Bristol Hoteliers will host a special event next month to kick-start an education initiative which aims to partner businesses with local schools to inspire the next generation of industry talent.
The Bristol Hoteliers Association (BHA) is adopting the social value project model to help enhance the curriculum and provide students with valuable experiences of the workplace.
The launch event will take place on Thursday 2 October at the DoubleTree by Hilton Bristol City Centre.
General managers and HR teams from nine BHA hotels have been trained as ‘Hospitality Connect Ambassadors’.
The Careers Hub team from the West of England Combined Authority has been collaborating with the BHA and Hospitality Connect to advocate for local schools and nominate institutions for industry partnership.
The individual hotel-school partnerships will be announced at the launch event, where partners will be able to network and develop their wish list of activities.
Hospitality Connect provides a recommended programme of engagements that include visits to the venue, so that students can witness the breadth of opportunity and engage in both curriculum enhancement and careers education activities.
The schools involved will also have the opportunity for hoteliers to have encounters with the teacher and parental/carer communities to raise awareness of the true breadth of opportunities the hotelier world offers.
The idea for Hospitality Connect was born in Manchester during the winter of 2021, when recruitment within the industry was particularly challenging and there was a need to improve perceptions of the sector to a school-aged audience.
Its founder, Adrian Ellis, the 2022 Hotelier of the Year, developed the partnership model and introduced 10 members of Manchester Hoteliers Association to ten schools as a pilot, it has since developed into a project being adopted by Associations across the UK.
With Bristol now coming on board, the initiative will operate in 18 regions in the UK, with more being planned during this academic year thanks to funding from Savoy Educational Trust.
BHA Chair Adam Flint said: “We’re thrilled to be bringing the Hospitality Connect model to the city and forging stronger-than-ever partnerships with our local schools.
“We already enjoy close links with the City of Bristol College’s Hospitality Faculty, who will be guest speakers at our launch event, but are keen to reach a younger audience to spark their interest in our vibrant sector, which offers a wealth of long-term career opportunities and experiences.
“Recruitment continues to be a huge challenge for the hospitality sector in general, so creating these closer links with younger students will hopefully inspire them to consider career choices that had not occurred to them before.
“Then, drawing on the expertise and experience of BHA members, we hope to nurture the talent pipeline and inspire the next generation of enthusiastic and motivated hospitality teams.
“We’re excited to be part of this project to join hotels and schools together in meaningful partnerships which can only be good for the future of our industry.”
Laura Johnson, Hotels and Schools Liaison Manager for Hospitality Connect, said: “It’s been wonderful to collaborate with both the Bristol Hotels Association and the West of England Combined Authority to plan a launch event, bringing together industry and school partners formally.
“The schools that will benefit from this initiative can look forward to their students being able to put their curriculum learning into context and have the opportunity to visit the hotels in groups to learn about the truth breadth of occupations this industry can offer.
“I hope the educators are excited to get involved and we cannot wait to meet them.”
