After the Lockdown - do staff need to go back to 'Hospitality Kindergarten'?
Hospitality industry staff members have had a forced hiatus of two months (or more, in some cases) due to the curfew that was enforced from March and lifted in May of this year. Of course, being away from the profession for some time does inevitably blunt the knives and dull the brains. A refresher course is important, often in the form of training from ground zero to ensure that all the ‘i’s have been dotted and‘t’s crossed. But how many hoteliers have taken this step? We see and hear many anecdotes on social media and in person that “service isn’t what it used to be” or “the food quality has really gone down”. Indeed, I can personally relate to these as I have encountered them myself.
A notable incident was a family wedding at the ‘Wood Room’ of a prominent city hotel. Having attended umpteen weddings, cocktails and functions at this same venue over the years, I was simply floored by the manner in which the brand standards had been forgotten by staff. They really needed to be sent back to ‘Hospitality Kindergarten’. Tom Yum Soup served at the table was the first course. Sadly, the soup varied from bowl-to-bowl! My bowl was moderately spiced, my wife’s bowl was extremely spiced and my father’s bowl was rather watery! Some had the white residue of coconut milk on the top, whilst others did not. Thankfully my mother was spared from this variable experience due to her food allergies. Clearly the staff had not given the soup a vigorous stirring to ensure proper mixing before dishing it into the individual bowls!
This debacle continued throughout the service experience. Asking for water was akin to playing a slot machine – each ‘ask’ was like a pull of the lever and you might or might not get water – who knows! While the main course spread was exceptional in quality (as one has come to expect from this hotel), the experience once again differed. The mains were served by chefs behind Plexiglas counters who dished a portion for each patron – fair enough given the ‘new normal’. However, when it came to dessert there was only one serving area as opposed to two for the main courses. This resulted in an exceptionally long line, and the staff eventually gave up on protocol, allowing patrons to serve themselves from the main side as well as enter and serve from to the staff side! Why the hotel decided to have only one dessert line while there were two main course lines is beyond me, as anyone with common sense will tell you that at least 75% of guests will go for some dessert as well!
It is human nature to falter when one hasn’t been at their vocation for a while. However, it is of utmost importance to recognise this and address it appropriately. Whilst hotels, restaurants and other hospitality establishments were quick to set up stringent health protocols including temperature checks, hand sanitising and foot baths, they need to remember that there is no excuse for shoddy service. The standards need to be maintained and improved upon just like they ostensibly were in the pre Covid 19 era. After all, it costs nothing to gather your staff together and give them a refresher on the brand standards! Competition is going to be fiercer than ever now, and if a guest didn’t have a good experience at your establishment, they might just take their business elsewhere.
Ashraaq Wahab - an automotive journalist, marketer and writer who enjoys penning his thoughts, insights and ideas on a variety of topics (Picture Courtesy KJ)
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