The Pestana Hotel Group has just been voted Best Stakeholder at the Hospitality Education Awards, with its “Qualifying to Grow” Project developed in partnership with the Moita Professional Technical School. The awards are organised by the Tourism Forum, in partnership with Turismo de Portugal.

The “Qualifying to Grow” project was set up in 2017 and is an innovative and pioneering training initiative in the hotel and catering sector in which the school operates as a business from the start, providing a long-awaited solution that ensures pupils are immersed in a business environment while remaining in an educational context.

According to José Theotónio, CEO of Pestana Hotel Group, “This award recognises that the training project will be an example to be followed in the future of hospitality training. We have been able to provide an immersive experience in a real business environment for three academic years, thus ensuring that on the day they enter the professional market, in a real working context, students are completely ready and in total alignment with both the needs of the employer and customer expectations”.

As the largest international hotel group of Portuguese origin, the PHG (Pestana Hotel Group) believes that it can continue to provide an excellent service in the tourism sector provided it has a constant commitment to human resources, thus maintaining the Pestana brand’s current leading position. Above all, there is an urgent need to close the gap between “time at school” and immersion in the real labour market, significantly speeding up the adaptability of resources and improving future sustainability and competitiveness, particularly in an international context.

About the Pestana Hotel Group:

With over four decades of success, the Group owns and manages around 90 properties in Portugal and abroad, as well as six golf courses, two casinos, three tourism property complexes and 13 Vacation Club projects, with the objective of offering complete and attractive products. In industry and services, Dionísio Pestana’s group participates in the Madeira Development Society, management of the Madeira International Business Centre and in the Madeira Beer Company. Overall, there are eight business areas it operates in: hotels, golf, casinos, tourism real estate, tourist distribution, Vacation Club, industry and services.

In the hotel business, which is its main business, the Group operates with four brands: Pestana Hotels & Resorts, Pestana Collection Hotels, Pestana Pousadas de Portugal and Pestana CR7 Lifestyle Hotels. With a presence in 15 countries, it has around 11,000 rooms available in Europe, Africa and America and around 7,000 employees.

As a socially responsible company, it launched the Pestana Sustainability Program: Planet Guest – “We are merely guests of the Planet” – which incorporates all the initiatives that promote PHG’s sustainability. Planet Guest conveys the position of the Group and its employees with regard to the sustainability of the Planet we live in and the focus of PHG on the paramount concern for future generations. Its objective is to create value for the company in the long term, developing its activity with respect for the environment, local communities, employees, customers and all relevant stakeholders in the implementation of its activity.

Enter Pestana’s universe and learn more at www.pestana.com

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