Orlando, Florida, April 2013—The Waterfront Shaw in Lavasa, India, has become the first property in India to earn the Certified Guest Service Property designation awarded by the American Hotel & Lodging Educational Institute (EI). To earn the title, 47 front-line employees completed EI’s Guest Service Gold Training program and successfully passed the Certified Guest Service Professional (CGSP) exam.

The Waterfront Shaw offers both hotel rooms and apartments and is classified as a B&B/Inn by TripAdvisor, which recognized the property with its 2012 Certificate of Excellence. The property consistently receives praise for its guest service, and completing Guest Service Gold was one more way to solidify the property’s commitment to its guests.

“It has always been my personal belief that maintaining high standards of consistent quality and wowing customers is not the exclusive domain of the deluxe category and luxury hotels alone,” said Jimmy Shaw, managing director of The Waterfront Shaw. “It’s the simple things that matter, the gentle and caring touch, the small gesture and the ability to please beyond what was expected or demanded of us that sets a star property apart from its peers. Small hotels can easily outperform their more illustrious cousins by inculcating the true spirit of “atithi devo bhava” (Sanskrit for “the guest is god”) through a simple desire to learn the ‘master doctrine’ that the Educational Institute has introduced to the hospitality industry with the launch of the Guest Service Gold program.”
 
Shaw noted that the general manager and the entire team at The Waterfront Shaw enthusiastically accepted the challenge to undergo the training and pass the certification exam.

“We are happy to have received this recognition [as a Certified Guest Service Property] even as we plan to continue to delight our guests,” he said, adding, “What India needs is for every hotel, large and small, independent and chain, to become GSG “atithi devo bhava” certified and I sincerely hope many hotels follow suit.”

For more information on Guest Service Gold and other training and professional certification programs from the Educational Institute, visit www.ahlei.org.

About the American Hotel & Lodging Educational Institute
Established in 1953 as a nonprofit educational foundation of the American Hotel & Lodging Association, the Educational Institute’s mission is to continue being the preferred provider to the lodging industry, hospitality schools, and related hospitality industries by developing and providing quality resources to train, educate, and certify hospitality professionals worldwide. Please visit http://www.ahlei.org