Trisakti, CHN to develop self-auditing system

JAKARTA (JP): Trisakti Tourism Academy signed on Monday a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with a Dutch hotel management school for the introduction of a self-auditing system for hoteliers, restaurateurs and catering service operators here.

As part of the deal with the Hotel Management School of Leeuwarden (CHN), up to five of the academy's faculty members will be sent to the Netherlands in early January to learn about the Hospitality Business Improvement system.

"They will spend about six weeks there," CHN board chairman Jaap Van der Bij said.

"Once they return, they will hold workshops here where restaurateurs and hotel managers will be invited to learn the system."

Workshop participants will have to pay to attend, but Van der Bij gave no further details, except that similar workshops would be held in several other cities in Java.

Witnessed by Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture Marzuki Usman, the MOU was signed at the academy's campus in Tanah Kusir, South Jakarta, by Van der Bij, the academy's director Maryam Mihardjo, the Netherlands Board for Hotel and Catering Industry representatives Jan Hendriks Pieter and Wiete Harms, and Trisakti Foundation chairman Trisulo.

Book

According to Harms, the system could also be learned from a book titled Hospitality Business Improvement system, which has been translated into English, Indonesian and Mandarin.

Two thousand books, each costing 80 gilders (Rp 300,000) in the Netherlands, are currently on sale at the academy, he said.

"The system has improved the hotel and restaurant business in the Netherlands by 70 percent, and 21 percent of the hotels and restaurants there have reported two-fold increases in their profits," Harms boasted.

The system, he added, had also been successful in England, Ireland and Hungary.

According to Van der Bij, one impressive aspect of the system was the Quick Scan program.

After two hours studying it, one can already calculate "a number of things, including company sales, operational costs and expenses incurred by personnel," he said. (ylt)