The American Hotel & Lodging

Educational Institute (EI) has signed a memorandum of understanding with its new hospitality training partner in the Pacific, Island Training Solutions, a full-service training company located in Saipan in the Commonwealth of The Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI). The company, which conducts safety, compliance, and staff development training for businesses, government agencies, and nonprofit organizations, will initially offer EI's Guest Service Gold training and Certified Guest Service Professional (CGSP®) certification and START workforce development curriculum.

Tourism is the foundation of The Northern Mariana Islands' economy. The

commonwealth is located between Hawaii and the Philippines and is a vacation destination for people from Japan, Korea, China, and Russia. While the area has long relied on a population of foreign labor to staff the hospitality sector, changing immigration rules made it clear that efforts were needed to provide skills training to local residents who wanted to work in hospitality. Jim Arenovski (pictured with EI president Robert L. Steele III, CHA), owner of Island Training Solutions, explored various training programs before turning to EI, which offers globally-recognized training and certification.

"Island Training Solutions is proud to be able to offer certification classes through the

American Hotel & Lodging Educational Institute. The residents, resort properties, restaurants, and tourists will all benefit from this internationally-recognized hospitality industry training that will help improve local employment and retention as well as improve the guest experience for our tourists who visit our islands," said Arenovski. He added, "Island Training Solutions is working with The Latte Training Academy, a non- profit group dedicated to tourism/hospitality education in the region, to seek and manage grant, scholarship and other funding opportunities to help bring these Educational Institute classes to NMI residents at a low or no cost to the individual."

To contact Island Training Solutions, e-mail [email protected] or call +1.670.287.7037. To

learn more about EI's global partnerships, visit www.ahlei.org/partners.

About the American Hotel & Lodging Educational Institute (AHLEI)

Established in 1953 as the nonprofit education and training arm of the American Hotel & Lodging Association (AHLA), AHLEI's mission is to be the preferred provider of quality resources to educate, develop, and certify hospitality educators, students and professionals worldwide. AHLEI became part of the National Restaurant Association" Training & Certification division in 2017, connecting and leveraging the resources of two organizations that are deeply committed to a vision of career success and upward mobility for current and future hospitality, restaurant, and food service employees.

Elizabeth Johnson
Senior PR & Marketing Manager
+1.517-318-2359