Role Overview

Eight Continents Hotels & Resorts is seeking an experienced and highly operational Learning & Development Manager – India to lead the training and development function across our portfolio of hotels and corporate operations in India.

This is not solely a classroom training role. The successful candidate will be expected to work closely with General Managers, Heads of Departments and operational teams, spend significant time at hotel properties, identify performance gaps, create property-specific and departmental training matrices, conduct operational training, and ensure that learning translates into measurable improvements in guest experience and hotel performance.

The role will also take ownership of Training Needs Analysis (TNA), induction, SOP training, departmental skills certification, statutory compliance training, leadership development and training effectiveness measurement across the India portfolio.

Key Responsibilities

Training Strategy & Training Matrix

- Develop and implement the annual Learning & Development strategy aligned with the company's operational and business objectives.
- Develop a comprehensive Hotel Training Matrix covering every department, designation and job level.
- Define mandatory training requirements for employees based on:

o Department o Position o Job level o Operational responsibility o Statutory requirements o Brand standards o Leadership responsibilities
- Maintain property-wise and department-wise training calendars.
- Establish monthly, quarterly and annual training targets for each hotel.
- Ensure every property maintains accurate training records, attendance sheets, assessments and certification documentation.
- Conduct periodic Training Needs Analysis (TNA) with General Managers and Heads of Departments.
- Identify competency and performance gaps through guest feedback, operational audits, employee performance reviews and departmental observations.
- Develop corrective training interventions based on identified gaps.

Hotel Departmental Training The L&D; Manager will develop, coordinate, monitor and where appropriate personally deliver training across all major hotel departments.

Front Office & Guest Relations

Training areas will include

- Guest welcome and arrival experience
- Check-in and check-out procedures
- Reservations procedures
- Telephone etiquette
- Guest complaint handling
- Service recovery
- Upselling and room upgrades
- Guest recognition and personalization
- VIP handling
- Concierge standards
- Cash handling procedures
- PMS operational standards
- Grooming and presentation
- Guest privacy and data confidentiality
- Emergency procedures

Housekeeping

Training areas will include

- Room cleaning standards
- Bed-making standards
- Bathroom cleaning and sanitation
- Public area cleaning
- Laundry and linen handling
- Room inspection procedures
- Lost & Found procedures
- Minibar procedures
- Chemical handling
- Cleaning equipment usage
- Pest-control awareness
- Guest room safety
- Deep-cleaning schedules
- Hygiene standards
- Supervisor room inspection and quality-control standards

Food & Beverage Service

Training areas will include

- Sequence of service
- Restaurant service standards
- Banquet service standards
- Bar service procedures
- Menu knowledge
- Beverage knowledge
- Suggestive selling and upselling
- Table setup and presentation
- Buffet setup
- Banquet event execution
- Guest engagement
- Complaint handling
- Food hygiene
- Allergen awareness
- Responsible handling of alcoholic beverages
- Cash and billing procedures
- Grooming and service etiquette

Candidates with a robust Food & Beverage operational background will be particularly suitable for this role.

Food Production / Kitchen

Training areas will include

- Food safety
- Personal hygiene
- Kitchen hygiene
- HACCP principles
- Food storage
- FIFO / FEFO procedures




- Temperature control
- Cross-contamination prevention
- Allergen management
- Food labelling
- Kitchen equipment safety
- Waste management
- Portion control
- Recipe standardisation
- Cleaning and sanitation schedules

Banquets & Events
- Banquet SOPs
- Event setup standards
- Function sheet / BEO understanding
- Wedding and conference service standards
- Guest handling
- Service sequencing
- Equipment handling
- Event safety
- Coordination between Kitchen, F&B;, Sales and Operations

Sales & Marketing

Training areas will include

- Hotel product knowledge
- Sales calls
- Corporate sales
- MICE sales
- Account management
- Lead qualification
- Sales conversion
- Negotiation skills
- Hotel presentations
- Sales reporting
- CRM discipline
- Telephone sales
- Digital and social-media awareness
- Cross-selling across the Eight Continents portfolio

Reservations & Revenue

Training areas will include

- Reservation handling
- Rate plans
- Room categories
- Distribution channels
- OTA management awareness
- Upselling
- Revenue-management fundamentals
- Rate parity
- Inventory management
- Cancellation policies
- Forecasting awareness
- Reservation conversion techniques

Engineering & Maintenance

Training areas will include

- Preventive maintenance awareness
- Equipment safety
- Electrical safety
- Lock-out/tag-out procedures where applicable
- Fire and life-safety systems
- Emergency response
- Energy conservation
- Water management
- Pool safety
- Maintenance reporting procedures
- Guest room maintenance standards

