The platform offers courses specifically designed for the hospitality industry, catering to the needs of employees and various work environments and can be tailored to their learning styles. In conversation with Hotelier Middle East, she discussed her journey from neuroscience to hospitality education, gamified learning and how AI technology helps overcome the challenges within the travel and tourism sector.
Hospitality training
Babic gave insights into her journey from neuroscience to her entrepreneurial venture in the hospitality education sector.
She said: “Early last year, while I was still a PhD neuroscience student, I had an interesting conversation with my current co-founders Marco Corallo and Filip Babic, where we realised that our combined experience in neuroscience, hospitality, and graphic design presented the perfect opportunity to create something truly fun and unique.
“This realisation led to the establishment of Xenios Academy and our mission to revolutionise hospitality education by offering a highly gamified, comprehensive, and effective mobile training program that empowers professionals to excel in their roles and contribute to an exceptional guest experience. As time went on, we pivoted into offering not only hospitality training but also an LMS solution for various subsections in the travel and tourism industry, with more exciting developments on the horizon.”
What is Xenios Academy?
Babic outlined: “At Xenios Academy, we leverage neuroscience principles to optimise the learning experience. Our platform is designed to align with how the human brain learns and retains information. Some of the techniques we incorporate include quizzes that correspond to different levels of knowledge acquisition, pre-material priming, spaced repetition, and interactive content delivery to enhance engagement and knowledge retention.
“We also cater to the increasingly short attention span among the current generation (because of the effect of social media many of us are familiar with) by ensuring delivery that is not just effective, but also fun and time-efficient.
“When it comes to the fast-paced world of hotels and restaurants, time is precious. Our platform features daily bite-sized lessons as opposed to marathon training and cramming facts that are quickly forgotten, therefore our methods beautifully align with the unique needs of the hospitality industry.”
AI technology
Babic explained how AI technology helps overcoming the challenges within the travel and tourism sector.
“In today’s travel and tourism landscape, staying up-to-date with industry standards and consistently training a team struggling with an increasingly shorter attention span can be quite a challenge. Adding to this, setting up an online training program takes an average of six months, and more than half of organisations struggle with tailoring the current solutions to meet their specific needs.
“We address this by offering a dynamic learning platform powered by AI, allowing the manager or business owner to quickly and efficiently adapt the establishment content while making sure the team stays engaged and motivated throughout their training.”
Gamified learning in the hospitality industry
Babic says gamified learning is highly effective across all age groups, thanks to boosting learner engagement and motivation.
She added: “At Xenios Academy, we incorporate various gamification elements, such as timed individual and team challenges, as well as inter- and intra-departmental leaderboards, to make learning more enjoyable and impactful. This approach fosters healthy competition, a strong sense of teamwork, increased motivation, and reinforced learning outcomes.
“Gamification allows businesses to create engaging and interactive learning experiences that resonate with the current workforce generation. The dopamine rush from winning a challenge, earning a badge, or seeing your name atop the leaderboard motivates and fosters positive reinforcement for skill development.
“As a result, gamification integration into education is becoming increasingly prevalent, shaping the future of learning by making it more engaging, fun, and effective – even for adults and the corporate world.”
AI-driven education
The Xenios Academy founder said AI-driven education is improving all the time, incorporating adaptive learning, data-driven insights, and increased personalisation.
She added: “We also make sure to keep ourselves updated with the newest scientific findings in cognitive neuroscience. This allows us not only to understand how our platform can be improved technologically but in practice as well.
“While my hands-on experience in the hospitality industry provided me with invaluable insights into the training struggles faced by its staff, Marco Corallo, our co-founder and COO, deserves even more credit regarding deep industry insights. Marco is a luxury hospitality veteran with over 13 years of experience in UAE and UK five-star Forbes hotels, World’s 50 Best Bars, and Michelin-starred restaurants.
“Our partnership, combined with Filip’s, our third co-founder, expertise in UX/UI design, has fuelled our commitment to providing a learning solution that is not only scientifically sound, but also deeply rooted in the practical realities of the hospitality sector.”
