Staff training and development: A comparative analysis of national hotels in Serbia and international hotel chains

Having a qualified and trained workforce is an imperative for operating in the hotel management and tourism industry. Companies should show they care about their employees by giving them opportunities for promotion and development. The aim of this paper is to compare the staff training and development programs in the national hotels in Serbia with programs in international hotel chains. In order to achieve a predefined goal, we used the method of comparative analysis. Data for analysis were collected by researching the existing literature, the official hotel websites and interviewing managers in national hotels in Serbia. The results indicate that the staff training and development programs are more advanced in the international hotel chains. Management in the national hotels in Serbia is determined to follow different staff training and development programs. However, they should invest more in establishing more programs, especially those aimed at their staff's development which they can copy from the international hotel chains. The results of this research can be useful to hotel managers in the creation process of their own innovative staff training and development programs.