So many different types of hotels exist these days, it’s important for hospitality management students to get an idea of what awaits them in the industry. To expose first-year students to the exciting, yet demanding standards of hospitality excellence in the industry, the Campus Life Leader (CLL) group on Glion campus started a Hotel Visits project this semester. This project aims to show first-year students around a few hotels before they go on their first internship in an international hospitality company.
“Our project is to organise hotel visits so that we are able to provide opportunities for students to find out how hotels function and discover unique concepts of hotels,” explains Ryo Sakai, the CLL member who is leading the project. “The reason behind this project is that we have seen some students having difficulties choosing the right internship. We believe it is because most of the students do not have much real experience in the industry. We hope that by organising hotel visits, we can help them find the right internship for them.”
For their first hotel visit, a group of bachelor degree students visited White Pod in the Swiss Alps near the town of Monthey.
“White Pod is an eco-luxury boutique hotel that sits on the mountain at 1400 meters. It’s only about 45 minutes from Glion campus, in the ski area called the “Portes du Soleil”. Created in 2004, the hotel has 15 guest “pods” that are nestled into the hillside like little bubbles without any infrastructure connecting them. The whole site is pretty interesting to see from a far, “says Ryo.
The students arrived at the reception around 1:00pm, where they were greeted by the hotel’s manager on duty, Yann Cabron. The pods are a short hike away from the hotel reception.
“After ten minutes of walking, we arrived at in a chalet called the Pod-House. The weather was really cloudy, so we could not enjoy the view just yet. The Pod-House is located in the middle of the 15 pods where guests sleep, it has a self-service bar, meeting room, breakfast room and massage room,” says Ryo.
“After that we went to see a guest pod. The sun came back out and the clouds dissipated, from our location just above the clouds the view was incredible. We visited a Delux Pod, which means that it has TV and WiFi. Otherwise, all the pods are the same size. Each pod is equipped with a bathroom and a wood burning stove, to keep the pod warm when the temperature dips to -10°C,” Ryo explains.
At the end of the visit, students had the opportunity to ask the manager questions about the hotel, the way it operates and the way that it measures its environmental impact. Overall, it was an excellent experience for all and a fun way to discover a hotel that is only a short ride from Glion campus, as the ski season approaches quickly.
Next up, a visit to the Montreux Palace. Keep checking the blog for the next report.
Do you have any questions for Ryo? Feel free to leave comments or send us an email: info@glion.edu
