• Understanding & Excelling in Service Industries. Explore the unique challenges and opportunities of the hospitality industry. 
• Building Resilience through Personal & Professional Development. Examine the role of personality in building resilience and fostering professional growth. 
• Customer-Centric Service Excellence. Delve into the service profit chain and its implications for delivering exceptional customer experiences 

• Assessing and Disrupting Personal Bias 
• Navigating Difficult Situations 
• The Power of Emotional & Cultural Intelligence 

• Belonging & Inclusion: Why it Matters to Consumers. Understand the importance of fostering a sense of belonging and inclusion for guests in the hospitality and tourism industry. 
• Service Excellence: What’s Your Role. Explore individual and organizational roles in achieving service excellence. 
• Fostering Welcoming Behaviors Across Markets. Develop strategies to promote welcoming behaviors in diverse markets. 
• Accessible Service Delivery. Learn how to provide accessible services that meet the needs of all customers. 
• Leveraging Assistive Technology Across Markets. Examine the use of assistive technology to enhance service delivery across various markets. 

This course explores strategies for incorporating diverse voices and perspectives into event planning, ensuring representation and equity at every stage. Students will learn to design accessible and inclusive events using universal design principles, offering accommodations such as ASL interpreters, captioning, sensory-friendly spaces, and multilingual resources. Additionally, the course emphasizes using events as platforms to promote social justice and DEI awareness, while focusing on feedback collection, outcome evaluation, and continuous improvement to enhance inclusivity and impact.

Christine Cleaver is an Associate Professor and Program Director for Event and Entertainment at Temple University in Philadelphia, PA. She brings a unique blend of academic rigor and industry insight to her courses through her experiential learning teaching strategy, fostering a strong synergy between theoretical knowledge and practical application. With extensive experience managing a full-service event management and production company, Christine has honed her skills in marketing, organizational leadership, production management, and social media content creation. Her career reflects a commitment to bridging the gap between academia and industry to empower the next generation of professionals. Christine’s contributions to curriculum development are highlighted by her key projects, including the creation of the Tourism and Hospitality Management Undergraduate Assessment Program and the Bachelor of Science in Event and Entertainment Management. She also serves as the advisor for the Event Planning Association Student Professional Organization, nurturing student talent and professional growth.

Did you know there is so much more to kindness than saying something nice or doing someone a favor? It’s about understanding what someone else truly wants or needs and being able to provide that service. Being kind is one of the most important parts of being human and a huge part of exceptional service. But many of us don’t fully understand what kindness means or why it’s important. And you can’t practice kindness effectively and intentionally until you do.  Your instructor for the Showing kindness course is Nahla Summers, a Cultural change consultant and Author of ‘A Culture of Kindness’.

With her guidance, you’ll discover new ways to think about what kindness means to you – and how to strengthen your kindness to forge better professional and personal relationships. 

What you’ll learn in the Showing kindness course:

• What kindness means in a service context 
• The difference between kind and nice
• Why it’s important to be kind to yourself
• How to be kind within professional boundaries
• Consideration as a key element of kindness
• How to show kindness through honesty
• Overcoming biases to show kindness and respect to all customers
• How to stay kind when others are unkind to you
• How to stay kind when you’re having a bad day and much more! 

Who the Showing kindness course is for: 

• The Showing kindness online course is aimed at any customer-facing staff member looking to improve service and work performance by incorporating kindness into all aspects of their work. 

Serving a guest with a disability can sometimes feel like a daunting task. You may think that they need to be served in a special way, or get nervous that you’ll accidentally say or do the wrong thing.

The truth is, guests with disabilities are just like everyone else, and just want the opportunity to access the same level of service as any other guest. Unfortunately, there are a lot of environmental and social barriers that can prevent your guests with disabilities from having a great experience.

By enrolling in the Offering service to guests with disabilities course, you will gain the necessary knowledge and skills to overcome environmental and social barriers, ensuring a positive experience for guests with disabilities.

This comprehensive course will provide you with a deeper understanding of disabilities and their challenges, empowering you to create a truly inclusive and world-class experience for every guest you serve. Join Co-Founder of Wheel the World, Alvaro Silberstein, as he shares his expertise. With his guidance, you’ll discover how to make sure your guests with disabilities always feel included and respected, no matter what!

What you’ll learn in the Offering service to guests with disabilities course:

• What inclusive service is
• The social model of disability
• The social view to disability
• Some common myths about guests with disabilities
• How to communicate with guests with disabilities
• How to offer assistance to guests with disabilities
• How to serve guests with: Visual disabilities, Hearing disabilities, Physical disabilities and Cognitive disabilities
• Best practices for handling service animals
• And much more!

In this course, you will gain valuable knowledge and skills to provide exceptional assistance and support to guests with disabilities. By the end of the course, you will receive a badge of course completion, validating your expertise in accommodating and serving individuals with diverse needs.

Who the Offering service to guests with disabilities course is for:

• The Offering service to guests with disabilities online course is aimed at front line service staff looking to offer an enhanced experience to guests with disabilities.

One of the most challenging parts of the service industry is knowing how to respond when a customer is unhappy. Unfortunately, customer complaints are inevitable – mistakes happen, and we’re all human. The most important thing is what you do to recover after receiving a customer complaint, making sure all your guests feel attended and appreciated. Enter service recovery!

This course is your ticket to being able to respond effectively and promptly to mistakes and complaints, so you can continually deliver an exceptional guest experience, even if something goes wrong. Across these lessons, you’ll discover key techniques, practical strategies, and real-life examples to help you feel confident recovering service, no matter what. Mastering essential customer service skills through this course will equip you with the knowledge and techniques to handle mistakes and complaints promptly, ensuring a consistently exceptional guest experience, even in challenging situations. Your instructor for the Customer service recovery course is Dan Cockerell, Former Vice President of Disney’s Magic Kingdom.

