Quality Is Defined by the Guest

Whenever I go to a hotel, I ask myself the same question: do hoteliers know what guests understand by quality? If we go by experience, the answer is no. It does not seem that we focus hotel service on the guest, but rather on profit. Of course, one could ask a guest what they prefer: excellent service or outstanding facilities. Obviously, they would answer both, but hoteliers seem to have assumed that the answer will lean towards facilities. I believe that is a mistake. Naturally, guests will expect a minimum standard of facilities, but beyond that, my perception is that they will place greater importance on service—and not just any service, but the service they consider to be of quality. The distinction is important because, as we have said before, quality is defined by the guest, which means that one guest’s idea of quality will not be the same as another’s, nor will the service they want be the same. Of course, this entails the difficulty of knowing what the guest wants, how we can reach them and listen to them, but we already have Web 2.0 tools for that. Once we know what the guest is looking for, we must recognise that efficiency in managing this quality will only be possible if we give employees the freedom to respond to guests. So why do hoteliers not improve human resources management in that direction? Because it would mean a change in corporate culture. It would mean moving from a centralised system to a decentralised one; it would mean relinquishing part of the power. And that is very difficult. We always hear that Spain has one of the best hotel stocks in Europe, followed by the usual qualifier: “especially in urban hotels”. I agree. But perhaps that statement, which appears to reflect a strength, should make us consider the weaknesses it conceals. On the one hand, it makes no mention of service, the true essence of tourism. It is overlooked, as though the first assertion were enough to position us as a major force and justify that status. On the other hand, it is made clear that the discussion is mainly about urban hotels. In a country where tourism is primarily based on sun and beach, this should give us pause for thought. We are weak because we do not look after our human resources or our service, and we are weak because sun-and-beach hotels pursue short-term profit and reinvest little in themselves. We are not a leading force in management, let alone in business intelligence.