Jet Set Sports Olympic Hospitality Academy
As China prepares to host one of the most historically and culturally significant Games in world history, the city of Beijing is confronted with some monumental challenges, particularly in the service industry.
This August, more than half a million overseas visitors will travel to China for the Beijing Games, many of whom will be coming to China for the first time in their lives. In addition to thrilling cultural experiences and awe-inspiring moments, our clients will inevitably face various cultural obstacles as they navigate their way through Beijing.
In anticipation of the challenges our guests will encounter this August, Jet Set Sports and CoSport have gone to great lengths to ensure our Chinese staff is fully equipped, not only with Beijing city and Olympic knowledge, but more importantly with a thorough understanding of what our overseas guests’ are expecting in terms of an international standard of service.
In the fall of 2006, preparations were put into motion in an effort to establish the first-ever Jet Set Sports CoSport Olympic Hospitality Academy, an intensive ten-month training program designed for our locally-hired Chinese staff. Developed and managed by a team of international trainers and protocol management experts from Holland, Greece, Canada, Australia, Gibraltar, Greece, the U.S., China and Austria; our team has been working with our 1200-numbered hospitality and drivers staff since October, 2007.
The selection process for our Academy trainees involved a rigorous two-round interview process comprised of spoken English-language assessments, Beijing and Olympic factual knowledge, and creative problem-solving scenarios. After successfully passing both first and second round interviews for our Games-time staff, 800 hospitality trainees were selected from more than 3,000 university students and tour guide professionals.
All Jet Set Sports and CoSport hospitality staff are required to convene weekly for a comprehensive three-hour study session with an emphasis on English-language training and Beijing 2008 Olympic-specific knowledge. Every class is conducted in English and each Academy trainee must adhere to an English-only policy upon entry into the Academy. Additionally trainees are assigned weekly field work projects in an effort to increase their on-site familiarity with Beijing cultural destinations, Olympic venues, and client-specific hotels and dine-arounds.
Our warm and dedicated team of Chinese trainees have worked hard and developed their skills a great deal during the past ten months. Each one of them looks forward to offering his or her client the very best in cultural understanding, personal knowledge of Chinese culture, and high-quality service during the Beijing Games this summer.