A group of Flathead Valley high school students recently took a closer look at the hospitality industry and learned more about what it takes to work in the field during a day-long training session. 

About 80 junior and senior students from Whitefish, Columbia Falls and Flathead high schools participated in the field hospitality training and job fair day at The Lodge at Whitefish Lake. The students, who are studying culinary arts in school, applied and interviewed for jobs, took a tour of The Lodge, met with department heads, and participated in the Montana Superhost training.

Lisa Jones, a trainer with Superhost, said the day was a pilot program with the goal of expanding to similar models around the state. The idea is to get students trained and even applying for summer jobs in the industry.

“This is a transition year for the Superhost,” Jones said. “After about three decades, the program is now being designed exclusively to sponsor the training of high school students.”

The Montana Superhost program educates front line staff, managers and owners on the importance of customer service to not only satisfy customer needs, but also keep them returning to the state.

To get ahead of a shrinking workforce, the state Office of Tourism has contracted with Flathead Valley Community College to research the potential for training that is specifically designed to educate high school age students in order to grow Montana’s hospitality workforce.

Jones has already trained more than 200 students and has plans to train another 50 students. She said it makes sense for the free training to shift to a younger demographic.

“All over the state there is a lack of staffing for the hospitality businesses,” she said. “It makes sense to train high school students because they can provide that local workforce. It really is important for the future — for those students first jobs, but also to provide a workforce for tourism, which is such an important industry in our state.”

During the training session, Jones told students she started out working in service jobs herself while skiing and attending college in Colorado in the 1980s. The mantra then was to smile and the customer was always right, she said, before they began revamping their customer service training.

“Then it was the customer isn’t always right, but we will take care of the customer,” she said. “It’s important to be able to engage with guests to promote the region and state. It’s important to be able to handle guests concerns.”

She pointed to the economic impact that tourism has in Montana as a reason to make sure guests have a good time and want to return. Montana has a population of about 1 million people, while 11.7 million visitors came here last year and spent $3.6 billion, she noted.

She asked students to answer a 15-question quiz that covered everything from facts about the area — names of highways and populations — to places to go and things to visit.

“Fifty percent of people show up and don’t know where they are going to go,” she said. “It’s important to be able to engage with visitors.”

Jones also asked students to solve visitor problems and complaints. If a landslide has blocked a road, then provide an alternate route or if it’s raining suggest activities that are indoors. If a customer has a complaint, be sure to apologize for the mistake, sympathize, accept responsibility and then help find a resolution to the issue.

The job fair portion of the day was focused only on jobs available at The Lodge, but Jones said the hope is that next year the job fair could be expanded to include more businesses.

On the tour of the Lodge, Jessica Smith, conference services manager, and Ryan Billiet, sales manager, explained to students about their roles.

Smith is in charge of coordinating events along with the food and beverage services at The Lodge, including five different menus. Billiet said his role is to work with groups, whether its golf or government groups, as they book, plan and then stay at The Lodge; while other managers coordinate weddings or corporate events.

“We’re all focused on making sure they have superior service and we get repeat business,” he said. “We coordinate the logistics and details of their visit and work with each department. We want to make sure their stay is good, so they’ll come back here to hold their family reunion later.”

Billiet said high school students are hired every summer to work at The Lodge.

“A lot of people start out working in housekeeping or as a server,” he told students. “If you decide to stay with this as a career, there are so many resorts in the world where you can get a job.”

Maureen Fanion, family and consumer science teacher at Flathead, said the day was a chance for students to get a real look at the hospitality industry while papering them for the job market.

“This is the hospitality industry,” she told students. “This could be your summer job while you’re in school or it could become a career.”