QUALITY MANAGEMENT OF TOURISM | 💜

Summary

This presentation discusses quality management in tourism, focusing on overseeing tasks to maintain excellence. It covers key concepts such as quality policy, planning, assurance, and improvement. The hospitality industry blends tangible products (food, rooms) with intangible service quality (staff attitude). Differentiating through superior service is essential in a competitive market. Challenges like customer demands, competition, and economic factors impact the industry. Performance excellence is highlighted through examples of successful hospitality practices and awards. Quality audits and customer feedback play a critical role in ensuring continuous improvement.

Takeaways

• 😊 Quality management involves overseeing tasks and activities to maintain a desired level of excellence, including planning, control, and improvement.
• 🏨 Hospitality quality includes both tangible products, like food and hotel rooms, and intangible aspects, like service quality and how guests are made to feel.
• 📊 Performance excellence in hospitality integrates performance management to improve customer value, organizational effectiveness, and sustainability.
• 🤝 Competition in hospitality can be price-related (e.g., offering packages) or non-price-related (e.g., enhancing quality, superior location, or customer service).
• 💼 Quality management in hospitality faces challenges like customer demand, employee training, multinational competition, and economic recession.
• 🌍 Political, social, and environmental factors, such as regulations, taxes, and cultural preservation, significantly influence the hospitality and tourism sectors.
• 🌟 Non-price competition methods include unique selling points, after-sales service, and strategic partnerships to enhance customer loyalty and differentiation.
• 📈 Quality audits are essential to maintaining consistent quality, with gaps identified in positioning, delivery, communication, and perception.
• 🔍 Guest service surveys and feedback, like those used by Premier Inn, help improve service quality and increase customer satisfaction.
• 🏆 Examples of performance excellence include the Ritz-Carlton Hotel's quality management program and award-winning approaches in leadership, customer focus, and strategic planning.

Q & A

What is quality management in the context of tourism?

Quality management in tourism involves overseeing activities and tasks to maintain a high level of excellence, including setting quality policies, planning, assurance, control, and continuous improvement. It focuses on both long-term goals and short-term initiatives.

What are the five types of perceived quality mentioned in hospitality?

The five types of perceived quality in hospitality are tangible (physical aspects), reliability (trustworthiness and consistent performance), responsiveness (quick reactions), assurance (promises that inspire confidence), and empathy (understanding and being aware of customer needs).

How does hospitality balance tangible and intangible aspects?

Hospitality blends tangible aspects, such as physical products like hotel rooms and food, with intangible aspects, such as staff qualities and the way services are delivered. The intangible aspects often play a larger role in creating a memorable experience for customers.

Why is great service important in the hospitality industry?

Great service is important because it helps differentiate a business from competitors, builds strong customer relationships, enhances employee performance, and drives financial benefits. Providing 'good' service is often not enough for lasting success in this competitive industry.

What are some non-price competition methods in hospitality?

Non-price competition methods in hospitality include offering high-quality products, creating strategic partnerships, leveraging loyalty programs, exploring new market segments, and improving after-sales service, rather than competing solely on price.

What are the key challenges in the hospitality sector?

Key challenges in the hospitality sector include dealing with increasingly sophisticated and demanding customers, training employees effectively, competing with multinational companies, and adapting to economic downturns.

How do external factors like politics and the economy impact hospitality?

Politics influence hospitality through regulations, commerce laws, and taxation policies, while the economy impacts the sector through factors like recession, which can affect customer spending, job creation, and overall business growth.

What is the role of quality audits in hospitality?

Quality audits are systematic and independent examinations to ensure that quality activities comply with planned standards and that these standards are effective in achieving objectives. They help maintain consistency and improvement within hospitality services.

How does customer feedback influence quality improvement in hospitality?

Customer feedback, often collected through surveys, helps businesses like Premier Inn monitor the success of their initiatives. For example, guest surveys improved breakfast service ratings by 16.8%, showing how feedback can directly influence service improvements.

What is the significance of 'performance excellence' in hospitality?

Performance excellence is an integrated approach to managing an organization's performance, aiming to improve value for customers and stakeholders, drive sustainability, and foster personal and organizational learning. It involves leadership, strategic planning, and customer focus.