Sol Melia, LRA Worldwide Launch Brand Assurance Program

Sol Meliá, the 15th-largest hotel chain in the world and the leading Spanish hotel and resort company, has launched a comprehensive brand assurance evaluation program across its global portfolio of hotel and resort brands. To execute the program, Sol Meliá has partnered with LRA Worldwide, Inc., a leading firm in the design and development of performance measurement and quality assurance programs for the hospitality and lodging industries.

The brand assurance program is a crucial part of Sol Meliá’s “brand equity” strategy for all of its various brands. The process began with a series of brand “boot camps” facilitated by LRA to help further define each brand and how that offering is delivered at the property level.

The evaluation program is designed to measure the effectiveness of the implementation process and delivery of a “branded” guest experience at each property. Each of Sol Meliá’s hotel and resort brands –including Gran Meliá, Meliá, ME, Innside, Tryp, Sol and Paradisus- has a customized evaluation protocol designed to measure its specific brand attributes.

In addition, there are a set of common standards that are measured across all brands. All of the data is available at the corporate and property level via LRA’s proprietary online quality management reporting tool, TouchPoint Manager.

All reporting is available in both English and Spanish. The brand assurance program was officially launched in June at the Gran Meliá Colon in Seville, Spain. Since then, LRA has conducted an additional 190 evaluations, with a full complement of evaluations scheduled for 2010.