Quality Service Delivery Crucial in Hospitality Industry - Osei Bonsu

Tarkwa (W/R) May 4, - GNA - Mr. Charles Osei Bonsu, Deputy Executive Director, Finance and Administration, Ghana Tourist Board (GTB) has said

quality service delivery is essential in the hospitality industry. He said this at the opening of a five-day crash-training programme for front office and food and beverage service personnel in the hospitality sector at Tarkwa.

Organized and sponsored jointly by the Ghana Tourist Board and participating hotels and restaurants, the programme brought together 30 participants drawn from hotels and restaurants within Tarkwa and its environs.

The purpose of the training was to update the knowledge of the participants, sharpen their skills and competence in order to provide a desired quality service to eliminate complaints of guests or customers who patronize their services.

The training would be extended to housekeeping as well. Mr. Osei Bonsu said as front office personnel they play a key role in the hotel because they are the first and last contact persons, adding, "the first impression of the hotel depends on you". He told them to put up their best to impress the guest or a customer because if a wrong impression is formed about a hotel it would be very difficult to erase the perception or the impression from the mind or the guest or the customer and one can never get a second chance for a first impression.

Again, Mr. Osei Bonsu said, apart from sales the personnel play a major security role but are not security conscious to identify guests, saying, in addition to their specialized areas there were common core subjects like fire prevention, communication skills and food safety and hygiene which every hotel worker should know.

He told them to be very careful in dealing with customers or guests, saying it appears most hotel workers take customers and guests for granted thinking that they are doing a service to the customer; rather it is the customer who is helping them to keep their job. He said at the moment Ghana is becoming the toast of the world all over because in West Africa, Ghana is seen as politically stable and peaceful country and the people are traditionally hospitable because of that many people are coming to Ghana but how could they as front desk personnel turn the traditional hospitality into a professional one for quality service delivery.

Mr Osei Bonsu said, come next year, Ghana would be celebrating its 50th anniversary of Independence and many dignitaries and people would be coming to here and would lodge at hotels, eat at restaurants and have time at night clubs, but their enjoyment, happiness and golden experience rest on these personnel, adding, "If you fail in delivering quality service, you fail the whole nation, you will not get a second chance for others to come or even recommend others to come". He said "Joseph Project" which was launched recently is aimed at bringing all Black Americans and those from the Caribbean whose ancestors were Ghanaians back to Ghana to project Ghana as a "Mecca" for out friends, brothers and sisters in the Diaspora. He added that it is going to increase visits in the country and would be moving out to see the beauty of the country and they are to live up to expectation. In addition, as part of Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) harmonized standard and as part of the requirement for licensing the hotels, the hotels should have trained and certificated staff, if not one would never get the opportunity of working in a hotel and if the hotel has no trained and certificated staff, it would not be issued with an operational license.

Mr Kwame Gyasi, acting Western Regional Manager, GTB said it was the desire of the Board to make the Wassa West District the mine heartbeat of Tourism and its success would depend on those in the hospitality sector. He advised the participants to take the training very seriously.