Hotel Quality Management: The EFQM Excellence Model

A hotel’s existence depends on its guests. Meeting their needs must be its primary purpose. This can only be achieved by pursuing excellence in everything it does, and excellence is achieved by managing Quality. A major challenge in today’s hotel industry is how to manage the range of distributed activities that collectively make up the quality function. The quality function is the complex set of activities through which fitness for use is achieved, regardless of where these activities are carried out, and which is attained through a Quality Management System. The philosophy of quality management is essentially defined not by focusing solely on product and/or service quality, but by encompassing all the activities undertaken by the company—what is known as Total Quality Management. Hotels have been compelled to develop and manage quality through continuous improvement centred on the guest. To do so, each hotel selects the management system best suited to its characteristics and objectives, drawing on the wide variety of standards, tools, approaches, models and codes that translate this quality mindset and philosophy into practical, applicable actions. The use of total quality management tools gives us a real opportunity to increase efficiency and effectiveness, reduce costs and achieve greater satisfaction among guests, employees, other organisations and society at large, gaining competitive advantages and adding value—all aimed at improving organisational results and thereby achieving high levels of performance and returns. The European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM) was founded in 1988. It has assumed a key role in increasing the effectiveness and efficiency of European organisations, strengthening Quality in every aspect of their activities, while encouraging and supporting the development of Quality improvement. From the outset, the EFQM has been guided by the vision of helping to create strong European organisations that apply the principles of total quality management in their business processes and in their relationships with employees, customers, shareholders and the communities in which they operate. The EFQM model was launched in 1991 under the name Business Excellence Model, as a framework for organisational self-assessment and as the basis for judging entrants for the European Quality Award. In April 1999, a new version was announced, incorporating a series of adjustments to its framework and referred to simply as the Excellence Model, based on the following premise:

“customer satisfaction, employee satisfaction and a positive impact on society are achieved through leadership in policy and strategy, sound people management, the efficient use of resources and an appropriate definition of processes, ultimately leading to excellence in business results”

This TQM (Total Quality Management) model is founded on the principles of defining quality as exceeding customer expectations, regarding as customers all those with whom we interact directly or indirectly, making continuous improvement a way of life, and developing a quantitative culture for planning, control and improvement. The model is structured around the ongoing self-assessment of an organisation’s activities and results, which are compared against a business excellence model. This enables us to identify key strengths and weaknesses, as well as areas for improvement, so that we can prepare and equip ourselves for decision-making and continuous, comprehensive improvement. The enablers show us the organisation’s position in achieving its desired objectives and results. Through them, we can determine the extent of management’s involvement in quality management; the commitment and capability of leaders; the definition and prioritisation of objectives; the assessment of capabilities; the encouragement of innovation and learning for quality improvement; and the concern for, analysis and assessment of efficiency, sustainability, processes and so on. The EFQM Excellence Model is a continuously applicable model in which nine criteria are broken down into subcriteria, which may be used individually or together. The subcriteria are assessed and enable us to determine the organisation’s status and/or progress towards excellence. The model is a quality management tool that helps orient the organisation towards the customer, securing the participation and awareness of all staff and the management team throughout the process in order to improve its products and/or services. The EFQM Model is a flexible system that can be adapted to the circumstances and characteristics of different types of organisations. It is broad and thorough in its analysis and assessment of the performance of the entire organisation, making it possible to compare it with other organisations and evaluate excellence in organisational performance through the combined work of people, resources, processes and partnerships, together with leadership that directs and drives policy and strategy. In the hotel industry, there is a directly proportional relationship between service quality and customer satisfaction, purchase intention and subsequent recommendation, regardless of the specific characteristics of service quality, thereby justifying the need to establish quality policies in hotels. Over the past decade, hotels have attempted to assess customer-oriented quality primarily in two ways: through service quality and through quality management. Those who analyse aspects related to quality management assess the implementation of quality certification, such as ISO; the validity of the EFQM model in hospitality; or total quality management, without evaluating any specific model. Those who measure service quality using the SERVQUAL model primarily aim to assess service quality and determine which service attributes affect the perceptions and expectations of hotel guests. The main technique for obtaining data is the use of a survey, usually adapted from the original model, and the results identify the attributes that determine service quality in hospitality establishments, whether from the guest’s perspective or that of the property’s management or employees. In summary, the EFQM Excellence Model has all the attributes required to become a benchmark for assessing quality management in hospitality. However, in our view, it is never sufficient to assess overall quality in a hotel and could be supported by a service quality measurement model such as SERVQUAL, or any other model or models, that provide us with a closer approximation to the truth. In any case, the European model could serve as a basis for designing and developing a comprehensive quality model for the hotel sector.