In Search of Service….

Ever exclaimed of service being slow!!! A time when you waited & waited and didn't know if someone had run away to Assam with your tea request to pluck the first flush ! Or whether the chef is still trying to remove the last of the pimple from the cow’s cheek, before he butchers it and cooks your steak!

Some guests whine about staff hovering around & disturbing their inner peace, some say, staff not engaging enough ( you could marry them if you want to..) what are the odds of the husband loving everything and the wife hating it…same day-same time !

 There was one who even wanted to kiss me and her hubby got so furious …. ! what did I do.... smiled sheepishly and said - The Pleasure's All Mine ! Gosh- what was I thinking ! God Bless America!

In my career span, I have managed to ruin plenty of such service experiences….

To name a few, I have poured down a pot of the finest Columbian coffee through the backless dress of a lady ( I guess I was trying to peep in far & away…..)

I also once managed to serve only plates & forgot the food ! ( to my defence…I din’t speak german )

I was also once blamed for ruining somone’s vacation as the forecast had changed……. I wish the weather man took bribe!  

So, what style of service comforts you…..   

Is it the subservient behaviour of bowing down and saying Yes to every single request that makes you feel like royalty from the days of yore? Or is it getting your wishes granted even before you think of it ! Yeah! A lot of guests believe that the staff has high band width-routers in their brains which should catch their thinking frequencies! And even before they could speak out, their wishes must be fulfilled! Or is it that you love to be followed like a shadow and you need someone to scratch your back, pick up your man-bag & blow some breeze in your eye, just when it twitches.....( I do know a few...)

In my world, we often swap & used the words, 'Luxury' and 'Service' for one another, and I wonder... Is it in the goose down & feather pillows you sleep on or the Hermes bath amenities or in the Versace crested dinner set ! Or is it in the oversized bath tub you sink in sipping an exquisite vintage champagne.

For almost 16 years of my career, I associated “Luxury & service” to all this but then I finally found my answers in a small town where none of these fancy names existed….

In my recent travel to Laddakh, I experienced the most genuine service by someone who has never seen the doors of any fancy hotels, has never been to a hotel school, barely speaks English but can beat any Luxury Hotel’s Service, hands down……..

We all called him “ Sonu”…. He taught us that service is not about saying Yes to everything but in trying your best……… it’s in the way he made us feel. In a city with sub-zero temperatures, almost no vegetation and a house full of a resort, he made sure that we had our own little space, catered to us like there was nobody else around! And when the bunch of hooligans ( Us) asked for more… all he said with a smile was – let me try….. and boy- He tried !! & gave us more than we expected…. It made me realise that Great Service was not in reciting the lineage of Dolce & Gabana, but in the intent with which you look after someone … it’s in the genuineness of the person who cares for your comfort….     

There are people who frame degrees in hospitality management, join hotels and are proud to go by the rule book !  And then there are people like Sonu, who do not need a standard operating manual & a flow chart ( which by the way, hotels thrive on ) to resolve issues  … They just do it……