Westgate Resorts modernized its L&D system to be optimized for frontline workers

When Westgate Resorts expanded its portfolio through an acquisition in early 2025, the Orlando-based hospitality company’s learning and development team knew it would need to overhaul its training platform to address compliance and career pathwaying.

The company had assumed management of VI Resorts’ expansive portfolio across dozens of domestic and international destinations, from Mexico to Canada, from Florida to Hawaii. The move nearly tripled its footprint in the industry.

With more properties and employees, Westgate’s learning and development team figured it was the right time to move from paper records to a more robust training program that did more than check the box.

“The decision ultimately came after we wanted to also scale beyond compliance,” Stephanie Ketron, VP of learning and development at Westgate Resorts, said. “We wanted to start building career pathing and some of that beyond compliance. We tried in the system that we had...there were just a lot of limiting capabilities within that system, and it didn’t allow us to create very clear career paths.”

Ketron said the business also knew it needed to leverage more e-learning content in order to scale its L&D and develop career pathways across the company.

Westgate employs more than 8,000 people, 80% of whom are frontline staff. Their training and learning needs look different from staff at a corporate office, so Ketron said she went in search of a platform optimized for those on foot like housekeepers and front desk agents.

The resort chain has been working with Schoox, an AI-powered LMS system designed for frontline workers, with mobile-first training and microlearning courses ideal for workers without a desk, to transform learning across the company.

The before time. For years Ketron said Westgate’s training operations were decentralized, only consolidating in the last decade, with some “decentralized pockets.” Along with the restructuring, the team also built an LMS in-house to meet its compliance and training needs and organize reporting.

“We actually built our own internal learning management system, and so we utilized that for many years,” Ketron said, but added that while the system could be utilized on your phone, it was not optimized for mobile. It also didn’t work well for career-development content.

And even after building an LMS, the company continued to struggle with reporting and tracking.

General managers across the enterprise were pulling reports manually, using up about 16 hours a month of work time, she added.

With Schoox, Ketron said it’s shrunk to just three hours, generally only for custom reports. Most information needed for compliance tracking is available in the Schoox dashboard.

Compliance is just the start. “It’s not always the learning person’s favorite thing to focus on compliance, but in order to keep our company safe, compliance is very important,” Ketron said, pointing to the platform as a solve for their ongoing reporting issues.

Schoox’s compliance dashboard worked for Westgate’s needs right out of the box. The real-time analytics showcase a picture of learning across the entire organization.

One year after implementation, Westgate’s compliance training scores grew from 85% to 95%; course completion hit 91%, which Ketron boasted well exceeds the industry benchmark of 75%.

Westgate also leverages Schoox’s job-training checklist feature, for training across properties. Again, moving from paper checklists to a central learning hub for the entire company.

The team also looked to Schoox because leaders wanted to build more career pathing and learning opportunities in their L&D program, and create resources to help employees understand the training needed to grow their careers.

Ketron said employee feedback praised the new career pathing, pointing to the recently developed engineering career pathway that showcases how engineering talent can move up the ladder, and directs employees to the learning content needed for that trajectory. Ultimately, Westgate is providing team members with opportunities to earn more money and grow with the company by completing those courses, she said. It took a lot of the fog out of the career path.

Westgate is now piloting Schoox’s Learning Impacts Suite to build training and microlearning right inside the system “based on jobs and the specific skill set needed for the job.” Currently, the team uses Articulate for instructional design of courses.

“It has always been clear to us that our team members want this,” Ketron said. “They want training, but again, with only so many human trainers. How else do we deliver this?”