Local and regional businesses will soon be able to get certification for high service and management standards.
A step in that direction was made yesterday when the Caribbean Tourism Organisation (CTO), the Barbados Hotel and Tourism Association (BHTA) and the National Initiative for Service Excellence (NISE) signed a memorandum of understanding at the BHTA’s Belleville, St Michael offices.
They will collaborate in the use of the Hospitality Assured Certificate Programme, a service quality management system promoted by the CTO with funding support from the Organisation of American States and the European Union/PROINVEST programme.
While tourism and hospitality companies could be the primary targets of the programme, it will also help small and medium enterprises in other fields.
CTO’s human resource director Bonita Morgan emphasised it was not a training programme but a certification one.
“The real value of the programme is that it puts in place a service quality framework within the business or company for use, and that service quality framework ensures that the internal operations and working of the business is working in tandem with the business trying to service the external customer,” explained Morgan.
President of the BHTA, Colin Jordan, and chief executive officer of NISE, Kim Tudor, pledged their support for the initiative.“NISE is focused on helping organisations to implement systems that will help them to consistently deliver service excellence,” said Tudor.
There will be ten areas of focus with 49 measurable criteria for companies taking part in the programme in order for them to receive the certification. At the end of every two years the companies will be required to do another certification based on their improvements.Since January, 26 businesses have been involved in the programme which is in its pilot phase in eight Caribbean countries.
