Tim Oberli smiles broadly at the man across the gold-plated desk, expertly checking him in and showing him to the executive suite, while simultaneously handling a boisterous man demanding a restaurant reservation.
This is not a classy hotel, but rather a set erected on the upper floor of a red-carpeted casino in the picturesque Swiss city of Montreux, and the scene is playing out in front of dozens of spectators.
Oberli is among 16 young people from around the globe gathered here seeking to be crowned the world’s best receptionist, with their unique know-how featuring for only the second time at the WorldSkills Competition.
Photo: AFP
The championships in dozens of vocational skills, ranging from 3D digital game art to cooking, to electrical installations, are usually held simultaneously every other year in one city.
Last year’s edition, which had been scheduled to take place in Shanghai, was postponed and then canceled due to COVID-19 restrictions, prompting 15 different countries to step up this year to host about 1,000 participants aged 22 or younger competing for world titles in 61 different skills from Sept. 7 to Nov. 26.
Taiwan’s Lei Feng-yue (雷豐嶽) won the first gold of the championships on Sept. 11 after a four-day prototype modeling competition in Bern.
Switzerland, a country renowned for its luxury hotels and world-class hotel management schools, is hosting 15 of the competitions, including four grueling days testing hotel reception skills, which started on Thursday and ends today.
“I felt very nervous,” said Oberli, the Swiss contestant, after the first day.
It did not show, as the tall, athletic-looking 19-year-old with his impeccable navy-blue suit and carefully combed blond hair seemed at ease in his mock reception. Focusing fully on the customer before him, he described the sights and expertly organized a wake-up call and ordered a taxi, while appearing oblivious to the four judges seated to his right and the spectators lined behind a blue ribbon barrier to his left.
On the other side of a black cloth divider, Moe Omori of Japan stood behind her own desk, nervously handling the checkout of an unhappy customer, as another guest called down to say she had fallen in her room and hit her head.
In an adjoining room, other contestants, such as Taiwan’s Liu Mei-chun (劉玫均), and those from countries including Kazakhstan, Spain and Singapore sit at desks tackling so-called back-office tasks like complex reservations.
“The competition is a big deal,” Oberli said, pointing out that he has been training for this ever since winning the national SwissSkills competition two years ago.
He has been practicing for even longer, saying he remembers spending many summer vacations as a child perched on a chair in a hotel lobby, taking notes.
“I was always impressed,” he said, recalling how he had dreamt of having his own hotel one day, imagining the uniforms, the name-tags and the room categories.
“And when I got my first computer, I designed a registration card,” he added.
Additional reporting by staff writer
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