What you’ll learn in the Customer service recovery course:

• What customer service recovery means
• Key principles for effective service recovery
• Using the LAST method for service recovery, including: Listening effectively to guests, apologizing to guests, Solving guest challenges, Thanking guests for feedback, Making sure guests feel heard.
• Planning for service recovery
• Continuous service recovery improvement

In this course, you will receive comprehensive customer service training aimed at enhancing your customer service skills. Through this course, you will acquire the necessary knowledge and techniques to effectively handle challenging customer situations, recover from service failures, and turn dissatisfied customers into loyal advocates.

Who the Customer service recovery course is for:

• The Customer service recovery online course is aimed at front-line customer service employees looking to optimize their response to service challenges. Our online course is designed to equip you with the skills and knowledge needed to excel in delivering exceptional service.

Communication covers a massive scope: spoken languages, written languages, sign languages, gestures, signs and symbols, and so much more. No matter who you are, your language, or the method you’re using to communicate, there is ALWAYS a way to communicate more effectively.

In this course, you’ll discover all the elements that make up communication, and how you can use them to improve your communication skills. With guidance from communication expert Priya Bates, you’ll learn how to communicate more effectively when speaking, writing, and even when using body language.

You’ll also discover the incredible power of active listening, and asking questions to keep communication open, productive, and respectful.

What you’ll learn in the Effective communication essentials course:

• Why effective communication is important
• Non-verbal communication techniques
• The five elements of vocal communication
• How to choose the right words
• Respectful communication
• How to be an inclusive communicator
• Using active listening to engage with others
• How to ask effective questions
• A six-step method for managing miscommunication
• And much more!

Who the Effective communication essentials course is for:

• The Effective communication essentials online course is aimed at professionals in any industry looking to improve their communication skills.

You’ve probably heard before that there are different types of intelligence. You might be brainy, or creative, or good with people. Emotional intelligence looks at how effectively we can understand and express ourselves, relate to others, and cope with daily pressures in a constructive way.

Research shows us that these types of interpersonal skills are essential for success in the workplace – even more than just knowing how to do your job! So, in this online course, emotional intelligence expert Alicia Brown will help you explore how emotional intelligence can help you succeed by being more adaptable and building better team connections.

What you’ll learn in the Emotional intelligence fundamentals course:

• What emotions are, and how that relates to emotional intelligence
• The four domains of emotional intelligence
• How to develop self-awareness and self-management
• How to develop social awareness and relationship management
• The role of empathy in managing relationships
• What the limbic system is, and how it influences your emotions
• The influence of your values, and how they influence your behaviors
• What emotional agility means
• How to strengthen your emotional agility
• Specific techniques and strategies to help you build emotional intelligence

Who the Emotional intelligence fundamentals course is for:

• This online course is aimed at current or aspiring hospitality leaders wanting to explore personal and professional development.

Diversity is an important element to consider when cultivating a strong staff. Equity and inclusion is about fairness and representation on a society-wide scale, of course, but it’s also about creating inclusive environments at every level of daily life. And a diverse team of people with different backgrounds, skill sets, interests, and knowledge mean you’re better prepared for any challenges that come along. Inclusivity and equity are key aspects of a safe and comfortable working environment, but most of us develop unconscious biases that may hinder that – even if creating a positive work environment is an explicit goal.

It’s vital that we don’t shy away from recognizing these unconscious biases, and instead learn how to identify them in ourselves and others so that we can take action and effect positive change.

In this online course, Dr. Debra Blair, a Professor of Instruction and Director of Organizational Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, will talk about how and why you can develop a diverse, inclusive, and equitable workplace environment, and ultimately benefit your staff, your guests, and your bottom line. 

What you’ll learn in the Diversity, equity, and inclusion course:

• The best way to understand equity and inclusion, and how to develop your awareness of diversity issues
• How management can make positive changes to achieve diversity, equity, and inclusion at work
• The far-reaching benefits of diversity in the workplace
• What unconscious bias is, where it comes from, and how it can affect ourselves and others
• How to identify and change your personal biases
• How to identify the personal biases of others, and how to deal with them
• How to lead with inclusivity 

Who the Diversity, equity, and inclusion course is for:

• This online course is ideal for anyone in the hospitality industry who wants to learn more about what diversity means and how to create an inclusive workplace culture.

Chef, waiter, barista, or manager, no matter what your role, workplace bullying and harassment are sadly rising issues affecting hospitality staff. Therefore, learning about the issues and what you can do if you are a victim or witness can not only help make your workplace safer for everyone but help prevent these issues from occurring in the first place.

In this online course founder and president of Ethics Suite, Juliette Gust, will help you better understand the issues of workplace harassment and bullying, what to do if you are a victim or witness, and potential consequences for perpetrators.

This online course provides information on what’s generally considered best practice across the industry, but if your workplace has its own policy in place, then make sure you adhere to that.

What you’ll learn in the Workplace bullying and harassment course:

• Introduction to harassment and bullying
• Rights and responsibilities of employees and managers in workplace conduct
• What is (and what isn’t) considered workplace bullying
• What is workplace harassment & discrimination
• Understanding sexual harassment in hospitality
• Where and when workplace bullying and harassment can occur
• The impact of bullying, harassment and discrimination on individuals and organizations
• What to do if you’re the victim of or witness to bullying or harassment
• Understanding victimization and gossip
• Potential consequences of engaging in unacceptable workplace conduct

Who the Workplace bullying and harassment course is for:

• This online course will help those seeking further information and a better an understanding of workplace bullying and harassment so they can help their workplace become a safer, employee-friendly space.