THE IMPORTANCE OF STAFF TRAINING IN HOTELS: A CASE STUDY OF UKRAINIAN EXPERIENCE

Working people nowadays are required to learn lifelong to be competitive, successful and mobile in the labor market. To the great extent, it concerns hotel employees. The aim of the article is to analyze on-the-job training as a part of lifelong learning. Four Ukrainian hotels of average and small size are under consideration. They are chosen because they are typical for the Ukrainian hotel market and hotels of such type are the most numerous. A specially designed questionnaire which contains 20 questions was given to the staff of these hotels. The received answers were analyzed in 2 groups: the background information of the respondents and the characteristics of training they receive in the job places. The survey shows that there is no system of staff training in small and average-sized independent hotels. However, employees are sure in great use such training can bring to them, but the majority believes that it can help them only in their career growth. The importance of staff training for their personal and professional development is underestimated. The top management of the hotels should demonstrate the benefits of continuous learning to their staff and develop in them the desire to learn using adequate motivation tools.