HOSPITALITY ASSURED A CLIENT JOURNEY: ‘FROM IMPLEMENTATION TO ACHIEVEMENT & CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT’

HA - A CLIENT JOURNEY WHAT WE WILL COVER: A.Implementation 1.Why Hospitality Assured? 2.What level to go for? 3.What needed to happen in the organisation – Preparation & Implementation B.Achievement 1.How we did it & what practices & procedures we adopted 2. How we measured our performance C.Continuous Improvement 1.How we improved year on year 2.The importance of ‘Best Practice’ D.What was achieved

HA - A CLIENT JOURNEY Implementation… 1.Why Hospitality Assured? A number of accreditations were looked at… ISO 9002, Investors In People, Star Ratings … but we chose Hospitality Assured for the following reasons Compliant with the European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM)- ‘Excellence Model’ A key criteria of the standard is its focus on the Customer experience & standards of service delivery It emphasises a real requirement to persistently measure levels of Customer satisfaction Thorough, rigorous and not easily achieved Independently assessed It is a ‘Guarantee’ of High Quality Service & Product Delivery Demonstrates a powerful desire to Exceed Customer Expectations It is a product of the Institute – the leading professional industry body

HA - A CLIENT JOURNEY Implementation… 1.Why Hospitality Assured? (Cont.) Ultimately, it had to benefit the organisation… Support the achievement of business objectives Had to reflect the culture of our organisation – Quality Service & Business Excellence Provide a structure for management & teams to focus on & improve quality & service Improve organisational practices & procedures Improve individual & team performance Improve levels of customer satisfaction & loyalty Improve the quality of operation & service delivery Improve sales Allow us to stand out against our competitors

HA - A CLIENT JOURNEY Implementation… 2.What Level? Hospitality Assured Premier – for high fliers and keen bench markers available to those who have had more than three consecutive successful assessments and continue with annual assessments Hospitality Assured Accredited - for those organisations who may have a more complex structure or seasonal cycle which may elongate the change process making biennial assessment more attractive Committed to Hospitality Assured - for the clients with embedded HA practices and confidence in their ability to implement and interpret the impact of change. They will need to be assessed at least once

HA - A CLIENT JOURNEY Implementation… 2.What Level? (Cont.) Well I would always recommend aiming high & consistently striving to drive standards – ’Hospitality Assured Premier’ We consider an annual review imperative to the maintenance & improvement of our standards It has become part of the annual organisational cycle inherent in everything we do It drives continuous improvement

HA - A CLIENT JOURNEY Implementation… 3. What needed to happen? The adoption of HA as a Quality Accreditation Standard has to be a Company or Organisational decision made at Board/Director/Senior Management Level It has to have the ‘Buy-in’ & commitment of everyone in the organisation What it is, what it means, how it will happen and how it will benefit the organisation and its people needs to be communicated effectively throughout the organisation Understanding of this has to be verified

HA - A CLIENT JOURNEY Implementation… 3. What needed to happen? (Cont.) ‘BUY-IN’ ‘THE PEOPLE’ ‘THE PLANS, PRACTICES & PROCEDURES’

HA - A CLIENT JOURNEY Implementation… 3. What needed to happen? (Cont.) The People… The Board (of Directors) Senior Management Heads of Departments Management & Supervisory Teams Staff Effectively & consistently communicated HA has to become part of the organisational culture Someone Senior has to take overall ‘Responsibility’ for HA and put in place the necessary support team Everyone though has to take ‘ownership’ and be ‘accountable’

HA - A CLIENT JOURNEY Implementation… 3. What needed to happen? (Cont.) The Plans, Practices & Procedures… The Business Plan The Operational Plans The Training & Development Plans The Marketing Plan Departmental Plans And of course… ‘In the Budget’

HA - A CLIENT JOURNEY Implementation… 3. What needed to happen? (Cont.) The Plans, Practices & Procedures… Launched HA with Management, Departmental & Team Presentations Delegated HA Representatives in all departments & key areas Moved ‘Standard Operating Procedures’ to ‘Minimum Operating Standards’ incorporating: Best Practice A defined Quality Standard The Customer Experience Created Hospitality Assured Manuals – HAM’s Created KPI ‘HAM’ Folders focusing on Customer Satisfaction Measurements for: Quality of Product & Standard of Service Service Delivery & Service Recovery

HA - A CLIENT JOURNEY B. Achievement… 1. How we did it & what practices & procedures we adopted We firstly created HA Slogans to focus everyone on the objectives for HA…

‘EXCEEDING EXPECTATIONS’

‘THE BEST PEOPLE DELIVER THE BEST SERVICE’

‘FIRST TIME, EVERY TIME’

‘EXCEPTIONAL SERVICE ASSURED’

‘WHO CARES WINS’