Security

Training areas will include

- Hotel security procedures
- Guest and employee safety
- Emergency response
- Fire evacuation
- Incident reporting
- CCTV and access-control procedures
- Crisis management
- First-response procedures
- Handling suspicious activities
- Women and child safety awareness

Human Resources

Training areas will include

- Employee induction
- Code of conduct
- POSH awareness and compliance
- Workplace behaviour
- Employee grievance procedures
- Performance management
- Leadership skills
- Employee engagement
- Diversity and workplace respect
- Disciplinary procedures
- Managerial communication

Finance & Controls

Training areas will include

- Cash handling
- Revenue controls
- Fraud awareness
- Purchase procedures
- Expense controls
- Inventory control
- Financial SOP awareness
- Data confidentiality
- Internal control procedures

Statutory, Health & Safety and Compliance Training The L&D; Manager must have strong practical knowledge of statutory and mandatory hotel training requirements and ensure all properties remain training-compliant.

Responsibilities will include training and/or coordinating certification relating to:

- Fire Safety
- Fire Evacuation Procedures
- Fire Risk Assessments
- Emergency Response
- First Aid
- CPR awareness where applicable
- Health & Safety
- Occupational Health & Safety
- Food Safety
- FSSAI-related food hygiene requirements
- HACCP principles
- Chemical Safety
- Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS)
- Manual Handling
- Electrical Safety
- Workplace Accident Prevention
- Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)
- Safe equipment operation
- Swimming pool safety
- Security awareness
- Emergency and disaster preparedness
- POSH training
- Workplace harassment prevention
- Employee safety
- Guest safety
- Child protection awareness where applicable




- Data privacy and information security awareness The L&D; Manager will maintain a Statutory Training Compliance Matrix for each hotel and ensure certifications are renewed before expiry.

SOP & Brand Standards Training
- Work with Operations and departmental leaders to ensure all employees understand and follow approved hotel SOPs.
- Translate SOPs into practical and easy-to-understand training modules.
- Conduct SOP implementation workshops at hotel level.
- Undertake departmental observations to verify whether SOPs are being followed operationally.
- Identify discrepancies between documented standards and actual hotel operations.
- Conduct refresher and corrective training where standards are not being achieved.
- Support new hotel openings and hotel onboarding by implementing brand standards and operational training before launch.

Recent Employee Induction & Onboarding

Develop and manage a structured induction programme covering:

- Company introduction
- Brand philosophy and culture
- Grooming standards
- Code of conduct
- Guest-service philosophy
- Hotel orientation
- Departmental SOPs
- Health & Safety
- Fire Safety
- POSH
- Employee policies
- Security procedures
- Emergency procedures

Ensure departmental induction and 30/60/90-day learning plans are implemented for relevant positions.

Create structured development pathways for high-potential employees and support internal succession planning.

Qualifications & Experience

Mandatory

- Bachelor's Degree in Hotel Management / Hospitality Management.
- Strong hotel operational experience is essential.
- Previous Learning & Development / Training experience within hotels, resorts or a hospitality group.
- Strong knowledge of hotel departmental operations.
- Proven experience designing and managing hotel training matrices.
- Strong understanding of Training Needs Analysis and competency-based learning.
- Experience conducting operational and behavioural training.
- Knowledge of statutory hospitality training requirements.
- Strong knowledge of Health & Safety, Fire Safety and Fire Risk Assessment procedures.
- Knowledge of food safety and hygiene training requirements.
- Strong presentation and facilitation skills.
- Ability to train employees ranging from entry-level operational associates to senior managers.
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
- Strong stakeholder-management skills.
- Comfortable working independently across multiple hotel locations.
- Willingness to travel extensively across globally.

Key Performance Indicators

Performance of the Learning & Development Manager will be measured against clearly defined KPIs, including:
- 100% Training Matrix implementation across all hotels
- 100% mandatory and statutory training compliance
- Monthly training hours achieved per hotel
- Departmental training completion percentage
- Employee assessment and certification scores
- Training audit scores
- Improvement in guest satisfaction and service scores
- Reduction in recurring guest complaints
- Improvement in SOP compliance
- Percentage of departmental trainers certified
- Completion of monthly property training audits
- Leadership-development programme participation
- Internal promotions and succession-readiness
- Timely completion of new-employee induction
- Training documentation and LMS accuracy

Ideal Candidate Profile

We are looking for a hands-on hotelier and trainer, rather than someone whose experience is limited to corporate classroom training.

The ideal candidate understands hotel operations from the ground up, can walk into a Front Office, restaurant, banquet hall, kitchen, housekeeping department or guest room and identify gaps in service standards, SOP compliance, safety and employee competency.

This position requires a strong combination of hospitality operations, Learning & Development expertise, leadership, discipline and a passion for developing people.

📌 Learning and Development Manager (Gurugram)
🏢 Eight Continents Hotels & Resorts
📍 Gurugram