EFQM Award

The Slieve Russell has the distinction of being the First hotel in the Border Counties to achieve EFQM Business Excellence 5* Award at its first application under the EFQM Business Excellence Framework. The Slieve Russell joins large and small organisations in the private, public and voluntary sectors who have used the world class EFQM model as their blueprint and driver for excellence.

Tony Walker General Manager said that it is a major achievement for the Slieve Russell Hotel to receive such a distinction at a European level which recognises organisations that have demonstrated quality excellence in employee management, strategic leadership and high productivity delivering high levels of customer satisfaction and overall superior business performance.  The benefits of accreditation provide an international symbol and benchmark, especially for tourism organisations, seeking to source high value leisure and business markets.

Tony acknowledged that the award was in recognition of the dedication and hard work of the entire staff and management team.

Orla Murphy HR Manager commented that it is fantastic to be recognised for best practice in our overall performance in leadership and management practices. This award recognises excellence in organisation processes, performance, results and competency objectives of the business. This achievement followed an intensive programme of workshops, projects and investments, culminating in a formal submission document, followed by an independent three day assessment and evaluation against the rigorous EFQM criteria and framework . The process involved meeting with the project teams and interviews with over 50 employees who re-enforced our overall commitment to business excellence.

The EFQM Award was presented by Tony Lenehan, Executive Director of the Centre for Competitiveness (Ireland), which is the Partner organisation for the EFQM in Ireland  who stated  that;

The achievement of the Slieve Russell in securing 5* EFQM accreditation is tremendous, and I warmly congratulate them on their achievement.

This accreditation and International recognition is only awarded to hospitality and tourism organisations that ‘achieve and sustain excellence in performance and results that meet or exceed the expectations of their customers and all their stakeholders’

The business benefits for the Slieve Russell are substantial, as the EFQM provides an International symbol and benchmark of Excellence. The critical success factors for tourism businesses in the future will be business competitiveness through Innovation, Productivity, and Service Excellence, driven by professional standards and processes. This will ensure that the more discerning customer will support, and return to, those organisations, including the Slieve Russell, where their expectations will not only be met—but exceeded.