Esprit - the spirit of Hilton proven to be successful across the Arabian Peninsula

Hilton's Human Resources Management programme - Esprit - is based on Hilton Brand Service Standards, which are truly extraordinary and focus on courtesy, communication, and guest satisfaction.

"With a training programme like Esprit, Hilton International attains better-informed and motivated employees. This leads to higher employee satisfaction, higher standards of guest service and higher revenue and profits. With such great employee satisfaction Hilton International is able to recruit and retain the best in the industry and maintain high standards of people management, " said David LeMan, Regional Director of Human Resources - Arabian Peninsula.

Esprit starts with quality recruitment and a series of ongoing comprehensive training workshops. New team members are given a recruitment toolkit, which includes a pre-employment pack, an up-to-date job description, a "People @ Hilton" kit and an invitation to be a guest, to enjoy and experience the facilities and service of their hotel from a customer perspective.

The Esprit induction workshop begins with an introduction to Hilton, getting a better insight of the hotel, meeting key people, departmental inductions and an introduction by a Technical Behavioural Skills (TBS) Trainer, which fully supports the Hilton Brand Service Standards.

After the basic orientation and training takes place, regular departmental training reviews and evaluations for employees are conducted to ensure the Hilton Brand Service standards are maintained. There are monthly TBS skills enhancement meetings with a HR/Training Managers where Performance Development Reviews (PDR's) are conducted bi - annually.

Esprit is an innovative and unique human resources programme which allows employees to continuously evolve and develop their skills across different disciplines through ongoing monthly reviews, evaluations, certificates, licenses and rewards for improving their skills and knowledge. With its thorough and unique approach to human capital investment and development, Esprit certainly sets Hilton apart and positions it as an industry authority on Human Resources Management.

Aside from the official training, Hilton employees are encouraged to create "Hilton Moments". This is a thoughtful personal gesture made to make a guest feel extra special, valued and welcome. Hilton Moments are rewarded through Starbond certificates of a specific monetary value.

"Esprit means liveliness, and it is about adding value, improving self esteem and relaxing the people we have so they feel good about what they do and comfortable with taking initiative and going the extra mile", added Mr. LeMan.

Other Hilton rewards include the "Bright Idea" award, the "Employee of the Month / Year" award. Employees can also be nominated to be a Representative on the Hilton Exchange committee and are a forum where team members share ideas with the management to improve the hotel.

"The Hilton employee-training programme takes into consideration the opinions of the employees and therefore, part of the training involves an employee survey. The Esprit programme is not just a badge for a group of HR activities; it is the way we work together. Every Hilton is special because we care for the well - being, cultural diversity and motivation of our people. Working with Hilton is more than just coming to work." Stated Mr. LeMan.