PHL, Hotel Workers Brush Up On Hospitality Ahead Of Pope's Visit
By Mike DeNardo
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - As Philadelphia prepares for the visit of Pope Francis, hospitality workers in the city are getting a refresher course in....hospitality!
Communications pro Brian Shapiro is training Philadelphia International Airport workers and hotel staffers that empathy and active listening will help them solve problems for stressed or travel-weary visitors.
"What emotions are they typically experiencing?" he asks.
At the airport, he's holding 30 training sessions for 900 people ahead of the Pope's visit. Shapiro advises workers to control their response to stress by breathing, to have empathy through listening, and to solve problems by asking questions.
Louise Dow, who works in the airport's communications center, says the course will help her to step up her game:
"A lot of times we don't listen. So we're quick to jump and give an answer, and we really didn't hear what the person was trying to ask us."
Shapiro says frontline workers have an unprecedented opportunity to give visitors a positive impression:
"If we can do it five-percent more often within that window of time, given the volume that we're dealing with, the impact can be that much more significant."
