Recognising the specialist learning needs of the cruise operators and owners’ hotel departments, Ocean Technologies Group (OTG) has signed a partnership agreement with Lobster Ink.
This will add more than 100 cruise-relevant hospitality courses to OTG’s Ocean Learning Platform (OLP).
The new titles focus on the hotel team and cover critical areas, including front-of-house service, housekeeping, bartending, cooking techniques and restaurant hosting.
Making up more than 70% of the crew on board, acruise ship’s hotel department is at the forefront of creating an exceptional guest experience. This team directly influences guest satisfaction, which drives spending while on board, repeat business and increased customer loyalty.
With a track record of providing innovative learning solutions to the world’s largest and most recognised lodging and hospitality brands, Lobster Ink equips frontline teams with the skills, knowledge and behaviours needed to deliver consistent and exceptional guest experiences.
Through the addition of the hotel department titles, OLP now offers a complete solution to cruise shipowners providing a clearer picture of compliance and service quality across their fleets. In turn, the hotel department will also be able to take advantage of the features of OLP that have only previously been available to the deck and technical departments.
Tools, such as OLP’s inbuilt Virtual Classroom, offer the opportunity to deliver group training remotely, eliminating the need to bring learners and expert educators to the same location and reducing training time on board. Elements of familiarisation and briefings can be transferred from in-person to online or in-platform.
OLP authorising tools allow operators to add and monitor the completion of their own brand-specific training. Online functionality and the OLP mobile app open up possibilities to make learning a pre-boarding requirement that can be done at home or en route to the ship.
The competency management functions even allow for OTG, Lobster Ink, and a customer’s own content to be combined, along with practical exercises to build clear competence-building pathways that allow for skills building and career progression, a driving contributor to crew retention.
“Our new partnership with Lobster Ink opens up a wealth of opportunities for our Cruise customers. By combining our knowledge of the cruise sector, the power of the Ocean Learning Platform, and Lobster Ink’s expert understanding of hotel and guest services, we have a comprehensive solution to build knowledge, acquire skills and drive the performance of the hotel team,” said Joost van Ree, OTG’s Group Director Cruise & Yachts.
“Our cruise customers will now have a unified picture of their training and knowledge building across deck, technical, and hotel teams all in one place, giving management visibility and control of the quality of service across their fleet, and from talent partners, regardless of department or location,” he added.
In addition, OTG provides cruise lines, shipmanagers and recruitment partners with a range of pre-employment screening tools, such as the Marlins English language and Seagull CES test and a range of flag-approved STCW Courses.
“We’re thrilled about partnering with Ocean Technologies Group during this important time for the industry. Together we are able to bring our award-winning hospitality training to cruise customers, as part of a complete skills development solution. And as our learning library continues to evolve, our shared customers will benefit from an ever-growing training resource for their teams,” said Gerard du Plessis, Marketing Director of Lobster Ink.
“With a shortfall of crew predicted in the next decade, it is important that both the cruise and mega yacht industry retain the talent they have and encourage more people to join the industry. Our Learning and Assessment solutions make it possible to help our customers recruit and retain talent, and keep crew motivated by providing them with all the tools they need to achieve their career goals,” Joost concluded.
