*Pictured at the Cliffs of Moher following the awarding of the Fáilte Ireland Service Excellence Business Award and the Fáilte Ireland Covid-19 Safety Charter to the Cliffs of Moher Visitor Experience (COMVE) are (l-r): Eoin Flanagan, HR Manager, COMVE; Kevin Quinn, Enterprise Development Advisor, Fáilte Ireland; Mark O’Shaughnessy, Head of Operations, COMVE; Siobhain King, Projects Officer – Wild Atlantic Way, Fáilte Ireland; Geraldine Enright, Director, COMVE; Noel Lyons, Operations Manager, COMVE; and Noreen Doherty, Bookings Administrator, COMVE. Photograph: Eamon Ward
The Cliffs of Moher Visitor Experience has been awarded the Fáilte Ireland Service Excellence Business Award and the Fáilte Ireland Covid-19 Safety Charter.
The Accredited Service Excellence programme is aimed at helping businesses within the tourism sector reach and maintain the highest standards in customer service excellence, while the Covid-19 Safety Charter aims to reassure all visitors that the businesses they visit have committed to adhere to the highest safety measures and hygiene protocols.
Welcoming the awards, Geraldine Enright, Director of the Cliffs of Moher Visitor Experience, said: “The staff at the Cliffs of Moher Visitor Experience are renowned for their very high standards of customer care. The awards further demonstrate our commitment in striving to maintain our position as Ireland’s most-visited natural attraction and top visitor attraction as voted for by the visitors themselves. We are delighted to work closely with Fáilte Ireland in partaking in their programmes and I was extremely pleased to see all our departments participating to complete the customer service excellence and safety charter training.
“Combined with our strategy for the future and continued investment in transforming the visitor experience, this recognition demonstrates our continued focus on the visitor journey, their wellbeing and safety from the moment they arrive right through their experience here, making it as easy and stress-free as possible while at the same time being educated by our kind and attentive staff.”
Speaking about the awards, Martina Kerr Bromley, Head of Enterprise and Hospitality Development at Fáilte Ireland, said: “The way in which businesses are operating now is significantly different. Our Accredited Service Excellence programme has been modified to help businesses to continue to deliver the world-class service our industry is famous for in this new and challenging environment. Never has it been more important to look at service to ensure the visitor experience is the best it can be. From our consumer research, we also know that safety is a key concern for those planning trips across the country and the Covid-19 Safety Charter aims to give comfort and reassurance to visitors that tourism businesses are operating safely.
“We are delighted to present the Cliffs of Moher Visitor Experience with both our Service Excellence Business Award and our Covid-19 Safety Charter, which show that the attraction is putting the visitor at the centre of everything they do, both in terms of service and safety.”
To achieve Fáilte Ireland’s Service Excellence Business Award, 75 per cent of visitor-facing staff and management in a business must complete Fáilte Ireland’s customer service excellence training. A business must also agree to adhere to Fáilte Ireland’s Guidelines for Re-opening and all employees must undertake requisite Covid-19 safety and hygiene control training.