The switcheroo
Readers might remember that very recently I wrote an article about the most dismal biriyani that I had ever eaten in my life, at a wedding held at one of the oldest heritage hotels in Colombo. It was so tastelessly insipid; it had my wife and I questioning if we had caught COVID-19. In fact to put it quite bluntly, it was so bad that I wouldn’t even consider feeding a homeless person with it, as that would be more cruel than benevolent. You can read that article here. In the meantime, I’ve discovered the key reason for why things went so badly wrong – the hotel had pulled the ol’Switcheroo on the hapless wedding couple.
You might have encountered the term Switcheroo in a Warner Brothers cartoon, the meaning goes as “a surprise, unexpected or deceptive swap, change, variation, or reversal. As you may glean from the above, it’s not a pleasant or even positive thing. The famed internet resource Urban Dictionary defines the term to mean something rather crass, which I shall not reproduce here. That should give you an idea of the fact that when someone pulls a Switcheroo on you, it’s not cause for celebration. And when that is done at a reception to celebrate a wedding – no sir...it’s not hospitable at all!
In a nutshell, the hotel had claimed that it outsources the biriyani they serve from a well-known third-party caterer who is considered an expert in the preparation of that cuisine. This is not surprising, as biriyani is something of a specialty, and there are dedicated biriyani caterers in Sri Lanka who have attained celebrity chef status in the community. This caterer was one of those celebrity status chefs.
With that in mind, the wedding couple had selected this hotel as this played a major deciding factor. Imagine their anger then; when they found out that the hotel had decided to do things ‘in house’, instead of placing the order with the caterer as promised. In fact, when the couple directly reached out the caterer, he said that he hadn’t heard from the hotel at all! That the hotel failed to inform the couple of its change of plans was also unacceptable.
In my eyes, this is a disgusting deception that the hotel pulled off and ruined a bride and groom’s most important day of their life. I informed the family that they should take some action, at least demand some of their money back, but the couple are busy with preparations to leave the country for a better life (and who can blame them given the current situation?), and don’t have the time, or energy to pursue this route. In the meantime, they are telling everyone who cares to listen (including the 200+ guests who attended their function) about their experience with this hotel, and as you know bad publicity spreads like wildfire.
So, would you encourage your hotel staff to pull a Switcheroo like this hotel, to implementing such a model of business deception? Is it worth the negative publicity? Yes, it’s a trick that in the end does damage to all.
Ashraaq Wahab – Ashraaq Wahab -Technical & Marketing Director Hospitality Sri Lanka, Automotive Journalist, Marketer and Writer, who enjoys penning his thoughts, insights and ideas on a variety of topics
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