The first skills competition of the Faculty of International Tourism and Management (FITM) of the City University of Macau (CityU) - Hospitality and Opera Software Skills Competition was held successfully on June 10, 2023 at the China Dragon Hotel. It aims to realize the true

integration of industry, academia and research, uphold the social responsibility and mission of "serving Macau and integrating into the Bay

Area", follow the spirit of the school motto of "Mingde, erudition and practice", and cultivate applied and practical talents needed by Macau

and the region in the context of the integrated development of higher education in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Bay Area, so as to

continuously provide intellectual support for the development of the city and society. The goal of the competition is to test the participants'

ability to develop their knowledge and skills.  

This competition is to assess the professional knowledge and expertise of the participants in the context of hotel service operations. The

assessment is based on the standardisation and proficiency of their operational skills, which are evaluated according to the core service

modules of the hotel workflow. Additionally, the ability to analyse and handle problems on site, communication skills, and awareness of

customer service, hygiene and safety operations, psychological quality and craftsmanship are also considered. The objective is to improve

vocational education in hotels and align it with industry standards. This includes aligning hotel vocational education with industry needs,

developing curriculum content and vocational standards, as well as the professional teaching process and actual production process, to

ensure that training objectives are in line with industry requirements, improve the quality of hotel professional training and create a social

atmosphere that respects skills.

The judging panel of the competition was composed of industry professionals and instructors from CityU. The judges included Ms. Haruka

Kasugai, senior training manager of Galaxy Macau; Ms. Kate Leung, executive manager of The Londoner Macau; Ms. Carmen Ng, front desk

manager of Raffles Hotel Macau; Ms. Janice Law, senior lecturer of CityU and former judge of Forbes; and Ms. Lucy Liu, course instructor.

During the competition, the judges praised the candidates' performances while also providing professional counsel and important

recommendations.

From left to right, Ms. Lucy Liu, the lecturer; Ms. Haruka Kasugai, senior training manager of Galaxy Macau; Ms. Kate Leung, executive

manager of The Londoner Macau; Ms. Carmen Ng, front desk manager of Raffles Hotel Macau; Ms. Janice Law, senior lecturer of CityU and

former judge of Forbes.

The competition was divided into two modules: reservation service and front-desk service. The contestants recreated the real working scenes of hotel front desk through scenario simulation: answering guests' phone calls; recommending additional services and room enhancement

services based on their needs, recording guests' preferences, such as breakfast, newspaper, wake-up call, and other services, and accurately

entering booking information into the Opera system.

Judges evaluated and rated the performance of participating students

The team simulates a real-life customer complaint scenario and provides professional solutions to pacify the customer's emotions

Students who participated in this competition stated that they gained a lot, and that the practical simulation competition allowed them to use what they learned in class more flexibly, strengthen their operation skills, and lay a solid foundation for their future practice work.

The team engaged in a real-life communication scenario with a guest

The team simulates the hotel's gift and travel guide for the guests

The China Dragon Hotel serves as the practical training ground for FITM at CityU. It offers students ample opportunities for practice in retail

services, convention and exhibition services, and front office administration and service. FITM is dedicated to providing students with a varied learning environment that fosters their ability to communicate and think creatively, enabling them to truly apply the contents of books.

Student acceptance speech

First prize winners: Li Yanping and He Yushan

We are honored to win the first prize, which we never expected. We thank the judges for recognizing us. We are especially thankful to

Ms. Lucy Liu, who was busy preparing for the competition and came to school early to open the computer room for us to practice. We are also very grateful to Ms. Janice Law for relieving everyone's tension before the competition so that we could gradually relax and enjoy the process of the competition. We are also grateful to the three judges for their encouragement and guidance, which made us more aware of how to

integrate theory and practice. We will continue to work hard to become a better version of ourselves in the future.

Second Prize Winners: Jun Qin and Jingting Luo

We are very honored to have participated in the first skills competition and won the second prize. Firstly, we would like to thank the judges for their recognition, and secondly, we would like to thank the academy for providing us with the opportunity to participate in the competition

and the platform of the training base. Through careful design, our team used scenarios to recreate the real working scenes of the hotel and

used the Opera system to provide personalized and customized services to the customers efficiently. This competition has deepened our

understanding of the hotel hospitality industry and laid the foundation for our future internship. Finally, we would like to thank Ms. Lucy Liu

for her guidance during the day, which has helped us achieve our present results. We will continue to learn from the competition and practice our learning through the competition. We will continue to learn from each other and make further achievements in the future.

Third prize winners: Qiu Yu and Wei Yumeng

We are honored to win third place in the first Vocational Skills Competition of the City University of Macau. We are grateful to the judges

and teachers for their recognition of our performance. This is the first time for two students in our group to participate in the competition, and we are very grateful for the guidance from Ms. Lucy Liu, which helped us learn a lot of knowledge and skills during the pre-competition

practice and the official competition. We will definitely accept the encouragement and keep working hard so that we can contribute to the

hotel industry in the future.