Hotel to implement top global quality system

MANAMA: A boutique hotel in Bahrain, Al Safir Hotel and Tower in Juffair, is well on its way to creating a hospitality industry record by becoming one of the first hotels to implement an internationally recognised Quality Management System (QMS).The Al Safir Hotel's QMS initiative is backed by the Labour Fund which launched a programme in June this year to enable small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the kingdom to gain international quality management certification.
This was announced at a Press conference in the Golden Tulip Hotel yesterday.
Using the expertise of Jaffari Consultants, the Al Safir Hotel and Tower has launched an ambitious three-pronged effort to gain certification of excellence in three different areas: Quality Management System - ISO 9001:2000, Occupational Health and Safety System - OHSAS 18001 and Food Safety Management System - ISO 22000:2005.
"The Al Safir Hotel is one of the first in the kingdom to put in place the requirements for ISO 9001:2000 certification and is aiming to be amongst the first to be awarded the certification," said the Al Safir hotel general manager Abdul Hamid Halwachi.
"But I think we are even more proud that we have undertaken an extensive and multi-layered approach to the whole quality question by simultaneously seeking OHSAS 18001 and Food Safety Management System ISO 22000:2005 certification as well.
"This bold move has been made possible thanks to the support of the Labour Fund which has extended its Enterprise Development Support to include quality management and giving medium-sized organisations like ours access to expertise such as Jaffari Consultants," he added.
The consultation service will be provided by Bahrain-based Jaffari Consultants (JAFCON), which offers comprehensive consultancy services world-wide, including all type of quality management systems and productivity improvement services.
JAFCON is one of the major service providers for the QMS scheme, as well as, the other Enterprise Development Programmes of the fund.
The primary goal of the fund's quality management scheme is to raise the standard of corporate productivity and performance and enhance its competitiveness in the markets.
The quality management scheme comes under the fund's Enterprise Development Support Programme which seeks to assist and support SMEs in enhancing their productivity to enable them to develop and grow while providing high quality jobs to Bahrainis through providing access to world class consultation and training for upgrading business information systems, technology inputs and business growth and development.
"We want to show that international certificates such as the ISO, HACCP, Food Safety and OHSAS are not mere labels but actually help companies to improve performance, profitability and win international acceptability," said Labour Fund acting chief executive Abdulellah Al Qassimi.
"The BD200,000 ($530,490) pilot phase cost and initial research for this project, which the Al Safir Hotel and Tower has put to such good use, will aid in validating and recalibrating a quality management business model, and provide a road map for the full implementation phase," he added.

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