What is WorldSkills?

WorldSkills is an organisation that promotes trade skills with international competitions in several disciplines, including the trade of Hotel Receptionist. They bring together 1,600 competitors under the age of 23 from 5 continents to represent excellence in their field.

It's a global event that pits young talent against each other in a variety of trades and technical skills, with the motto:

We raise the profile and recognition of skilled people, and show how important skills are in achieving economic growth.
WorldSkills

We raise the profile and recognition of high-skilled people, and show how important they are to economic growth.

How does the competition work?

The tests

The competition takes place over several days, during which the competitor is in a real-life reception situation in a fictitious hotel. They will face a series of scenarios, some of which are in English, with actors playing the role of guests, including one face-to-face to simulate a front office situation, as well as situations with back office administrative tasks.

Tasks required:

• Booking
• Managing check-in / guest arrivals
• Managing check-out / guest departures
• Handling a complaint
• Responses to guest requests
• Sales actions
• Internal task management (shift handover)
• Destination promotion ...

The different stages

1. National selection

Each country organises national competitions to select its best candidates in various trades, from carpentry to hairdressing to computer programming.

2. Intensive training

Selected candidates undergo months of intensive training to perfect their skills and prepare for world-class events.

3. Global competition

Every two years, WorldSkills organises the global competition, which takes place in a different host city each time. Candidates from all over the world come together to compete in their respective fields of expertise.

4. Practical tests

Competitors are assessed through timed practical tests that simulate real working conditions. Judges score work quality, precision and speed of execution.

5. Technical skills assessment

In addition to the practical tests, candidates undergo assessments of their theoretical knowledge and technical skills.

6. Medal ceremony

At the end of the competition, a medal ceremony rewards the best candidates in each trade.

The different editions

• WorldSkills 2019, Kazan, 🇷🇺 Russia: August 22-27 - Winner : Vitaliya Yakovenko (🇷🇺 Russia)
• WorldSkills Special Edition 2022, Montreux, 🇨🇭 Switzerland: October 6-9 - Winner : Jovinn Toh (🇸🇬 Singapore)
• WorldSkills 2024, Lyon, 🇫🇷 France: September 10-15 - Winner : Not determined‍

The next international edition in Lyon which is scheduled for 2024, summed up in a few figures:

• 1,600 competitors worldwide
• 64 competing trades
• 250,000 visitors
• 65 participating countries and regions

The Representative for France

The national competition in 2022, which took place at Eurexpo in Lyon from January 13th to 15th, elected a winner who joined the French team:

• Gold medal 🥇 : Lisa HUBOUD-PERON (Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes)
• Silver medal 🥈 : Agathe GRIBLING (Grand Est)
• Bronze medal 🥉 : Emma HASSLER (Occitanie)

Lisa HUBOUD-PERON represented France at the latest international competition in Montreux and was awarded the first medal of Excellence. A first for France in this category, in a field largely dominated by Asian countries who excel in it. 

She also took part as an assistant expert in the national edition of 2023, held from September 14th to 16th at Eurexpo in Lyon, whose winners were:

• Gold medal 🥇 : Théo CHIQUET (Île-de-France)
• Silver medal 🥈 : Adrien BELTRANDO (Sud Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur)
• Bronze medal 🥉 : Richard FRANCESCHINI (Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes)

To see all the results, visit the official WorldSkills results page

LoungeUp and WorldSkills

LoungeUp is a partner of WorldSkills France, and has provided the competition with Dmbook, its online logbook solution to facilitate internal operations. By making this solution available, competitors can work in real-life conditions, using the real tools adopted on a daily basis by thousands of hoteliers to dematerialise the management of their operations. As former French champion:

Thank you to our partners Sequoiasoft and Dmbook Pro (by LoungeUp). Thanks to you, competitors were able to access real and useful professional tools both during and after the competition😉
Lisa Huboud-Peron - LinkedIn

Bruno Lanvin, LoungeUp's Training Manager, is a regular volunteer in this international competition as "Skill Competition Manager" in the "Hotel Reception" category. His role is to organise the tests, decide the subjects for the competition and write the evaluation grids.

His opinion on the organisation:

The aim of WorldSkills is to promote skills and career paths among young people. One of their mottos is "Skills Change Lives".
Bruno Lanvin, Head of Customer Training and Education, LoungeUp

And on the inspiration that it can inspire among young people, given that the competition is aimed at the under-23s:

When I was young, college was not for me, but the day I started hotel school, I discovered my passion and ended up as one of the top students in my class. For me, learning a trade changed my life. I'm taking part in WorldSkills to inspire other young people (who perhaps, like me, don't see themselves going down the generic routes) to choose a vocation and a trade (and preferably in the hotel industry).
Bruno Lanvin, Head of Customer Training and Education, LoungeUp