THR trains personnel for the horeca industry

The training courses for the hotel and travel industry are not intended to provide a degree, but rather to help improve the services provided, through the revalorization of the professions. Some of the jobs in these areas are not taken seriously and some are not even included in the licensed profession list, claims Răzvan Pârjol, General Manager of "THR Consulting Group" SRL.

THR is the main certified provider of training for the travel and horeca industries. To support its claims, the company mentions the constant number of people who graduated its classes, 5500 each of the last two years, and the interest shown by people who gained experience abroad, who, after returning to Romania, join THR"s classes, which provide them with the opportunity to complete their training and to obtain a degree issued by the Ministry of Education and Research.

The numerous fairs hosted by Romania these last years also include those promoting tourism. As a concept of local and international offers, tourism ties directly into the HoReCa system - hotels, restaurants, catering. Or, this system is supposed to provide a series of complex services, at European prices and standards. "THR specifically follows these standards, that everyone working in this area must follow, from general managers to the cooks ", said Răzvan Pârjol.

Many hotel group, restaurant and travel agencies managers complain about the lack of qualified personnel, while ignoring the fact that the staff they have can be trained for becoming more efficient. Some of them find a more plausible argument against training their staff: "We pay for a person"s training, we offer them a good learning environment and a few months later they leave us to work for another company or to work abroad".

Răzvan Pârjol states: "It makes sense to be able to train the ones who make you trust them enough to invest in them, to help them evolve professionally and whom you motivate to stay with your company, by providing them with a career plan. The respective youth must know how high he can go and how long it would take. The financial incentive is just an argument, but it must also be accompanied by the incentive of career advancement. Services are becoming extremely expensive and that is why people in the field must be impeccably trained ". THR has professional qualification classes for travel agents (local and foreign guides), hotel industry technicians, chambermaids, guest house administrators, waiters, cooks and professional specialization classes for trainers, travel agents tour operators, maitres d"hotel, wine waiters, chefs, qualified dieteticians etc. Also very popular are management classes for obtaining the tourism license and foreign language certifications. It is also worth mentioning that THR"s programs and classes are certified according to the provisions of OG 129/2000 and HG 522/2003 concerning the professional training of adults and take place both in THR"s offices in Bucharest and Constan a, and directly at the travel companies all over the country, at their request.

The lengthiest classes are those for hotel industry technician (8 months) and those for cooks and waiters, (6 months). The most expensive class is that of guest house administrator, (1270 lei / year), including practice in Bucharest or Constan a hotels or even on the job. The shortest class is the one for chambermaid, which is also the cheapest, 495 lei. The certification or graduation certificates, are provided by the Ministry of Labor, Social Solidarity and Family or by the Ministry of Education and Research, according to the classes studied. They are nationally recognized for the graduates of the qualification, specialization and management.

THR has 45 employees and 50 trainers. In 2007, the company"s turnover was more than 2,4 million lei. The training classrooms, revamped and sporting modern equipment, have a surface of 2200 mp. During the last two years, 5500 people graduated THR"s classes, qualifying for various jobs. For this year, the number of registrations has not shown any tendency to decrease, but rather shows a slight growth.