HA - A CLIENT JOURNEY B. Achievement… 1. How we did it & what practices we adopted We set-up quarterly Hospitality Assured Workshops for implementation & assessment of key stages & actions We nominated HA Representatives in each Department We made HA awareness part of the Induction Programme for all staff We appointed a ‘Mystery Shopper’ organisation to undertake external audits We set targets for achievement based on the 9 HA criteria

HA - A CLIENT JOURNEY B. Achievement… 1. How we did it & what practices we adopted (Cont.) We reviewed our Customer Service training to incorporate HA We designated Customer Care Champions in each department and trained them to NVQ Customer Service level 2 We put HA & customer service at the top of every departmental agenda We set individual & team targets for HA implementation & achievement

HA - A CLIENT JOURNEY C. Continuous Improvement… 1. How we improved year on year We linked Hospitality Assured KPI Performance to management Bonuses & PRP We awarded prizes for Best Departmental KPI scores for Customer Satisfaction We rewarded Customer Care Champions who came up with the best ideas for service improvement We introduced an on-line Customer Feedback System to consolidate all organisational results & scores We produced GAP Analysis Reports with Key Actions from each annual report that were the basis for year on year improvement

HA - A CLIENT JOURNEY C. Continuous Improvement… 1. How we improved year on year (Cont.) We changed our External Auditors to a better standard incorporating our own MOS’s for Quality & Service We challenged our Training Partners to develop better quality Customer Service programmes for our teams We improved the level and quantity of our Benchmarking Practices to better analyse competition & Best Practice We joined the Best Practice Forum and gained ‘Excellence Through People’ We identified targets for improving our Corporate & Social responsibility e.g. Becoming Springboard Ambassadors; Gaining Inspire accreditation for work placements; we are Hospitality Diploma Champions; were the first hospitality organisation to adopt the UK Skills Passport We ensured Continuous Improvement & Best Practice were fundamental to everything we do

HA - A CLIENT JOURNEY C. Continuous Improvement… 2. The importance of ‘Best Practice’ You have to define your own level of quality relevant to what your organisation can realistically achieve. What is best for others, may not be best for you! That Quality Standard must be laid down in your procedures and understood by the people responsible for delivering it i.e. Ensure quality is inherent in your standards – Minimum Operating Standards’ with ‘built-in’ quality, not just ‘Standard Operating Procedures’! You must seek out Best Practice everywhere you can & keep abreast of what is happening in the industry Learn from your competitors & undertake as many competitor visits as you can. Get your people to complete Competitor Analysis Sheets after visits Join The Best Practice Forum & distribute their newsletters & adopt practices that are appropriate for your business Review your procedures based on improving the quality of service & customer experience Engage your people and encourage them to be the best that they can be!

November Hospitality Assured (British Standard) 70.4% November Hospitality Assured (European Standard for Service & Business Excellence) 65% November 2004 – Hospitality Assured ‘Exceeding Expectations’ 67% January 2006 – Hospitality Assured 70% February 2007 – 73% Highest Club sector score February 2008 – 74.1% February 2009 – 75.4% Highest Hotel sector score February 2010 – 76.1% March 2011 – 76.4% ‘Recognition of Excellence’ HA - A CLIENT JOURNEY D. What was achieved…

Customer Satisfaction Levels have risen from 78% to 99% for ‘Meeting Expectations’ Customer Satisfaction Levels for ‘Exceeding Expectations’ rose from nothing to 67% Overall turnover has gone up from £3.7m to over £6m Corporate events business has increased 400% Club restaurant and bars turn-over has grown from £470k to £1.1M £178k in-house catering subsidy turned into a £100k surplus Hotel room occupancy has increased from 64% to 94% Hotel sales have nearly doubled Club has been able to fund Capital projects in excess of £10m Club Membership has grown from to HA - A CLIENT JOURNEY D. What was achieved… From the time Hospitality Assured was first introduced…

HA - A CLIENT JOURNEY D. What was achieved… Hospitality Assured – The European Standard for Business & Service Excellence has been held for 9 years At various times, we have held the highest Club, Charity & Hotel Sector Scores We won a Business Excellence Award in 2004 We won a Business Achievement Award in 2005 We were voted ‘Services Club of the Year’ in 2004 & 2005 We were the first venue in London to achieve GOLD accreditation for ‘Accredited In Meetings’ through the Meetings industry Association We are recognised as an ‘Employer of Excellence’ by Peninsula We won ‘Best Places To Work In Hospitality’ in 2006, 2008 & again in 2009 including ‘Best Retention & Talent Management’ We are members of the Best Practice Forum & hold the ‘Excellence Through People’ Award We are a ‘Centre for Training Excellence’ Since 2008, we have held the Governments ‘Good Employer’ Award through the UK Hospitality Skills Sector Council