BY KOH HUI THENG

WHEN he found a tattered laptop bag filled with 16,000 euros (S$31,300), assistant concierge Mohammad Rozi Ismail knew what he had to do.

The Carlton Hotel employee called his duty manager to the lift landing where the dark-blue bag was, and searched for the owner's identification.

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Mr Rozi, 25, said: 'Yes, it's about honesty but it also helped that I had gone for a course spelling out what to do (in such situations).'

This year, he has attended at least three training programmes, including the Workforce Skills Qualification programme, which gives tips on helping single travellers and unwell guests.

Hotel guests were so wowed by his professionalism that one nominated him for a Singapore Tourism Award for Best Tourism Host (Hotel) last year.

Carlton Hotel said such training courses 'equip staff with hospitality skills and help them keep abreast of the latest customer- service trends'. About 200 employees and up to 50 new hotel staff will be trained by the end of this year.

Employers like Carlton Hotel are training staff to prepare for better days ahead. Besides in-house courses, they are also turning to external vendors like the Tourism Management Institute of Singapore to beef up their employees' skills.

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