Hotel takes home excellence award

THE Clarion Hotel in Cork has become the only hotel in the country to win a major European excellence award.

The Optimus/European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM) Business Excellence Award is usually presented to corporate high achievers in the pharmaceuticals, telecommunications and precision engineering sectors.

But the 2009 award was presented to the Clarion’s hotel management and staff after they progressed through Fáilte Ireland’s Optimus programme.

It aims to help tourism establishments achieve excellence in every aspect of their business by providing a practical approach to boosting bottom-line performance and focus on improving results.

Hotel manager Charlie Shiel said the quality award has delivered real benefits to the business. “The most important benefits are that we are thinking at a more strategic level and constantly driving excellence in the business through a continuous improvement process,” he said.

“We all understand the importance of each other’s roles and this helps with overall productivity and teamwork.”

More than 700 organisations of every size and sector belong to EFQM’s network.