to Excellence programmes to the leisure, travel and tourism sector in 1995. Since then, over 20,000 people have participated in the programmes which are now being re-launched as part of NITB’s plan to focus on the customer experience.
This programme was especially adapted to meet the needs of the individual trainees at Stepping Stones, Lisburn. This is the first time in Northern Ireland that such a training establishment has been able to have trainees complete the course successfully.
Louise McKinstry from NITB congratulated the trainees on their success,
“Gaining the ‘Welcome Host’ award is testament to the hard work and commitment of the trainees. They now have the skills which are crucial for working in an ever evolving industry such as tourism.
I am delighted that NITB could make the ‘Welcome to Excellence’ programmes a possibility for them.”