Eager young professionals in training serve guests at Hotel Washington
More hotels, more rooms, more guests, more personnel: A projected four thousand new rooms will be built on Curaçao in the coming years, and an estimated 10 thousand vacancies will need to be filled by qualified staff, since the island's tourist industry continues to grow rapidly.
Through its new Academy Hotel, Curaçao takes a big step to enhance the quality of service here by offering practical experience to students enrolled in tourism training programs. Two years ago, the Curaçao Hospitality and Tourism Association presented a plan to launch a training hotel. Its vision was to prepare hospitality and tourism students for the labor market while following one of the 10 hospitality courses on Curaçao. Through support by government and sponsors in the business sector, the initiative brought about by CHATA and the Curaçao Hospitality Training Foundation has become reality. The Academy Hotel Curaçao welcomed its first young professionals in training in October 2008.
The academy's location in the heart of Punda is the recently renovated Hotel Washington. For 365 days a year, 24/7, this hotel will be run by students. Except for general manager, all positions will be filled by students receiving on-the-job training by teachers from collaborating schools, by senior students, and by staff members of the Academy Hotel. Through the community project, education, government, and business can collaborate to give students a successful start in the hospitality business.
Any visitor can contribute to this unique project simply by booking a room at the Hotel Washington in Punda (academyhotelcuracao.com), where the staff works extra hard to please, and the guests witness Curaçao's future hospitality leaders in the making.
