Quality management in hotels in the Basque Country

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to see how quality management is carried out in hotels in the Basque Country, a region in the north of Spain with a long tradition in the tourist sector. Design/methodology/approach – The objective of the study was to establish what approaches to quality management are utilised by hotels in the region. The data were collated from information gathered via a survey conducted by e‐mail. Findings – A large percentage of surveyed hotels implement a quality management system that has been designed in‐house. A figure of note, is the fact that 79 per cent of participants claim their quality management system has been introduced successfully. The study also indicated that a significant number of hotels implement a policy of continuous improvement to the system, as hotels believe in the effectiveness of quality management systems and think that such systems have resulted in an increase in customers and profit. Research limitations/implications – The hotels that responded to the survey could be those that are committed to quality management. That fact could introduce a bias that makes it seem that the situation is better than it really is. Originality/value – This study offers an understanding on the philosophy of quality management adopted by hotels in the Basque Country. Moreover, it provides empirical evidence on the perceived results of the implementation of quality management in hotels.