G4S is working hard to keep tourism standard high Add this

In 2005 G4S were selected by VisitEngland, the country’s national tourist board, to provide the administration and assessment services for the National Quality Assessment Scheme. Our relationship has now developed and we now provide an array of services including participation administration, helpdesk support and scheme marketing. These activities combined deliver value and provide real benefit to the tourism trade in England.

The Journey

On commencement of the contract on 1 April 2005, there were approximately 19,000 scheme members participating in nine schemes. The contract date marked the start of the scheme’s 2005/06 membership year. Our first challenge therefore was to renew all the scheme members’ participation within six weeks.

Gary Swarbrooke, Director of Operations recalls “A major challenge was the integration of nine individual databases which held the records of all the participants, all this information needed to be cleansed to ensure it was accurate.” To achieve this a bespoke database system was created called 'QiT Office’. The system was designed to not only hold property and assessment data, but also to automate several processes, which were previously conducted manually. With the implementation of our automated systems we identified and processed a large backlog of unprocessed applications, within a very short period of time. This action ensured participation for the year, thereby also guaranteeing VisitEngland’s revenues and cashflow.

Another huge operational challenge was to integrate and align the assessment team with G4S’s values and visions. Gary comments "The TUPE transferring of 60 staff into our culture was successful and during this we continued to assess properties and provide an excellent service to our customers.” We now process over 12,000 renewals within a four week (between January and February), with a further 6,000 processed throughout the year. The assessment team now conducts an average of 2,000 visits a month plus additional speciality assessments.

Another high priority was to also re-communicate messages to regional contacts, as coincidentally with our appointment, VisitEngland had launched common accommodation standards throughout the country. Shane Blackwell, our Industry Relations Manager was tasked with the job of hosting communication workshops; he comments: “The challenges were daunting to say the least. We had to communicate changes to participants consistently and in as short a timeframe as possible, which meant we travelled the length and breadth of the country conveying the message.”

During the presentations Shane was also responsible for engaging with industry contacts to communicate best practice and begin forming close relationships, “Building new relationships with Regional Tourist Boards, Tourist Information Centres and Destination Partnerships was no mean feat, but through positive communications and sharp delivery we built excellent working relationships, developing what I call our extended sales force.” Following feedback at the workshops we developed a unique web portal to enable contacts to verify ratings within their region. This helped the tourism 'supply chain' manage their processes and eventually became part of their quality assurance procedures allowing instant access to real time data in the regions.

A specialised marketing team was formed to produce collateral to publicise and promote the schemes to potential new members, while continuing to promote the benefits of participation to existing members. Karen Young, Contract Manager comments “Following the various changes, we identified that participants needed clear communication and accurate information. In response, we created a QiT branded website to provide a one stop shop for scheme information. Both potential and existing participants can now access the information, check that they comply with and request copies of the standards, download application forms, request application packs, calculate fees and contact us with feedback. We also have a page which provides hyperlinks to other useful websites and new participants can also apply to join the scheme via the website. ”

A dedicated office-based team was also formed to conduct administrative functions and provide a dedicated helpdesk service. The team provides a seamless approach, which links many industry contacts to ensure the same messages are communicated throughout. The challenges for the first year required real commitment and determination from the whole team. Richard Haines, one of the original members of the helpdesk team remembers: “When we started work on the contract we inevitably faced several challenges. However we quickly adapted to the situation and came together to form a strong team supported closely by our IT department, who quickly provided us with a fantastic database which helped us manage calls, processes and payments”.

The outstanding customer service delivered by the whole QiT team has played a major part in the continued growth of participation in the schemes. The total number of schemes has now grown to 11 and scheme participation has increased by 30% to 24,600 estimated members in 2010.

As such, the systems have been enhanced and now surpass VisitEngland’s original expectations. The database now encompasses a CRM system, complaint management, and marketing system and has automated the production of assessment reports, now available on-line. Over 80% of participants now receive their reports and grading on-line.

Karen Young comments: “Our system allows us to provide the most accurate and efficient service to both potential participants and existing scheme members who contact us with queries or requests for guidance, while also providing detailed reporting and other management information to VisitEngland and our other stakeholders.”

The office team continues to provide strong support to the members, regional contacts and the assessment team. On average the team answers 3,000 calls a month.

The assessors have also helped improve standards, raising awareness via appearances in a number of television programmes. Year on year, they have significantly increased the number of assessments conducted and have increased the quality of the consumer offering, with a 7% overall improvement in the quality grading across all 25,000 assessed properties. One participant remarks “Everything was managed with great professionalism - and refreshing friendliness and your accreditations are already helping with both our marketing and sales.”

We have developed an enviable reputation in the tourism sector, and now also provide accommodation assessments to Jersey Tourism, Guernsey Chamber of Commerce and the Isle of Man Government. The systems and strong quality ethos has enabled the team to become a source of knowledge and capabilities to a variety of stakeholders. We have worked with VisitEngland on the development of new Standards in areas as diverse as walking and cycling, food, spas, serviced apartments and green tourism.

Heather Lishman, the dedicated Key Account Manager, joined Quality in Tourism in 2007 to increase corporate membership. Heather has worked closely with many high-profile accounts to boost the participation of corporate accounts, increasing sales by a third. Heather comments “we offer real business benefit to organisation’s by providing them with detailed constructive feedback from an objective hospitality professional. This detailed information can really help organisations to make corporate decisions on the focus of their offering. Our assessment also opens-up promotional opportunities which they could not achieve independently, by working with VisitEngland and the relevant regional tourism organisations. Overall our service offers non-judgemental evaluation, benchmarking and gap analysis. By implementing recommendations a business can improve its service delivery and so increase the likelihood of achieving its business goals.”

Therefore in 2009, at a time when the recession had hit most businesses, VisitEngland saw scheme participation rise, demonstrating the value of a strong quality brand as a competitive advantage. Jeremy Brinkworth, Head of Industry Services at VisitEngland, remarks both organisations “work in partnership” and comments “we have a constantly changing environment within our political landscape and we have found that QiT are very willing to take on emerging agendas and create opportunities from these.”

We continue to look for improvement: in the last year we have introduced direct debit payments and have worked with local agencies on voucher payment initiatives. Our commitment for 2010 is to work towards a real e-commerce solution.

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