Revitalizing the hospitality tradeQuality control in hotel industry [Archives:2003/639/Education]

Lakshmi Devi P. K.
International Studies Academy, Yemen
[email protected]

Hotels are supposed to provide homely comfort to its customers. This makes their proper management all the more crucial if they are to maintain their halo of good name. Creating the right impression is highly essential in the hospitality industry. This is what is broadly implied by the term 'quality control'.
The decisions pertaining to quality control vests in the hands of the management, not in the quality control department alone. Phil Crosby in his latest book “Quality Is Still Free” (1996), rightly asserts that poor quality costs a company in a mammoth way. In turn, if it maintains the consistency of quality, it invariably leads to profit improvement.
This makes it extremely important to understand the concept “Quality”. Quality is not something in common producers do to consumers. It is a result of the producer's creation of a product and the customer's experience with the product.
With the choice of a product, each consumer begins a sequence of experiences over a span of time. These experiences generate a range of responses, such as emotional satisfaction, delight, anger, or dismay, which in turn influence future choices. Attention to the above can help producers create mutual beneficial relationships with their customers. These relationships are the true foundations of quality.
Hence the challenges to attain and sustain quality in the hospitality industry should be faced with passion and professionalism. The main problems faced by the hotel industry in Yemen are the following:
– Shortage of trained and experienced manpower
– Lack of tourism infrastructure and perceived lack of security.
– Lack of proper standards, Classification of Hotels, Travel agents, and a sound sense of professionalism.
– Huge capital input for running the trade – i.e. high cost of imports and taxation.

Commitment to Total Quality Management with flawless, goal oriented service strategies is privy to an orchestrated growth of the industry and is an entry credential to play the competitive game in hospitality.
It is a happy augury that the hospitality trade in Sana'a has accorded a top priority to maintenance of quality as a prelude to a steady and sustainable growth.

(Based on an interaction with Mr. Rohit Khosla, General Manager of Taj Sheba Hotel, Sana'a)

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