Yes, feed back from our guests is important. We have established that fact already. What about feed back from our employees?

Someone said this: One cause of stupid management is stupid employees. It is easy for the Emperor to go naked when everyone's telling him how good he looks.

Many junior staff would choose to keep quiet rather then speak out and inform his or her superiors of the problems. But equally sad is a lot of the middle and higher management staff also do not bother to speak out.

Lack of understanding is one of the reasons. Once I discussed a problem with a department head in the hotel and he replied that it is a management problem. I asked him who is the management and reminded him that we are the management team and it is our problem.

Of course, most of the hotels is run with a capable and experienced General Manager. It does not help when the GM is authoritative and full of confidence and so many procedures and processes are carried out based on his direct instruction and direction. This has created an environment where most senior staff would "just do it" and keep quiet.

Another reason is that the messenger always get shot. Because I am the bearer of the bad news, I was shouted at and reprimanded. Why would I bother?

So both the employer and the employees can be at fault. It is important to realize that we are one team and we are here to do a successful business. The channel to encourage feedback from staff must be open and likewise employees must realize that his feedback is necessary and he cannot afford to shut up while assuming that completing his shift of work would guarantee job security.

Religious scripture and early forklores have all emphasized on expressing appreciation whenever a good deed is done.

According to the Chinese tradition, filial piety is the duty in which a son must fulfill the obligation of showing appreciation to the parent. In the Bible, there was a story told that out of 10 leapers healed, only one return to praise God and the other nine did not even bother.

In the service industry, showing appreciation and feed backs are vital for the improvement of the establishment.

Without feedback, there is no way we can tell if the product and service is what is expected from our guests. The greatest mistake is to continue to practice a mistake. We will continue as if nothing is wrong but wondering why is the business isn't great.

Obtaining feedback is a two way street. First of all, hotel must encourage and actively sourcing for feedbacks. Likewise, guests must also give serious constructive feedback.

Remember this: If your customer says it's a problem, it's a problem. We should always look at feedback as opportunity for us to improve. Negative feedbacks are painful and can be demotivating. I know of one new cafe operator who took offense with a negative feedback. He was angry and defensive. With attitude like this, how can we improve?

Feedback is the springboard to make a hotel great. We need to know the problem before we can rectify it. On the other hand, a positive feedback especially those that show appreciation to the staff has tremendous consequence. The staff that is singled out is motivated. The rest of the staff are also encouraged. This is esepcially so when the hotel encourage and reward staff to go the extra mile to delight the guests.

Westerners are very good at providing feedback as well as showing their appreciations. Many of them will take their time to write and express their appreciation, especially when they have a very copacetic staying experience.

On the other hand, Asians are not as good in providing feedbacks although the trend is improving. Most of us, Asians have the attitude of walking away from a bad experience and not to speak to the establishment but would not mind telling every friends and family members. And when we do speak to the establishment, we do it with a vengeance with a lot of unforgiving attitude which can be misunderstood as wanting to take the establishment for a ride with freebies and compensation.

I am encourage that more and more of our local guests are starting to fill in the comment forms and some even take time to write back. This show that our guests want us to improve and they care about our industry.

How much are you going to compromise when it comes to safety and security in the hotel that you stay?

No doubt, budget hotel galore. But when you really look at it, the saving may not worth the risk if you put your safety into consideration. Yet this is often overlooked by most budget seekers.

Fire in hotels and lives lost because of poor safety standard may not be everyday news, yet we do come across them now and then. Branded chained hotel will safeguard their name at all cost to play down any fire. But the truth is that these branded chained do put in extra effort and resources in hotel safety and security. To them, these areas are not negotiable.

This is a different story for budget hotels. In order to keep cost down, a lot of budget hotels in Asia are housed in buildings that are not necessary suitable for hotel. This is especially true for the "shoplot" hotel where the rooms are on the higher floors. A shop lot is meant for office or residence. When you convert a few upper floors of the shoplot into hotel, safety is compromised.

Because of the sheer size of these hotels, a lot of safety measures and equipment will not be implemented. Some findings are that these hotels have only one exit, or additional exit is closed to prevent guest from skipping out without paying bill and to prevent robberies. Very often, these exits are also blocked. A lot of the rooms have barred windows which made escape almost impossible.

One finding in US points out that 96% of fire has minimum lost and zero casaulities when the building is equipped with sprinkler system. Sprinkler system will definitely be missing in these small budget hotels. Very often, alarm system will also be non available.

In addition, with minimum manpower, training on safety awareness and fire drill will most certainly be absenced.

These budget hotels cannot be our choice even if it is to save money. So it is wise to check out the budget hotel that is also safe and secure.

Lately, there have been many budget service providers who boast about 5 star service at 1 star rate. The low cost airlines and the budget hotels are probably the most prominent.

The problem is how do you delliver 5 star service at 1 star rate? How do you deliver RM500 service to a RM100 customer?

It is obvious that this budget hotel will keep the operating cost to a bare minimum so as to increase the profit margin. But 5 star service comes with a cost, the question is how much more? The answers may surprise you.

