Quality Certifications vs. Real Hotel Quality

There is a certain tendency to confuse a quality certificate with quality itself. They are not the same thing. Moreover, holding a quality certificate does not imply that a hotel provides a quality service. At most, it may indicate that, at a given point in time, when the assessment for obtaining the certificate was carried out, it met the parameters required by it. Let us not be mistaken: quality is not a fixed state; it is a process of constant change, of adapting to guest requirements, as it is the guest who defines quality. This is why quality systems must be flexible, open and adaptable to change and, above all, to the guest. Quality certificates are static medals, one-off awards for work carried out to adapt. Yet a quality certificate on its own is nothing; it needs a serious, firm strategy backed by management. The problem is that quality certificates are more visible and easier to showcase. This means they are used as a promotional tool, which can create the risk that, if we do not have a quality system underpinning them and our service fails to meet the standards expected and promised to the guest, they may have the opposite effect. If we promise quality and fail to deliver it, we will encourage negative publicity. And nowadays, that is easy to spread. That is why, on occasion, rather than focusing on quality certificates, we should think about our online reputation, about a job well done and reflected online. Certificates serve their purpose: they are the grade awarded in an exam. But online reputation changes and evolves with us; it responds to our strategies and actions. It is more credible and a better management tool.