Vantage Hospitality Group is taking its three-year-old Vantage Academy on a 13-city tour. The free one-day training program is all about hands-on activities. Vantage is owner of Americas Best Value Inn and the Lexington Collection brands, with 900 member hotels in North America and China.

“For last year’s training we took guest complaints and role played them in customer-service videos,” says Wendy Whitlow, corporate training manager in the hotel company’s Coral Springs, FL headquarters. “The videos were a great tool. Attendees saw real situations and could bounce ideas off of each.”

Interacting and sharing with each other is the key to good training. “I throw things out and listen to them talk to each other,” says Whitlow. “We have people who’ve been doing this for years when they show up they’re seasoned and helpful to others. It’s been a way for them to connect and meet with other hotel owners in their region.”

Curmudgeons are inevitable, so facilitators listen, and then turn topics into useful debates.

“What’s different about us is that our training is voluntary, not mandatory,” says Whitlow. “The training that many operators have gone to with other brands was mandatory. They were told ‘This is the way you do it or you’re gone.’”

Each year Vantage Academy brings in preferred vendors to educate attendees. “This is an opportunity for them to get in front of our members so they can educate them on the products they have that support our vision,” she says. “This year we’re partnering with Cicero’s Development Corp. to talk about renovation of distressed properties. We know in this tough economy it’s hard to spend money, so here’s someone in the business that can tell you how to do this inexpensively.”

The training welcomes executives to staff. This year they expect to train more than 350 people. “We bring them together in an intimate environment much different from our bigger seminars to do a lot of information sharing,” she says.

Training has become key as the hotel chain grows. “We want to educate our members to be sure we’re all on the same page,” says Whitlow.