UAE-based smart and green facilities management (FM) company Farnek has opened a new hospitality training centre at Farnek Village in Jebel Ali, Dubai.

Farnek’s new ‘Hospitality Academy’ sets a new benchmark for hospitality-focused service training across the region, with the added benefit of technology integration, by bringing together hospitality operations, AI-driven performance assessment, robotics and sustainable technologies.

Hotel partners will now be able to experience, at first hand, how Farnek prepares, upskills and certifies its hospitality workforce at scale.

Julian Khalil, Managing Director of Farnek, said: “The Farnek Hospitality Academy, represents the future of hospitality workforce training — immersive, digital, intelligent, and built around real hotel environments. Our partners can now see in one facility how our teams are trained, monitored and certified to deliver consistent five-star standards at scale.”

The academy encompasses dedicated zones, which replicate real hotel operations, allowing trainees to work in specific hotel environments identical to the properties that they will serve in.

Primary facilities include a full hotel suite with bathroom, which has over 100 AI-verified checkpoints, aligned with international standards.

Housekeepers practice cleaning, bed-making, turn-down, linen-handling, amenities, detailing and guest experience preparation, such as room layouts and to build high volume training capacity, the academy has four additional specialised rooms with extra beds of different sizes.

“With over ten beds, a full suite, and AI performance scoring, we can train large numbers of attendants quickly and accurately, while ensuring every room standard is met,” added Salomé Joubert, Head of Soft Services, at Farnek.

The academy introduces a market-first, AI-powered hospitality training and assessment programme. Using AI-assisted smart glasses, trainees are assessed live while cleaning a full guest room, with pre-defined checkpoints automatically verifying every task, cleaning standard, and workflow in real time.

Beyond cleaning accuracy, the system intelligently confirms room setup and amenity counts — instantly identifying missing or removed items such as bathrobes or amenities — ensuring full room integrity and owner transparency.

Each session measures time, precision, and completeness, generating a digital scorecard that benchmarks performance objectively. Only trainees who meet Farnek’s minimum quality thresholds successfully graduate, setting a new standard for consistency, accountability, and hospitality excellence.

The academy has a dedicated technology area which showcases Farnek’s Hybrid Cleaning Unit (FHU) the company’s signature model that combines robots and humans into an integrated team.

Hotel clients can watch live demonstrations of how robots can be deployed in guest corridors, BOH areas and other large open spaces areas such as ballrooms.

Farnek group company HITEK AI, powers the centre’s full digital ecosystem, including Housekeeping+ for room status and digital supervision, FlexiGuest which provides guest check-in and service oversight and CAFMTEK which delivers comprehensive FM digitalisation.

“Together, these systems enable end-to-end visibility of operations, workforce performance, and service efficiency, which are critical for high-standard hospitality contracts. By combining HITEK, robotics, and sustainability, we are not only improving housekeeping quality, but we are also transforming the operational model of hotels,” said Javeria Aijaz, the Managing Director of HITEK AI.

The sustainability zone at the academy provides ESG solutions which are tailored for hotels. The area demonstrates Farnek’s full hotel-focused ESG suite of products such as POWERTEK (energy analysis and optimisation), CARBONTEK (carbon footprint monitoring), WASTETEK (waste management) and Hotel Optimizer, which is designed for hospitality efficiency.

“The sustainability zone supports hotels looking to strengthen their environmental credentials and reduce operating costs in line with UAE Vision 2031 and global ESG commitments,” added Farnek’s Director of Sustainability and Consultancy, Muna Al Nahdi.

The centre also has a dedicated kitchen and stewarding area which allows practical training in BOH workflows, washing and specialised cleaning, hygiene compliance, managing food waste and recycling systems.

At present, Farnek deploys over 700 staff, servicing multiple hospitality contracts worth more than AED 80 million, covering premier hotel brands that include Kempinski, Sofitel, JW Marriott, Millennium, Emaar, Grand Hyatt, and Atlantis Dubai.  

“The academy will ensure that Farnek continues to deploy highly trained, tech enabled hospitality teams, throughout the UAE for various disciplines within the hospitality sector, offering a competent and cost-efficient model,” added Khalil. -TradeArabia News Service