The formation of customer orientation among students – future specialists of the hotel service

Abstract

The article examines the role of customer-oriented staff in relation to the commercial efficiency and competitiveness of a hotel enterprise. Taking into account the patterns of development and evolution of the hotel business, the article identifies the current demands of the professional community for the quality of specialists and formulates current pedagogical tasks. The article analyzes various approaches to understanding customer-orientation. The conceptual framework is supplemented with clarifications of the terms «customer-oriented service», «customer-oriented enterprise» and «customer-oriented staff», which contributes to the theoretical significance of the study. The relevance of the formation and development of such a competence as customer-orientation in students – future specialists in hotel service is substantiated. Based on the analysis of research of a customer-oriented approach to the production of enterprises, its key components are highlighted and practical forms and methods of organizing the training process for their development are proposed. The practical part describes the experience of implementing the discipline «Customer-oriented Technologies and Service Quality» at the Ufa State Petroleum Technological University on the basis of the Department of Tourism, Hotel and Restaurant Service. The results are presented in the form of final data reflecting the dynamics of the development of the key components of customer orientation among students. The conclusion of this study is the justified need for a systematic approach and further study of the forms and methods of training students – future specialists in hotel service – using personality-oriented technologies.