Hotels of Uyuni improve their competitiveness

These achievements are the result of the Program for the Continuous Improvement of Quality and Productivity (PMCCP, for its acronym in Spanish), a CAF initiative which, through practical and theoretical training, enabled the optimization of the quality of services in the following hotels: Samay Huasi; Julia, Kory Huasi 1 and 2; Le Ciel, Marith; La Cabaña; Mana; Desierto Ojito de Perdiz; Tahua; and Hotel de Piedra San Pedro de Quemes; the latter belonging to the network of community eco-lodges.  

The objective of the project is to promote an organizational culture based on a participative management style, horizontal organization, and team work with a continuous improvement approach which will be achieved through the commitment of the workers, that are organized in improvement groups, and the direction of a specific committee. All of this is complemented by a network of external and internal consultants trained by the same program.   

At the start of the project, none of the hotels had quality and productivity indicators, task, procedures or working instruments manuals, defined salary structure, policies, values, mission, and strategic vision. 

In addition, they did not measure internal or client satisfaction, working environment, and lacked an internal information system and complaint registry, aspects that were included with the application of the program and, today, most of them have experienced significant advances. 

Changes enabled the occupation rates in these hotels to increase by 18.2%, and the number of guests by 51.5%, incomes and profits by 19.3%, and the number of workers by 5.7%.

Work productivity also increased by 12.8%, and global average salary by 8.3%. The number of guest complaints decreased by 80%, and the average price per room increased by 79.3%.