A Guest’s Perspective of Hospitality in 5 Star Hotels

Let me start by enumerating what I’ve observed lately about some perspectives that hold priority for some of the top management of luxury hotel chains.

1. Revenues and profits often referred to as top lines and bottom lines.
2. Mergers, acquisitions and number of rooms.
3. Brand-scape.
4. Renovations (for more than one reason).

And now, just ask yourself, what is the core purpose of a hotel?
Hospitality for its hotel guests for sure!!! And, it is not to provide a bed made of gold to sleep on but a very comfortable one.

Ask another question. Who is going to provide this hospitality to hotel guests?
Each hotel staff member individually and as a team.

In my travels across the world I have come across a few hotels offering a very high level of hospitality that have delighted me in the core of my heart because of which I keep going back to them and some left a sour taste whom I am trying to improve by giving them honest feedback.

In one friendly hotel in New York, I found that the front office, house keeping, food and beverages, concierge, bell desk, engineering, sales, reservations and senior management staff had become like family for each other and they would take a friendly guest into their family fold. I can’t describe in words how amazing this feeling was but it was what I would say made this hotel a “home away from home”. Everyday one would bump into a couple of employees and they would engage in a friendly conversation with some relevant advice thrown in to help you.

I analysed the secret to this phenomena and am sharing it here. This hotel had a very gregarious and exuberant person as a lobby ambassador who had the following roles.

• Her first role was to interface between all concerned departments at all levels so that a particular service desired by a guest or anticipated by her in her interactions with guests was delivered to the guest as a team.
• The second role was to introduce a friendly guest to different staff members in the lobby as and when they bumped into you so that they got an opportunity to treat you like family.
• A third role was to place in your room special amenities which she would assess were your preferences, from conversations with you, and accompany them with a hand written note to make you feel cared for. The photo in this article is of a farewell gift with handwritten personal farewell notes from 16 staff members of this hotel! I guess, this is beyond what one’s family would do for you.
• And a fourth role was to have one staff member join her to host a complimentary wine and cheese party for guests at the bar from 5pm to 6:30pm everyday. Here she would also introduce guests, who had something in common, to each other.
• Her fifth role was to host another party every month at the hotel to celebrate the birthdays of staff members who had them during that month. Photos of the celebration would then be posted in a monthly e-newsletter circulated among all employees with photos of celebrities that stayed in the hotel and news about the hotel.

I feel that a lobby ambassador with similar roles in luxury hotels is a must for improving guest satisfaction.

In a reputed 5 star hotel in New Delhi, I found that each staff member was sensitized to anticipate your needs even before you realized them much like what parents do for their young children! I am giving three actual instances that happened in this hotel’s many restaurants.

• In one of them I was leaning over to eat my lunch. The stewardess noticed this and requested if she may move the table closer to me.
• In another restaurant a steward standing about 50 meters away from me noticed my struggle to open a tomato sauce bottle and rushed to assist me.
• At their bar, I ordered chilled still water in a wine glass and mentioned to the steward I am doing so because I’m a teetotaller. The steward then insisted that I must try a distilled non-alcoholic drink that is very popular across the world and that he would make it complimentary for me!

These three instances among many others of their caring hospitality overwhelmed me.

Coming now to an iconic hotel chain that was not so welcoming, where I was able to analyse what was going wrong with their hospitality, which I was surprised to see deteriorating by the day.

Since it’s an iconic brand, employees who manage to get a job here feel it’s a feather in their cap. They start “resting” on this laurel leading to an inertia towards their main role of hospitality to their guests. Furthermore, creditably the hotel is able to retain a lot of their employees for more than 10 years but some of these employees develop an air of superiority as if they have become lords of their hotels and subsequently a guest automatically is treated subservient to these “lords” who expect the guests to dance to their tune. The newer staff are quick to imbibe the behaviour of their seniors leading to a culture of “lordship”.
To add to this, the hotel chain taking advantage of their high brand value and giving more attention to their bottom line than to guest satisfaction, pays their employees below average salaries and makes them work above average hours everyday! Now, all that these unfortunate employees have to speak for themselves is, ''the feather in their cap'', which reinforces their inertia and lordship!

An apt quote for such employers by the founder of the Virgin Group, Richard Branson is -  “Clients do not come first. Employees come first. If you take care of your employees, they will take care of the clients.”
Recent research has shown that a 4-day week increases the output of an employee by 20%. Something for all employers to ponder about.

I am going to recount some actual instances that happened with me at this iconic hotel chain due to the inertia and lordship of their employees.

• First, my airport pickup requested for and confirmed by them did not arrive!
• Second, a welcome drink offered upon check-in didn’t find it’s way to my room!
• Third, I was made to check-out at the cashier’s window and not even allowed to sit across the manager’s desk to complete formalities even though as a privileged guest all this was supposed to be done at the reception desk of the privileged floor on which I was staying or in my room, whichever of the two I preferred.
• Fourth, the central office sent me a mailer with a discount offer two days after the offer started instead of at least two days before. What this resulted in was that I made a reservation at one of their hotels without the discount and the reservation staff who would have been aware of the prevailing offer failed to make the reservation at the discounted rate for which I was eligible!

The point that is important is that we are in an age where empathy is regarded higher than top lines and bottom lines. The most loving brand will be glorified and will also become the fittest brand to survive because the top lines and bottom lines for a great part are built on your guests coming back to you or recommending you either by word of mouth or through social media which has a huge outreach. Why would they recommend a hotel you may ask? Not because of your financial condition of which they may know nothing but mainly because of the love you gave them. And, the employees will take loving care of guests if their employers care for them!!!

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