25 / 204
25
to be accepted for membership of the
international association.
After gaining membership, in 1993,
Jeffry worked hard to establish a lo-
cal chapter of the association in Aus-
tralia. He became the first chairman of
the Australian Chapter. He also served
for two years as president of the global
board, based in St Louis.
Domestically, CountryPlace has won
the National Tourism Award twice and
the Victorian Award for Tourism five
times. It is also the only conference
centre to be inducted into the Tour-
ism Hall of Fame in Victoria, a fact that
showcases the exemplary services of
the venue.
Establishing the Quality
Management System
Offering a reliable, customer focused
service is important for CountryPlace
to achieve strong repeat business lev-
els. The organization is committed to
an ongoing Quality Management Sys-
tem for their operations. “Quality man-
agement is based on establishing clear
standards, training and staff commu-
nication. You firstly have to know what
the customer wants you to achieve,”
says Jeffry. Everything from making
beds, pouring beers, cleaning the ven-
ue is documented. The system that
CountryPlace has in place defines ab-
solutely everything. Nothing is left to
chance.