Overview
With 39,000 hotel and tourist accommodation businesses in France, competition grows fiercer every year. To stay ahead of other establishments, a quality manager is essential within a hotel complex. This key contact supports every guest throughout their stay in order to accurately gauge their level of satisfaction — a guest experience that then enhances the organisation’s services.
What is a quality manager?
Also known as a quality and service manager, this professional's primary role is to build a relationship of trust between guests and the hotel. That connection, made up of positive, negative and constructive feedback, is what drives hotels forward.
A key figure within the business, the quality manager is one of the faces of the organisation, tasked with upholding the reputation, standing and prestige of their establishment.
Able to manage and professionally guide a team, a quality manager can also thrive in a range of other sectors (manufacturing, environmental, food, electronics and more).
What does a quality manager do?
Focused on compliance with procedure and on guest satisfaction, the quality manager liaises regularly with the senior management of their hotel group. Here are a few examples of the duties that define the role:
- Defining, delivering and maintaining the organisation’s brand image
- Training and managing the team
- Coordinating the work of internal and external audit bodies
- Overseeing and monitoring compliance with the establishment’s rules
- Drawing up an inspection schedule
- Liaising with colleagues and senior managers
- Monitoring and supporting several hotels within the same chain (where required)
- Analysing and keeping abreast of the various standards, rules and legal obligations
- Gathering a range of information on the hotel’s performance
- Leading meetings
- Managing interpersonal and organisational conflict
- Securing the long-term future of the company
- Mastering the tools used to track guest feedback
- Enforcing health, safety and environmental standards
- Carrying out quality management
- Drawing up effective action plans
To optimise, standardise and improve guest satisfaction, this guardian of the guest experience makes contact — personally or with their team — with the various heads of department across the hotel. Talking to everyone involved in running the hotel is therefore essential.
Often on the move, the quality manager frequently works away from the office. While used to stable, regular hours, they may at certain times of year work evenings, weekends and public holidays.
What skills & qualities does a quality manager need?
To excel in this profession, it is essential to have — or to develop — a wide range of professional qualities and strong personal skills.
- A diplomat with an eye for the big picture: available and attentive, a quality manager also knows how to be firm in order to see a project through. With a keen analytical mind, they can adapt to whatever difficulties come their way.
- Unfailing rigour: motivation, responsiveness and discipline sum up this profession, which is little known to the general public. A grasp of budgets and strong negotiating skills will prove invaluable over the course of your career, and familiarity with hygiene regulations and standards is a real asset.
- Creativity and language skills: able to bring bold, forward-thinking ideas to the table, the quality manager is also confident in foreign languages. Skilled in the use of office software, they are equally at ease with communication and management techniques. Finally, an awareness of sustainability is a decisive advantage in this professional environment.
What career prospects and salary can a quality manager expect?
In terms of pay, a quality manager earns between €2,900 and €4,100 gross per month (between €35,000 and €50,000 a year). With time and experience, this salary can of course rise. As with most roles in the hospitality sector, pay varies according to the hotel and its standing, so a great many factors need to be taken into account before pinning down an exact figure.
After many years in the profession, a quality manager can expect to move up to operations manager or operations director. This step keeps them in a similar environment, but calls for greater responsibility and organisational skill.
Alternatively, they may take charge of a hotel complex themselves, or join a consultancy specialising in quality consulting and training. Finally, thanks to their versatility, a quality controller can also take on the role of project manager.
How do you become a quality manager?
To become a quality manager, students must first hold the baccalauréat (general, technological or vocational). With that in hand, the newly qualified student can join a specialist hospitality school such as CMH Academy, an expert in hospitality, tourism, luxury, communications and events.
With both full-time and work-study routes (apprenticeship or professional training contracts), CMH Academy offers programmes from Bachelor’s to Master’s level, including:
- The Grande École Programme (5 years)
- The Bachelor’s degree (3 years)
- The MBA (2 years)
Recognised across Europe and internationally, CMH Academy’s two professional qualifications are state-accredited RNCP Level 6 and 7 qualifications.
Offering bilingual programmes, this school in the ninth arrondissement of Paris provides its students with courses that alternate between study and professional practice. These programmes are punctuated by placements and assignments abroad. The aim of such in-depth learning is to prepare students as fully as possible for the job market and to open up opportunities after graduation.
Beyond the possibility of further study, recruiters greatly value students with a strong, well-rounded CV. Building up experience (placements, fixed-term and permanent contracts, work-study, and so on) in the world of hospitality is a real plus for your application. Whatever role you have held (porter, receptionist, bartender and the like), knowing this industry from the inside will work in your favour.
