The importance of ISO certification for hospitality businesses comes into play as you start looking for hotels and other things for your upcoming trip. One of the fastest-growing industries worldwide, the hospitality industry consists of travel agencies, restaurants, tourist attractions, hotels, and so on.
How can you be sure that they’re providing quality services? Or if you think about it from their point of view, how do they compete in such a cutthroat industry? By providing quality services. ISO certifications help them achieve this goal.
Also referred to as the tourism businesses, the significance of ISO for the hospitality industry is, therefore, tremendous. To help you understand this better, in this article, we’ll cover:
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What is ISO for Hospitality Industry?
Known globally as the quality management standard, ISO for Hospitality is adopted by businesses all over the world so that they can provide quality services to customers. And while it is used by all the different divisions of a business, it’s more important for some than it is for others.
What ISO certification does is that it ensures that all guidelines listed by a quality management system are followed so that it enhances a business’s ability to consistently deliver care that meets the customer’s expectations.
Further, it also helps attain legal compliance requirements, along with other tourism-related regulations easily. Therefore, you’ll be able to offer premium quality services while meeting both – customers’ requirements and regulatory requirements.
Challenges Faced by Hospitality Industry
This was one of the hardest-hit industries during the pandemic. Owing to the endless restrictions placed on traveling, hotels, and other such things, all the businesses of the industry were adversely affected.
Even though the world has emerged victorious from the battle with COVID-19, the heavy losses this industry incurred during that period will take a long time to recover.
Here are the challenges the hospitality industry deals with:
Sustainable Practices
Whenever we travel to new places, our number one aim is to always explore the most exotic places in different corners of the world. It then becomes imperative for both – tourists and businesses – to do everything in their power to protect our natural sites, flora and fauna, wildlife, heritage, and culture.
Also, responsible tourists always gravitate towards businesses that are dutifully doing their bit to advocate eco-friendly and sustainable practices.
Privacy and Security Issues
Another major concern associated with traveling is safety. The smallest mishap can turn a whole fun trip sour in no time, which is why travel companies are very particular about the security of their guests so that they can enjoy a stress-free trip.
By extension, hotels, transportation companies, guides, and so on, also have to work on ensuring that no customer information is misused. Privacy and security issues are two vital pillars that every hospitality business needs to fortify if they want to last in the long run.
Usage of New Technologies
Since this is a global industry, it needs to stay on par with the latest technologies that are being adopted by different parts of the world. This includes online bookings, payments, mobile app facilities, and so on. Not to forget, hotels also need to be equipped with good Wi-Fi connections, smart appliances, etc. so that the customers aren’t inconvenienced.
Different ISO Certifications for Hospitality Business
If you’re someone from this industry and want to see your business grow, consider getting these ISO certifications for the hospitality industry:
ISO 9001 Certification (Quality Management System)
This is a world-renowned standard that has laid down clear directives for Quality Management Systems across all industries. It offers an effective risk assurance based Quality Management System that concentrates on improving QMS principles in the:
- Leadership
- Customer satisfaction
- Process Approach
- Relationship management, and so on.
ISO 14001 Certification (Environmental System)
This standard clearly states elements for a better and more impactful environmental management system (EMS). It offers a system that businesses can follow instead of creating environmental performance requirements.
The environmental standard is used for environmental evaluation, risk evaluation, and analysis which helps in preserving the environment and responding to changing environmental situations.
ISO 22000 Certification (Food Safety Management System)
It is the process followed by different industries to interpret, avoid, and degrade food-borne hazards. This standard is a risk-based management method for the food industry to ensure food safety is a priority and is fit for human consumption.
ISO 45001 Certification (Occupational Health & Safety Management System)
This global standard includes guidelines to safeguard employees against:
- Unsafe usage of hazardous chemicals by the housekeeping staff.
- Ineffective safety norms that might expose workers to potential violence from the guests or others.
These are the top ISO certifications you should obtain if you belong to the hospitality industry.
Advantages of Getting ISO Certification for Hospitality Businesses
If you do decide to go ahead with an ISO certification for your hospitality business, you will reap these benefits:
- Since these certifications are specific to management areas, they’ll help you handle your guests or customers better. You’ll be following the best practices for tourist management, not to forget it helps you come off as credible and inspire trust in your customers.
- Adoption of these certifications will help you streamline processes and procedures which will result in improving the overall efficiency of your daily operations. It’ll also help you in uncovering any non-conformities or vulnerabilities so that you can resolve them and improve your systems to maximize the output.
- These standards are considered yardsticks when it comes to determining the quality of performance of a business. So if you’re able to attain one or more such certifications, it shows that you are committed to giving your best in all the various divisions of the business. This makes it easier for your customers to trust you and gives you a competitive edge.
After facing all those losses due to the pandemic, the hospitality industry needs all the support it can get to recover and come out stronger. One sure way in which this can be done is by getting ISO certified. So if you have been on the fence about whether or not you should go ahead with it, consider this a sign and look into it right away.
About ISO Auditr
ISO Auditr is a team of experienced ISO and Audit experts. Our ISO auditors offer several end-to-end services, provide certifications to businesses and help them enhance their day-to-day operations. If you want to know more about how ISO certification for the hospitality business benefits you, contact us.