APRIL 17, 2008. K Hotels, the exclusive collection of some of the world's finest boutique hotels, has partnered with LRA Worldwide, Inc. to create a Quality Assurance evaluation program as a service for its membership. Branded 'K Quality,' the program was designed to help K Hotels members deliver an enhanced guest experience.

LRA, a leading consulting company in the rapidly-growing discipline of Customer Experience Management (CEM), worked with K Hotels leadership to create the specific standards of the evaluation protocol. LRA's Quality Assurance (QA) practice worked directly with the internal K Hotels team, focusing primarily on how best to measure and score the boutique brand-specific elements of the K program.

'This is an important step in the evolution of the K Hotels brand and in the value we supply our members,' explained Lesley Carey, President. 'You only get one chance to introduce a program of this nature to your membership, so we wanted to make sure that we designed and deployed a valuable, actionable tool. LRA has a stellar reputation in the Quality Assurance field, so they were a natural fit to guide us in this process.'

In all, LRA's Quality Assurance practice works with seven of the top 10 hotel companies in the world, conducting nearly 13,000 evaluations each year across all sectors of the industry. In addition to its large corporate lodging clients such as Starwood Hotels & Resorts, Choice Hotels and Hyatt Hotels Corporation, LRA also works with several smaller high-end boutique and resort companies such as The Kessler Collection, Destination Hotels & Resorts and the Preferred Hotel Group. In addition, LRA provides QA services to industry leaders in sports (the PGA TOUR, Delaware North Companies), Conference Centers (ARAMARK), Gaming (Churchill Downs, Hard Rock Hotels & Casinos), Homebuilding (Toll Brothers) and Travel (The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey).

'This was a great opportunity to assist K Hotels in laying the foundation for 'K Quality',' said Shannon Pruce, the LRA Account Director who worked on the program design and training. 'We look forward to expanding the program as K Hotels grows its sales and marketing membership program.'