Satoru Takeuchi

Japan Hotel School & Japan Hotel Education Center Foundation

Planning Department Development Office

chief

After graduating from the Department of Sociology at Toyo University, he studied abroad in Switzerland with the goal of becoming a hotel school educator by the age of 35. He graduated from the César Ritz Institute in 1991. After returning to Japan, he joined Hotel Seiyo Ginza, which was said to be the only luxury hotel in Japan at the time. He worked there for seven years as a personal secretary (concierge). As planned, in 1998, when he turned 35, he began teaching at the Japan Hotel School, a vocational school, where he is in charge of accommodation courses. He is currently away from teaching and writing textbooks and managing the library's collection.

Specialization

Hotel field General education field

Department

others

Message to students

In a situation where practical training is not possible, current students may feel anxious about lack of customer service skills and face-to-face service, but please observe and remember this current situation closely. And use this opportunity to become strongly aware of what is needed to change the hotel business. As traditional values and common sense have collapsed, your new ideas and common sense will open up a new era. When things change, flexible thinking is necessary.

Thoughts on the future of the hotel and bridal industries

The reality of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has created a need to avoid interpersonal contact as much as possible, has forced hotels, the leading hospitality industry, to rethink their response. I predict that in the future, the hotel business will not only be a simple accommodation and service industry, but will also develop space businesses that utilize functions that can provide peace of mind and safety, such as hygiene management, and will also play a public role as evacuation facilities in the event of a disaster. Furthermore, I believe that in the future, hoteliers will need to be problem-aware in order to solve social issues such as environmental problems, as well as take concrete steps toward the SDGs, and learn knowledge and examples that can be put to use.

What is missing in future hoteliers?

My career goal is to become an educator at a hotel school, so I started by experiencing the learning methods and educational environment necessary for the hotel business as a student at a hotel school in Switzerland. I used all of the salary I earned during my training there to pay for hotel accommodations during my vacation, and learned to see a hotel from the perspective of a guest by experiencing one-star to four-star hotels by myself. I feel that those who aspire to become hoteliers are greatly lacking in this experience of using a hotel as a guest. This experience teaches you to question the very foundations of hotel service and thinking. In other words, seeing things from the opposite perspective broadens your perspective.