Quality Hotel earns 2012 gold award

When Rene Claudet and his wife, Barbara, purchased Houma’s Quality Hotel in January 2008, he admitted there were several things they did not know and would have to learn. “I didn’t know the first thing about the hotel business,” he said.

Claudet had no way of knowing that within 10 months of purchasing the business that had originally opened as a Holiday Inn in 1976, Hurricane Gustav would hit and damage his property to an extent that building a new career from the ground up became more than just an expression.

A welcomed surprise came to Claudet this week when the Quality Hotel was presented the 2012 Gold Hospitality Award from Choice Hotels International.

“Roughly every six months a person with a third party company comes into the hotel unannounced, goes to the front desk, they usually cause a little fuss but nothing too bad because they want to see how the front desk reacts, they check into a room and spend the night,” Claudet said of the testing process, which along with customer comment cards helps in grading the facility. “Then, the next morning they knock on my door and say, ‘Hi, I’m here.’ [The guest inspector] goes and looks at rooms, then looks at procedures and processes, certifications and all the supporting stuff on operational perspectives.”

From check-in to meal service, housekeeping and administration, the hotel is graded from top to bottom not only regarding its physical facility, but its performance of tasks. The critical factor is how personnel respond and interact with guests.

The 2012 award is based on a grading period dating back one year. According to Choice Hotels International Brand Performance Consultant Jennifer Viccellio, the Quality Hotel of Houma is among the best anywhere, scoring in the top 10 percent 941 hotels under their same banner during 2011.

“They started [the final quarter of 2011] with a complaint level of 0.3 complaints per 1,000,” Viccellio said. “They are now at 0.13 complaints per 1,000.”

Viccellio said that when comparing the property in 2008 and today, “it is a different hotel.”

In April 2009, the Quality Hotel in Houma was ranked 504 out of 819 hotels. Today it is listed at 58 out of 941, according to Viccellio. “That’s a great number,” she said.

“I’m so excited for them,” the brand consultant added. “They have worked really, really, really hard. We have hotels all over the world and he is competing against every one of them. He has really taken that hotel to a different level. It is not even the same hotel. When my family and I travel to that area we stay at that hotel. I have a bunch of hotels I can choose from and I always take his property.”

Claudet said that he uses the experiences he and his wife had have had when traveling as a gage upon which to measure their business and constantly strive for improvement.

“This a real honor for us,” Claudet said. “It is also a starting point to know where we can improve.”

Choice Hotels International operates inns under 11 brand names with more than 6,000 locations.