a&o Academy

a&o Academy

The chain has just the right career ladder for anyone. Lateral entrants can acquire hotel expertise from scratch, while tourism professionals will find strategic positions in head office or take charge of specific hostel departments. a&o HOTELS and HOSTELS opened its own, in-house training academy as a centre of educational excellence in 2013 in order to fulfil these standards and to offer its employees the greatest degree of freedom in shaping their own careers.

The academy holds courses over several weeks to prepare external employees for their work at a&o, while internal employees can acquire qualifications for their ongoing career advancement in the company. The courses teach uniform standards in the issues of safety, service, cleaning and staff management.

Our team of a&o supervisors in the areas of management, reception, facility management and food & beverage all teach at the academy. The intensive course provides employees with the expertise they need to confidently tackle any challenge that may arise in everyday hotel and hostel operations. A certificate is awarded to validate each module and as a qualification for further career opportunities within the chain.

All of the training materials are posted on the a&o intranet and are freely accessible to all staff members. 

The trainees learn the following in the a&o Academy: 

  • a&o Standard Procedures
  • Basic knowledge of hotel chain operations
  • Health & safety training and coaching
  • Needs of teachers and young people

The following establishments are the training hotels: a&o Leipzig Hauptbahnhof, a&o Cologne Neumarkt, a&o Berlin Friedrichshain and a&o Berlin Kolumbus

Your way to the a&o Academy:

You will automatically be sent for academy training if you are keen on a position in hotel management at a&o. As 'hotel management trainee' in 'your' training hotel, you will be assigned clear responsibility and will get to know all departments. You will be assigned to each area to work in day-to-day operations. This is the only way for you to know later on what your staff is talking about and to become intimately familiar with all of the procedures,

You progress to the next level after completing all certificates and your assignment to each department: 'Your' hotel awaits! a&o is expanding and adds at least two new locations each year. So there is plenty of opportunity to run a hotel or hostel in a new city! From the opening to the booked-out establishment! It is a hugely varied job that requires a good feel for people and excellent leadership skills. The first aspect is mandatory and 'on the job' is the best place to get the knack.

Simply click through our job platform under hotel management to find the cities that interest you most: a&o is delighted to hear from capable and motivated people whose hearts are in the right place!