maintenance, i.e. an ongoing process. High-class
hotels render the highest standards and highest quality
products and service, with the most extensive scope of
expensive hotel service. Economy class hotels offer
products and service of lower quality, with a limited
scope of less expensive service" (Avelini-Holjevac
2002, p.63). In the introduction to his book "Quality is
free" Crosby cited: "Quality is free. It is not a gift, but
it is free. Money can pay for low quality items – all
the procedures due to which the job fails to be well
done for the first time. The quality is not only free, but
it ensures profit in a respectable way. Every penny
you did not spend on doing a wrong thing, doing
something again or instead of well-done job will result
in an extra half penny. Nowadays, when our business
is insecure, it is unnecessary to employ numerous
ways of increasing profit. If you focus on quality
assurance, it is probable that your profit will increase
proportionally to the value of 5 to 10% of your sales
value. And that is a lot of money - for free" (Crosby,
1996, p.9). Definitely, product quality is an essential
element of a product‟s competitive advantage at the
market (Rocco, 1993)