exclusivelife. | EDUCATION
LES ROCHES MARBELLA THE PO O L O F LEA D E R S F O R T H E H O S P I TA L I T Y A N D L U X U R Y S E C TOR At Les Roches they approach education from a unique and exclusive point of view, through a model that combines the rigorous academic methods of Swiss tradition with the practical development of interpersonal skills that transform students’ management capacity and leadership in the pursuit of customer satisfaction. This model operates on the same Swiss axes which, since the late 1800s when the notion of tourism began to spread throughout Europe, formed the first group of professionals specialized in hospitality. The Swiss brought many skills to the approach to Hotel Management and made rigor, precision, attention to detail, timely service, and discretion successful selling points for travelers who visited their facilities. Since then, hotel management training has come a long way, but if one fundamental element has remained intact throughout the generations it is the certainty that “we live in an industry of people for people, where human connection and interrelation are essential”, according to Carlos Díez de la Lastra, General Manager of Les Roches Marbella. Díez de la Lastra goes on to say, “our role as educators is to train the best talent who are prepared to work in VUCA environments by prioritizing competencies associated with soft-skills. Future hospitality and tourism models will need professionals capable of working well with others in any environment and modality. They will need to be flexible and adaptable people with the ability to analyze and solve problems”. This role is part of the DNA of Les Roches; a hallmark that has led to its recognition as one of the most important hospitality management schools in the world, and a benchmark of talent recruitment by leading companies in the sector. It is in fact one of the few European university institutions, and the only school of hotel management in Spain, that receives academic accreditation from NECHE (New England Commission of Higher Education), the same association that validates degrees from prominent universities like Harvard, MIT, and Yale.
Les Roches stock image, prior to pandemic
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| EXCLUSIVE LIFE MAGAZINE
The pandemic of 2020 has brought to light something that Les Roches had already incorporated into their academic DNA: the need for authentic leaders; innovative managers with an entrepreneurial and disruptive spirit and true drivers of change who possess technological skills and a global
