14 Free hospitality training courses to elevate your team's expertise
We’ve put together a list of hospitality training courses covering concepts and techniques that you can use to improve your hospitality workers’ knowledge and skills. These courses are designed to prepare your workers for challenges that they’ll face while working in the hospitality industry.
1. Guest Service in Hospitality and Tourism
As professionals in the field of hospitality, a huge part of your job entails communicating with different types of customers every day. Because of this, it’s important to keep your customer service skills polished so that you’re always ready to serve guests in any situation. SC Training (formerly EdApp)’s Guest Service in Hospitality and Tourism course allows you to go back to the basics and brush up on your customer service skills. As you go through the training content, you’ll be able to understand the importance of good service and etiquette in tourism industry, learn the proper ways to greet your guests for a great first impression, and know the steps you can take in order to handle customers complaints. This tourism management course is available online for free and thanks to SC Training (formerly EdApp)’s powerful authoring tool, you can edit, rebrand, and deploy lessons to your team based on your training needs, all in just a few clicks.
- Price: Free (up to 10 users)
- Length: 5 to 10 minutes per lesson
- Certificate: Available (proof of learning)
Created By SC Training (formerly EdApp)
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2. Hotel Housekeeping Inspection
It’s not an exaggeration to say that the housekeeping department is the backbone of any hotel. Guests have high expectations when staying in a hotel and the housekeeping staff play a crucial role in meeting these expectations by keeping guest areas clean and organized. Through housekeeping inspection methods, staff can make sure that no spot is missed during cleaning and preparation. The Hotel Housekeeping Inspection course by SC Training (formerly EdApp) is divided into three lessons that go into detail about the proper room, bathroom, and corridor inspection and is designed to help lodging and hotel housekeepers ensure that all guest areas are well-maintained. To help increase knowledge retention among learners, this hotel training program lessons are delivered in bite-sized chunks that anyone can complete in just a few minutes. SC Training (formerly EdApp)’s mobile accessibility also allows you to deploy lessons straight to your housekeeping team’s mobile devices.
- Price: Free (up to 10 users)
- Length: 5 to 10 minutes per lesson
- Certificate: Available (proof of learning)
Created by SC Training (formerly EdApp)
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3. Introduction to Hospitality Management Program
Designed by Typsy, the Introduction to Hospitality Management course has one primary goal: to equip new managers in the hospitality industry with the knowledge and skills they need to handle the challenges that come with the role. The entire course is divided into 10 video lessons and Mike Ganino, a restaurant management consultant with expertise in the field, will be walking you through each part. Throughout the lessons, he will be sharing tips and techniques to help you adjust to your new leadership role. By the end of this online hospitality training course, you’ll learn how to delegate tasks to your team, deal with difficult customers, and meet guest service standards. If you’re curious to try hospitality programs with Typsy’s free plan, do note that there will be ads running on each video lesson.
- Price: Free plan for a maximum of 30 courses or $99.99 USD for 70+ ad-free courses
- Length: 30 minutes
- Certificate: Available
Created by Typsy
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4. Coronavirus Awareness for Hoteliers
Covid-19 has severely impacted hospitality and tourism businesses all over the world with many companies downsizing staff or even halting operations entirely. In order to move forward, hospitality businesses need to invest in proper Covid-19 training for their staff. eHotelier’s course on Coronavirus Awareness for Hoteliers is designed to provide hotel hospitality professionals with awareness and knowledge on the pandemic. Each lesson covers topics like protection against Covid-19, identification and isolation of positive cases among guests, providing care and assistance for guests, and effective communication among hotel staff. If you want to explore the course further, you can get access to all 18 lessons for free by signing up on eHotelier’s website.
- Price: Free
- Length: 30 minutes
- Certificate: Available
Created by eHotelier
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5. Guest Experiences
As hospitality professionals, it’s your goal to provide guests with the best experience possible. But you might be asking yourself, what makes a great customer experience and how can I deliver this to my guests moving forward? SC Training (formerly EdApp)’s course on Guest Experience can help you answer these questions. As you move through the lessons, you’ll gain insight into topics like breaking the ice, creating a welcoming atmosphere, personalizing guest experiences, delivering consistent service, and managing issues and complaints. While this course is targeted specifically for professionals in the hospitality industry, it’s also entirely customizable so you can edit and rebrand the course content as you see fit.
