The Virginia Restaurant, Lodging & Travel Association (VRLTA) is pleased to offer free training courses to restaurant and hotel/lodging employees to help you grow in your career and expand your opportunities in the hospitality industry. The training is made available through grant funds from GO Virginia Region 4, Chesterfield County, Hanover County, Henrico County, and the City of Richmond. The program is administered through VRLTA. See the press release about the grant here, and keep reading to learn more about this program.
The free courses are available to people who live OR work in the following locations in Virginia: cities of Colonial Heights, Emporia, Hopewell, Petersburg, and Richmond; and the counties of Charles City, Chesterfield, Dinwiddie, Goochland, Greensville, Hanover, Henrico, New Kent, Powhatan, Prince George, Surry, and Sussex. To see a list of specific zip codes, click here.
The classes can be taken by anyone currently working in a hospitality job or anyone who is interested in working in hospitality.
You can be currently working or not employed.
You must be aged 16 or older.
In the future, VRLTA may add more areas that qualify for free training. If you don't currently qualify, you can visit www.servsafe.com, www.servsuccess.com, or www.ahlei.org to learn more about training courses you can purchase.
What classes are available?
The courses are provided by the National Restaurant Association’s ServSafe and ServSuccess programs (for restaurant training) and the American Hotel & Lodging Educational Institute (for hotel training). These organizations are recognized by the industry as top providers of hospitality training.
Each person taking training must complete at least one short training course (10-15 minutes) related to COVID-19.
Available classes are tailored to the needs of various positions and are available for managers, supervisors, and jobs that are not managerial or supervisory.
All classes are ONLINE.
The following classes are available to RESTAURANT employees. All classes are available in English and Spanish except where noted.
ServSafe COVID Training (all employees) – You MUST complete at least one of the COVID training modules (10-15 minutes each) – Learn more here
ServSafe Allergens Training (all employees) – Learn more here
ServSafe Food Protection Manager (all employees) – Learn more here
ServSafe Sexual Harassment Prevention (Manager or Employee Module, all employees) – Learn more here
ServSafe Understanding Unconscious Bias (Manager or Employee Module, all employees)– Learn more here
ServSafe Food Handler (for Other Employees)– Learn more here
The following classes are available to LODGING employees. All classes are available in English and Spanish except where noted.
AHLA Safe Stay COVID Training (all employees) – You MUST complete the COVID training module (10-15 minutes) - Learn more here
Guest Service Gold (all employees, three different modules) – Learn more here
Guest Service Gold: Making Connections
Guest Service Gold: Golden Opportunities
Guest Service Gold: Tourism
Understanding Unconscious Bias (Manager or Employee Module, all employees) – Learn more here
Sexual Harassment Prevention in Hospitality (Manager or Employee Module, all employees) – Learn more here
Certified Hotel Administrator (for Managers, English only) – Learn more here – Please note, to take this course, you must have been employed for at least two years (and currently employed) as a General manager, owner/operator in a lodging hospitality company, or corporate executive (an individual, employed by a firm responsible for the operation of two or more properties, who serves as a regional or corporate director of operations, or has ultimate corporate responsibility for rooms, marketing, finance, food and beverage, revenue management, human resources or engineering) at a lodging hospitality company responsible for the operation of two or more properties OR Assistant general manager or director of operations/rooms division (after successfully completing the CRDE certification)
Certification in Hotel Industry Analytics (for Managers, English only) – Learn more here
Hospitality Manager: Leadership (for Managers, English only) – Learn more here
Supervisory Skill Builders (for Managers or Supervisors, English only) – Learn more here
Certified Hospitality Supervisor (for Managers or Supervisors, English only) – Learn more here. Note: you must have current employment in a supervisory position at a hospitality-related business for a minimum of 90 days.
Line Level Certification Programs
Certified Front Desk Representative (all employees) – Learn more here
Certified Restaurant Server (all employees) – Learn more here
If you are registering as an individual, you will be asked information about yourself and what type of training you are seeking. You will be able to request specific courses at this time.
Once you submit your information, you will receive an email within 3 business days with information on how to access the training as well as digital codes to download the courses you requested.
You'll have 60 days to complete each course. You'll receive digital certificates for courses that you complete.
You can register as a business:
If you work for a restaurant or hotel and want to have employees take part in the free training, you can sign up as many as 10 employees at one time.
You'll be asked for information about your business as well as the employees' names and email addresses.
VRLTA will contact employees via email and direct them to sign up using the registration website as described above.
Please discuss with your employees what courses you wish them to sign up for.
How many courses can I sign up for?
Each type of job is offered courses that are relevant to that job; each training package includes about 10 options for courses. You can sign up for as many courses as you like, but please select only as many as you will be able to complete within 60 days. After 60 days, the digital codes will no longer be valid.
