- Objective: born out of a desire to offer better services to tourists, the Colombian government decided to put in place a Quality Standard Programme for hotels and restaurants.
- Approach: to implement Cotecna’s Tourist Quality Audit Service for Hotels and Restaurants in the tourism industry, Colombia. To offer evaluation, training and certification through Cotecna’s dedicated Certification Service.
- Results: companies commit to ‘quality, service and continuous improvement’. Tourists will have a better idea of what to expect when reserving a hotel or restaurant in Colombia.
Background
The Cotecna Tourist Quality Audit allows hotels and restaurants to demonstrate their commitment to quality, customer service and continuous improvement.
Audits to hotels and restaurants take into consideration the different types of tourism they serve, following evaluation criteria that encompass the relevant Sectoral Technical Standards. This evaluation includes aspects such as biophysical surroundings, socio-economical background, infrastructure and clients; all of which enables us to analyze the impact of the operation within society and in the biophysical environment.
The certification is valid for three years, during which time inspections and audits are performed to evaluate the service and the capabilities of those who provide the service and operate the hotel and the restaurants, both which are crucial for the development of national tourism.
Colombian Government establishes standards
The Colombian Government has established a complete set of standards for the tourism sector which allows us to evaluate the performance of these entities as service providers of different types of tourism (cultural, rural, agro-tourism, ecotourism and residential tourism) under the Sectorial Technical Standards quality criteria (known as ‘NTS’ in Spanish).
To clients in the Hotel and Restaurant sector, Cotecna offers a Quality Certification Service under the Sectorial Technical Standards NTSH 006 and NTS-USNA 007, respectively. This Certification Service covers the following stages:
- Initial inspection
- Certification (when the business fulfills all the requirements as stated in the evaluation standard)
- Control Audit (first year)
- Follow-up Audit (second year)
- Audit & Re-certification (third year)
At the end of this period, if the client continues to comply with the standards, the certificate is renewed.
Cotecna also offers a training service to hotels and restaurant owners to familiarize them with the requirements, scope and compliance of the new regulations.
Bogotá – Oficina Principal Calle 114 Nº 9-01 Torre A, Oficina 809 Edificio Teleport Business Park PBX: (57-1) 629 1879 – Fax: (57-1) 629 1882 Línea de atención al Cliente – 01-8000-91 2356
Email: [Reveal email address]
www.cotecna.com.co