First of all, it is the understanding what our customers really want. Customer service is about customer care. Shangri-La has Shangri-La care, Starwood has starwood care, Hyatt has Hyatt touch. But you can't measure compassion to customers. We can, on the other hand, measure customer satisfaction if his stay with us, albeit transient, is as good as sleeping at home in his own bed.

Give me a clean room, comfortable bed and a nice environement. Aircond temperature that I can control. Cold, warm or hot water as I wish. Isn't this the basic requirement that we all ask for? In short, the product that has the essential but not necessary the extras that I have to pay.

Secondly, it is the service from the support team of the hotel. A customer wants friendly, courteous and efficient process that treat him/her as a human. Many service industries make the mistake of offering quick service so much that the customers feel "processed". Remember those experience when the staff wasn't interested in you? He quickly process the transaction and then you hear something like "Thank you. NEXT!". It is undeniable that we are living in a fast paced society now. Gone are the days of Ketchup bottle. What we get in the restaurant is the plastic sqeezable bottle because we can't wait that extra second for the ketchup to come out. Yet, customers wants to be connected, related and be treated humanly.

This lead to a third point. that is relationship. When the customer is able to relate to the staff, he is able to relate to the hotel. The positive relationship built will result in a positive experience that far exceed that marble floor, hugh chandelier or expensive chinaware. Be sensitive to his needs. When he has problem, show empathy. Customer experience is the creation of emmotional connections from every encounters. When we are able to build on this, we are able to deliver a 5 star service at relatively low cost.

Having worked in hotels of different class and category, one obvious observation is that the basic needs of hotel guests are no different. What are the fundamentals that one seek in a hotel? I believe the smart travellers nowadays are clearly ahead of the game and this also prompt the hotel industry to response shrewdly.

The latest is the express, the no frill, the 5 star service at 2 star rate hotels. For many travellers who are looking for value for money, this is the excellent choice.

The express brand that come up with clean and simple concept may just be the hotel for you. This hotel that provide comfortable bed, powerful shower and strong air-conditioning system in a clean and safe environment is ideal. The price range is attractive because the hotel is able to keep the operation simple. Many are not so concern even if the room size is small. For a one to two night stay, if the price is right, who will complain?

The next time you travel, look out for these hotels. You may not stay like a king, but you may be treated like one and with the extra saving, you will be happy like a king.

We emphasize on policies and procedures to our staff. We trained, we briefed and we reminded them again and again on doing the job right. But at the end of the day, it is common sense that is needed and we don't have to have the skill of a rocket scientist to be a hotelier. But sadly many times, it is not the case.


Case 1

A mother took her 3 year old daughter for lunch and there was a cocktail by the jar promotion. The drink was served in no time with two glasses that really pissed her off.


Case 2

To ensure honeymooners enjoy their stay and have a memorable experience, we surprise them by spread rose petals on the bed and make a big heart of petals on the middle of the bed prior to the arrival. By mistake a twin bed room was assigned but the staff went ahead to spread the petals and have the big rose spread across 2 beds. Imagine the honeymoon couple entered the room with double insult smack on their faces.

Having worked in the hotel industry for so many years that I care to remember, serving both external and internal customers, I am of the belief that we hotelier, are indeed a different breed of species.

I chose hotel as a carreer becuase I love to interact with people. The irony is that it never crossed my mind to take up a degree in hotel management study. I have always being better in Science subjects and so it was not surprise that I applied to study to become an Enginner. However, on the day of registration, while passing through the section that was registrating computer science, I dropped in to take a look. After seeing all the interesting subjects, I showed the staff my acceptance letter for an Engineering degree. She said she could accept me and so I registered to get a B. Sc degree in Computer Science. Little did I realise that I would later continue to earn a Master degree in Computer Science.

I did eventually join a 5 star resort in the IT department. In fact I enjoyed it so much that I ran the IT department for 6 years. Eventualy, after probably the 10th project, my Resident Manager approached me and offered me a switch of job to be at the Front Office.

From handling a IT team of 4 staff to the Front Office of over 30 was just the beginning of a fruitful and enjoyable "job". I began to realize that meeting people of all walk of lives is so much fun; even if the meeting was to handle a complaint. You see, at the end of the day, solving their problem and fulfilling their expectation make me a winner too.

I believe in customer is always right. But I also believe that we are not always wrong. It is perception, afterall.

A customer can tell me that she has traveled all over the world and never being asked to give money or credit card as a deposit. I have numerous occasions being told by the customer that he should get his room eventhough he arrived at 9am to check in because he has made the reservation a year ago. Never mind that it is during the Easter peak period. Needless to say, a little bit of explanation is expected.

Whether we are in a resort or a city hotel, in a metropolitan city or deep in the jungle, we must remember to service our customer as well as educate them. By being a better service provider, we also made them a better customer.

Once I have an angry customer banging the table and shouted at me which hotel school did I graduated from. I was contemplating to answer him from the University of St. Common. But then he continued to rave on and I just listened attentively. Thereby giving him another lesson on hotelier.

Hotelier is a special breed becuase we don't follow logic, we are not as structured as an Engineer. We can be as flexible and still not being wrong. We are people person but we are also educator. But rocket scientists we are not, it is common sense that carry us through.