SERVQUAL +
a Column By Harish C Dhingra

Who is the Hotel Guest’s Advocate?

The shocking recent study by the Centre for Science and Environment, revealed the presence of pesticide residues in the carbonated drinks manufactured by MNCs. The Hotel and Restaurant Industry has not yet stopped selling these drinks. Another industry that thrives on advertising soft drinks is television, raking in revenue to the tune of a couple of hundred crores. I am sure the advertisement industry must be looking forward to this being the lifetime opportunity, and working over time to use their talents to re-establish the colas through creative advertising campaigns.

Don’t we have any commitment to the community at large?

With regard to the Hotel & Restaurant industry it is surprising that the associations, particularly Federation of Hotels and Restaurants association of India (FHRAI) and Hotel Association of India (HAI), have not made any comment on this subject and continue to go out of their way to sell these harmful products. One day, maybe some of the committees and sub committees at the National or Regional level will find time from their busy schedules to think about the welfare of the most important stakeholder in any organization, that is “Their Guest”. It is certainly time for these associations to craft an action plan and advise all hotels to ban these drinks, unless declared safe by a genuine and competent authority.

Who then is the Hotel Guest’s Advocate?

Some of the organizations still charade on banning soft drinks in the country, whereas our very own parliament is itself not able to take any decision about the country’s welfare, but has managed to surreptitiously save itself from being served with these drinks. Even Anna University in Chennai for the well being of its students has shut its door on Coke and Pepsi.

There is an important and growing role for associations such as FHARAI, HAI etc. as Hotel Guests’ Advocate than holding conferences to get even with issues regarding new tax policies, or when they face quandaries with any government body. It is startling to note that even the cream of the crop in the industry have not taken any action. The senior management team at Hotels seem to have adopted the “Wait and Watch” approach and fail to see beyond the Revenue of their hotels or the gravity of this issue.

There is skepticism that real truth will ever surface, as already some of the Government Agencies including the Minister of health have rushed to declare colas as safe .Does this claim that there is no truth in CSE’s report ???????

The only hope is with our people who won’t suffer a memory loss with every new ad Campaign.

Even if we look at it purely from the pecuniary angle, Hotels unlike the TV companies have an option of maintaining their revenues by offering healthy drinks such as juices, mocktails etc as a good substitute. It is rather difficult for one to understand what is thwarting these industries from banning these unhealthy drinks from being served which can cause diseases like cancer, impotency etc

What about foreigners? It is highly likely that they will not be aware that COLAS IN INDIA are different from what they get in their own countries! I am sentient that they consume soft drinks as a substitute to water. I doubt if the hotel staff has been instructed to keep their invaluable guests informed about the latest findings about these colas?

Does the Hotel industry still believe in “ATITHI DEVO BHAVE”? (Age old adage meaning Guest is like God) or are they now tuned to……………………. Dhanam Devo Bhave!!!!

Send your comments to: hcd@servqualplus.com
HARISH C DHINGRA CEO, Servqual Plus, conducts workshops for the service industry.

Smile Dammit Smile

Cosmetics retailer CEO, Anita Roddiek sees up-front statements of values at the Body Shop running through everything they do. Quoting Roddiek, ‘The Body Shop positively radiates passion’. A message she gives her staff is contained in this extract from ‘Anita’s 20 second crash course in customer care’.. Smile Dammit Smile. One of the recipes for success in the service industry is to ‘spend some serious time thinking about fun. How can you offer that to people in your organisation? How can you treat yourself better and create a happier atmosphere’?

One of the ceaseless wonders of the world: The power of a smile.

• Think of customers as guests, make them laugh
• Treat your guests, as you would like to be treated
  
  

Three people whose smile has greatly impressed me personally are Bill Clinton, Rajeev Gandhi and film actor Govinda and I strongly feel that their ‘smile’ has been one of the biggest reasons for their success.

‘No, I can’t!’

A consultant recently stayed at a hotel where all the employees wore ‘yes, I can!’ buttons. Hurrying for a plane, the consultant asked the receptionist if the hotel could mail some slides. No problem, said the receptionist. Just take them to the bell captain.

The bell captain disagreed. ‘We don’t do that; that’s not our job’.

