Orlando, Florida, August 2013 -The American Hotel & Lodging Educational Institute (EI) has awarded the Certified Guest Service Property designation to Calabar Hospitality House in Nigeria. Calabar Hospitality House is a newly-created training company aimed at addressing the absence of adequate and quality customer service in the Nigerian hospitality industry. The company’s staff members who have direct contact with guests and customers all passed their Certified Guest Service Professional (CGSP®) exam, qualifying the property for the property-level designation.
Calabar Hospitality House, under the leadership of Justina Ovat, CHT, worked through Terenga Limited, EI’s Hospitality Education Partner (HEP) in Nigeria, to offer the training. Calabar is the capital of Cross River State, in the south-eastern region of Nigeria.
“We are excited to partner with Mrs. Justina Ovat of Calabar Hospitality House. She became a Certified Hospitality Trainer (CHT®) in 2012 as one of the first group of Nigerians to hold this prestigious certification in the country,” stated Joe Oladipo, director at Terenga. “She followed through by setting up Calabar Hospitality House and registering all her front-line staff for the Guest Service Gold® training and certification.”
“It is in line with my objective as a CHT® to change the notion of cheap labour and the absence of quality customer service in the hospitality industry in Nigeria that I decided to put together a team to facilitate this objective,” said Ovat. “The Calabar Hospitality House is all about enhancing excellent customer service, creating job opportunities and ensuring job satisfaction in the industry. I am very excited about being the first in Nigeria to have this certification.”