How can you conduct quality audits in hospitality?

1 Define your objectives

Before you start any quality audit, you need to have a clear and specific purpose. What are you trying to achieve with the audit? What are the key areas or processes that you want to evaluate? How will you measure and report the results? Having a well-defined objective will help you plan and execute the audit in a focused and relevant way.

2 Choose your methods

When conducting a quality audit, you can choose from various methods depending on your objectives. For instance, self-audits are internal audits that use checklists, surveys, or observations to monitor and improve daily practices and procedures. External audits, on the other hand, are done by an independent third-party to validate and verify compliance with external standards and regulations. Mystery audits, meanwhile, are done by a disguised customer or professional auditor to assess service delivery and customer satisfaction from a realistic and unbiased perspective.

3 Prepare your resources

To conduct a quality audit, you need the right resources and tools, such as audit criteria, an audit plan, and an audit team. The criteria should be aligned with your objectives, standards, and expectations. The plan should outline the scope, schedule, roles, and responsibilities of the audit. It should also specify how the audit results will be recorded, analyzed and reported. The team should include qualified and competent auditors with the necessary skills, knowledge and experience to perform the tasks. Additionally, representatives from the audited areas or processes should be included to provide information and support during the audit.

4 Conduct the audit

Once you have prepared your resources, you can start the audit process. This involves an opening meeting, where the audit team introduces themselves, explains the objectives, methods, criteria, and plan, and addresses any questions or concerns. Data collection follows, using techniques such as interviews, observations, inspections, tests, surveys, or document reviews. After that is data analysis to compare and contrast the data with the audit criteria and identify any strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, or threats in your quality performance. The process ends with a closing meeting to present and discuss the audit findings, conclusions, and recommendations with the audited parties. Agreements on any corrective or preventive actions are also made at this time.

5 Follow up the audit

The last step of the audit process is to follow up the audit results and actions. This includes creating an audit report that is clear, concise, accurate, and objective. It should also include any supporting evidence or documentation. Additionally, you should solicit and provide feedback on the audit process and outcome through surveys, interviews, or meetings. This feedback can be used to improve your future audits and quality performance. Lastly, you should create an action plan that specifies the actions needed to address the audit findings and recommendations. The action plan should include the action description, responsibility, deadline, and status and should be monitored and reviewed regularly to ensure effective implementation.

6 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?