- Price: Free (up to 10 users)
- Length: 5 to 10 minutes per lesson
- Certificate: Available (proof of learning)
Created by SC Training (formerly EdApp)
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6. Hotel Management Program
The Hotel Management: Distribution, Revenue, and Demand Management Specialization course by Coursera dives into different techniques and tools that you can use to effectively market your hospitality business. You’ll also hear from hotel industry experts and learn from their experiences on managing hotel finances. Although this course requires quite a bit of time to complete, the weekly learning schedule is flexible enough for you to go through the lessons at your own pace.
- Price: Free
- Length: 4 months, 3 hours per week
- Certificate: Available
Created by Coursera
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7. Cleaning and Sanitizing in Hospitality
Part of a hospitality professional’s responsibilities includes providing customers with a clean and organized environment. And with the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, cleanliness and sanitation in hospitality is doubly important. Whether you’re a hotel housekeeper or a restaurant employee, SC Training (formerly EdApp)’s Cleaning and Sanitizing in Hospitality course can help you learn how to perform proper disinfection and how to complete routine maintenance for your guest spaces. This free and editable course also outlines the best practices for cleaning and servicing public areas, dining areas, and restrooms. And because SC Training (formerly EdApp) is an interactive training software that encourages anyone to engage with lessons and have fun, learners can also enjoy the gamification elements incorporated throughout the course.
- Price: Free (up to 10 users)
- Length: 5 to 10 minutes per lesson
- Certificate: Available (proof of learning)
Created by SC Training (formerly EdApp)
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8. Hospitality Management: Cornell Certificate Program
Designed by experts from the School of Hotel Administration at Cornell University, this certificate program will provide you pretty much everything you need to know to successfully manage your hospitality business. This online course covers topics ranging from understanding financial statements and hotel revenue management to introducing hotel operations, culinary (food and beverages) operations, food service, and building customer loyalty. Although the course does cost a lot and requires quite some time to complete, it’s still a great option for anyone looking for a one-stop-shop hospitality management course.
- Price: $650 USD per month
- Length: 3 months, 3 to 5 hours per week
- Certificate: Available
Created by Cornell
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9. Interacting with Guests
In essence, hospitality is the relationship between a host and their guest. By interacting with guests, you can build strong connections and promote loyalty for your business. Typsy’s Interacting with Guests course introduces you to the fundamentals of customer communication. Follow sales manager Beatrice Gallo as she takes you through lessons that cover topics like establishing rapport with guests, understanding the purpose of non-verbal communication, tips to improve conversations, front-desk attitude, questioning techniques, and how to manage issues when interacting with guests. This course is designed primarily for hotel employees but can also be used to help other hospitality professionals train for future customer interactions.
- Price: Free for a maximum of 30 courses or $99.99 USD for 70+ ad-free courses
- Length: 50 minutes
- Certificate: Available
Created by Typsy
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10. Teamwork in the Hospitality Industry
Hospitality businesses require people with different roles to work together under one goal of providing excellent customer service. Hotels, restaurants, and other hospitality fields can’t function properly if their different departments don’t cooperate with one another. SC Training (formerly EdApp) provides you with a practical teamwork guide with their employee training course on Teamwork in the Hospitality Industry. Divided into 4 micro lessons, the course allows you to learn about the importance of teamwork in hospitality, what teamwork looks like in practice, effective communication with your team, and communication in noisy environments. Since SC Training (formerly EdApp)’s authoring tool doesn’t require technical training to use, you’ll be able to edit, rebrand, and deploy the lessons to your team in just a few easy steps.
- Price: Free (up to 10 users)
- Length: 5 to 10 minutes per lesson
- Certificate: Available (proof of learning)
Created by SC Training (formerly EdApp)
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11. Hotel Management Operations
Hotel Management Operations by Skillshare is a comprehensive course about hotel operations and covers the different functions, theories, and real-world applications of hotel management. From the hospitality fundamentals up to a more advanced managerial level, this course can walk you through everything you need to know to get started. With a duration of 1 hour and 7 mins, the 9 lessons are delivered in a video format and can be taken at your own pace.
