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Systems
Managing Quality
C G Prasad lists the desired features in good quality
management techniques for hotels.
 The
hospitality industry is responsible for providing a variety of services to customers
at all times. In the present tech-savvy era, the industry is slowly becoming
computerised, thus ensuring better efficiency while delivering goods and services
to its guests.
It would be very interesting if one could track how long a housekeeper took
to attend to a complaint/request in a guest room, or how long the maintenance
staff takes to replace a light bulb in guest rooms, etc. Many leading software
vendors have tried to develop a variety of software for hotels to measure the
quality of services rendered in a hotel. But so far it seems that none of them
are able to produce a better Quality Management System (QMS) in the market,
or they might have the perfect solutions but are unable to market it to the
end-users.
Defining Quality Management Systems
A good quality management system should be able to track work requests, and
ensure efficiency of execution of these requests by preparing maintenance schedules.
The system should allow the user to define and create tasks in advance and allocate
them automatically to the next available staff.
Once the task is completed, the concerned staff should key in the relevant details
and the system is updated. If implemented correctly in a hotel, the system will
help ensure a high level of service standards.
How It Works
When a task is created at a particular location, the embedded business logic
of the software allocates the task to the next available staff. Once the staff
accepts the task, it will be logged in the system. As the person completes the
task he notifies the same to the system.
A log of regular updates of allocation, acceptance and completion of tasks could
be obtained through various means like printouts, pagers, mobiles, etc. Through
various results and reports, the system helps to analyse the efficiency of the
workforce. It will also help improve areas where more attention needs to be
given to the completion of work. The system also maintains a history of tasks
executed, which helps out the management in various ways like lost and found,
task disputes, etc.
Many quality management systems also allow planning of preventive maintenance
in the hotel. This also helps the property to plan its workforce in an ideal
manner so that work is allocated evenly.
Choosing A QMS
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The right technology does
not come cheap and it is not enough to simply install software. It is
also necessary
for staff to be trained properly
to use this sophisticated technology
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There are various aspects one should check before selecting
QMS software. Firstly, hoteliers need to research the software and speak with
other properties that have installed the software and check on details like
maintenance problems, after sales service, etc. Being perfect for one property
does not make it perfect for other properties. To ensure that the software is
useful for your hotel, the following things are important:
The business logic behind the software should be easily customisable as per
the need of the customer. For example, the business logic should accommodate
issues like, when allocating a particular task, if the staff allocated does
not accept the task in a pre-determined time, to whom should the notification
go, how long should it wait, and what next measure should be undertaken to make
sure that the task is completed efficiently?
The cost involves installation and maintenance. Some kinds of software are less
expensive to install but costly to maintain, and vice-versa. Proper budgeting
should be done before opting for a particular type of software else it might
simply be a waste of money. Some software lets you use a private paging system
for allocation/intimation of task to the staff, but some include the facility
to use SMS via mobile phones for the same. Private paging systems are costly
with respect to installation but the working cost is minimal. The SMS option
will have a higher working cost (if it is chargeable by the service provider).
One should make sure that the QMS is able to interface with your existing Property
Management System (PMS). This will help you to plan the availability of rooms,
maintenance schedules, spring-cleaning, etc, in a professional manner. The spring
cleaning of rooms could be planned during the time when the room is not booked
and there are no reservations pending for the room. The system does this automatically
and allows a seamless interface so that the PMS system will provide correct
availability of rooms, at the same time that ensuring the QMS will be able to
use the vacant rooms for cleaning/maintenance purposes.
The most important aspect to check before selecting the software is availability
of local support. Also, like all other software, it is important in the case
of QMS as well to keep a tab on vendors/developers who may install underlying
codes and back doors into the software, putting hotel information as well as
the guest's privacy at considerable risk.
Finally, the right technology does not come cheap and it is not enough to simply
install software. It is also necessary for staff to be trained properly to use
this sophisticated technology.
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