The consultant suggested the bell captain to take off his ‘Yes I Can’ button and replace it with one which said ‘No I Can’t’.

Few organisations are smart because they beat their competition by simply giving attention to soft aspects rather than making the organisation over disciplined and over-systemised.

Eliminate the words:

• Can’t


• Won’t


• Don’t from your vocabulary.

Worry harder!

To get the therapeutic benefits of concentrated worrying, your worrying has to be constant and focused so that you become satiated with worry and get tired of worrying. In other words, you worry yourself out. Research supports the notion that if you worry intensely for a brief period time (say 15 to 20 minutes), you may actually reduce your need to worry at other times of the day - at least for that particular worry.

Recently an hotelier friend of mine requested us to help him find friendly, warm and efficient staff for his organisation. Quoting him.. ‘The kind of staff we want should be smiling and happy which is important for a friendly and efficient working atmosphere and for a reassuring presence’.

We did this project and sent them young, potential and enthusiastic candidates. A team of senior executives thoroughly interviewed them and had selected seven out of 10. In a couple of months they noticed that the staff members were hardly smiling and almost ready to change their job.

It revealed that one of the reasons was lack of attention from the people they worked with and for. We had to then conduct a programme for the senior staff to bring in the right balance of affirmative atmosphere in the organisation.

When an employee does not perform or smile up to the expectations of the valuable customers, managers typically believe the fault lies with the employee. Often this is true, but invariably the manager is involved too as they create a situation wherein the employee is so tensed, that he finds it difficult to smile which in turn thwarts his performance.

The smiling staff, keeping up the promises and exceeding the expectation can do wonders for an organisation and this in turn certainly helps him boast to the customer the reputation of the organisation he is representing.


The three key questions one should ask thyself:

• Why a customer buys a “Product” or a “Service”?
• Why should he buy from “Your Organization” and not from your “Competitor”?
• Why should he buy from “You” in your organization?

Simple truths

There are two types of organisations: Grumpy and Happy. The solution is ‘simple’, just trade ‘grumpy’ for ‘happy’.

• Some people are natural in their smiling and others have to make an effort to do that. Make doubly sure that the interviewing authorities are the right people
• Hire smiling people rather than making grim faced smile. When in doubt, don’t hire. Do not waste your time in training people how to smile.
  
  

Smile; it is the second best thing one can do with one’s lips.

• One can easily find out while interviewing ‘What kind of movies they watch, the people they socialise with etc. One of my favourites while interviewing is ‘what is the latest joke that you have heard’. Make the moment lighter!
  


• Offer a fun place to work. Many organisations put in great deal of thought in creating lively place to work for the employees. I was amazed to see the staff dining facility at Standard Chartered Bank which was as good as five-star restaurants. I couldn’t believe my eyes because for a moment I thought I was at the food court in Singapore
  
• The customer should feel great after they have dealt with your organisation. Would not you like to visit a particular hotel, restaurant or bar which brings a smile into your life? In the new age, lots of trendy hotels and fast food restaurants are mushrooming day by day wherein the management puts in lot of effort on thinking about the colours - display kitchen in the restaurant, uniforms, the type of music etc to bring cheerfulness on the face of the diners. The Park Hotel and Geoffrey’s Pub in Chennai are certainly built on a contemporary mood and concept breaking all tradition barriers.

Happy leadership - Happy organisation. A B Kerker has a great sense of humour. He could turn the most tensed situations into happy and hilarious one and this in turn would motivate all of us in finding appropriate solutions.

Traditional hotel guests have been pretty loyal, happy to keep visiting the same place for years simply because it is what they and their families have always wanted and done. The contemporary generation wants more out of life in terms of fun, entertainment etc.

Service is serious business. But it has to be projected skillfully with warmth. No computer, no ATM laughs. No recorded message on the telephone can project smile. It is the need of the human being to represent organisations in good spirits. How many of us say things like, ’It is a great day’, or give compliments like ‘you are looking wonderful’. Only a happy person gives compliments.

Sometimes your joy is the source of your smile, but sometimes your smile can be the source of your joy.

• Thich Nhat Hanh

(The author is chief executive officer, Servqual Plus and also specialises in holding workshops designed especially for the hospitality industry. He will be happy to answer any queries at hcd@servqualplus.com)