- Price: Free
- Length: 1 hour 7 minutes
- Certificate: Not Available
Created by SkillShare
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12. Hospitality Management Studies - Food and Beverage Services by Alison
This free hospitality training course by Alison is perfect for new and aspiring food and beverage (F&B) managers and supervisors. It sheds light on the basics and importance of food beverage operations within a hotel, and how they connect with other hotel departments. This course goes into detail about the key restaurant positions and their duties, and some of the best practices and procedures to successfully handle your restaurant staff. As you go through this course, you will also learn more about the characteristics of different menu types and a variety of approaches to menu pricing. This knowledge will come in handy in crucial times when you will be asked to plan and design a menu for your food and beverage department. You will also know some of the considerations involved when designing and planning a restaurant layout. This training is free, but you will have to pay should you wish to avail a certificate of completion.
- Price: Free
- Length: 1.5-3 Hours
- Certificate: Available
Created by Alison
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13. Hospitality Manager: Leadership Online Course
AHLEI'S Hospitality Manager: Leadership Online Course is an interactive hospitality training designed for both new and seasoned leaders in the hospitality industry. It will show them the ropes on how to foster a positive workplace culture that keeps their team engaged and motivated.
They'll also learn how to use the power of emotional intelligence to connect with their teammates, boosting their job satisfaction. The lessons are delivered through videos, animations, and interactive questions, making sure that your learners will remain engaged throughout the training.
- Price: 75 USD
- Length: 2 hours and 30 minutes
- Certificate: Available
Created by American Hotel & Lodging Educational Institute (AHLEI)
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14. Room Service Essentials
Designed for front office staff, food and beverage teams, and hotel managers, Typsy's Room Service Essentials covers everything your team needs to know about in-room catering.
They'll learn about the ins and outs of giving top-notch room service, from logistics to handling various guest requests. This hospitality training will also show them the best practices on how to enter a guest room and deliver in-room dining.
This course is 100% online, and your team has the flexibility to learn at their own pace.
- Price: Free plan for a maximum of 30 courses or $99.99 USD for 70+ ad-free courses
- Length: 29 minutes and 24 seconds
- Certificate: Available
Created by Typsy
Explore the courseBuild the groundwork for great service with Hospitality Training
Providing each guest with a great experience is always the top priority in the hospitality industry. But, having a well-designed space, strategic location, or beautiful amenities is not enough to guarantee customer satisfaction. To deliver excellent service for your guests and convince them to keep coming back, you need to invest in hospitality training. Although the hospitality industry has taken a massive hit as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, those who can adapt to these changes, boost their training efforts, and further hone their service skills will be able to achieve their business goals and thrive in the industry. Whether you’re managing hotel operations, handling restaurant functions, or hosting recreational spaces, we’ve got you covered with our diverse list of hospitality training courses.
Who Should Take Hospitality Training?
Hospitality training is designed for employees working in any field in the hospitality industry. The fields include hotels, restaurants, travel and tourism establishments, bars, and many more. It is vital especially for new hires to be equipped with sufficient knowledge on standard techniques in providing outstanding customer service, as well as be provided with the skills in dealing with different situations. It’s also equally important for existing employees to be refreshed on guidelines and best practices for hospitality. Room attendants, concierge, travel staff, restaurant servers, and other employees in the hospitality industry – whether you’re in a managerial position or not – you can benefit from hospitality training.
Do you need Hospitality Training?
Hospitality industry requires a skilled workforce that can keep up with this fiercely competitive environment and make sure that your company stays on the cutting edge. That’s why you need hospitality training to ensure that your employees can provide your guests with warm and accommodating service that will linger in their minds for a long time. Leaving your visitors with an unforgettable experience will convince them to patronize your business, and even more, suggest them to their friends and colleagues. So, if you’re a training manager in the hospitality industry with a vision of growing and achieving long-term success in this industry, it’s needless to say that investing in hospitality training should be your top priority.
How often should you do Hospitality Training?
It’s crucial for your employees to have regular hospitality training. Their whole learning journey should start with a comprehensive onboarding experience on the standard procedures in performing their responsibilities, best practices in providing good customer service, and important skills in handling different customers and various situations. It’s also essential to provide them with regular training to keep them updated on the best practices and changing demands when it comes to serving guests and customers, especially during the pandemic. Due to COVID-19, there are new guidelines that need to be reinforced and practiced to ensure safe and comfortable accommodation for them.