Certification for the Tourism and Hotel Industry

I attended the seminar entitled "Introduction to Certification for the Tourism and Hotel Industry" organized by TÜV Rheinland on 8 April 2011. The seminar aims to assist hotel management in identifying areas in which there is room for further improvement and to demonstrate a remarkable marketing tool that can help hotels to gain an edge over the competition. The content was summarized below for sharing.

The first speaker was Mr. Michael Wong (Sales Manager, System, TÜV Rheinland) and his presentation focused Service Quality System.

He introduced the company's footprints in China and different business units especially Eco-Hotel/Tourism/Hospitality assessment and auditing services in Service Business Unit.

The second speaker was Mr. Yu Xian and his topic was "Energy Efficiency Consultancy". He reviewed the energy status of China and found low energy efficiency and high consumption per GDP in China compared with USA and Japan. However, China Government promised on energy saving in "12th Five" Plan.

Then he introduced the energy audit service for Hotel including:

1. Evaluation of existing system

2. Analysis of energy-saving for M&E system

3. Final report of energy-saving for M&E system

The energy audits form and checklist for energy saving measures in Hotels was briefed. This form was used to identify the hotel characteristics such as electrical, heating, cooling, etc.

Mr. Yu also introduced the LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification for green building.

The ratio of LEED rating system was shown as follows:

l Sustainable Sites (SS) - 24%

l Water Efficiency (WE) - 10%

l Energy & Atmosphere (EA) - 37%

l Materials & Resources (MR) 14%

l Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ) - 15%

The third speaker was Mr. Ryan Hsiang and his presentation was "Hospitality & Tourism Services".

He analyzed the tourism industry and the continuous growth tend was observed especially in Asia.

There were four different operational areas which covered all important aspects of hotel's daily operations. They were:

1. Sustainability

2. Security

3. Safety

4. Service Quality

Mr. Ryan Hsiang introduced a variety of service modules in TÜV Rheinland (Module 1 - Assessment; Module 2 - System Certification; Module 3 - Mystery Shopping; Module 4 - Support & Training; Module 5 - Award & Promotion; and Module 6 - Online Marketing). Different combination could provide different service.

Many awards and recognitions from Hospitality & Tourism were demonstrated.

At the end of the seminar, Michael Wong presented the Green Solutions to us.

The solutions included Green Energy, Green Products, Green Lifecycle, Green Systems, Green Transportation, Green Consulting, Green Buildings and Green Living.

More information:

TÜV Rheinland (Guangdong) Ltd. - http://www.tuv.com/en/greater_china/home.jsp

U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) - LEED - http://www.usgbc.org/