Changing Face of Indian Hospitality Industry
Changing Face of Indian Hospitality Industry
I have been travelling around the world for many many years now. Each of these journeys is full of unforgettable experiences of all sorts- from great to good and from bad to horrible, as we know most journeys are unique! I never fail to notice the differences in attitude towards the notion of 'service' that exists between different countries (and even within different parts of a country), especially in hospitality industry.
For me India has been a particularly interesting example in regard to the notion of service you can expect. I have always felt that what I can call a sound notion of service and professionalism is missing in Indian tourism and hospitality industry, at least till my last trip three and a half years ago. I must mention that India is the country where I originally come from and also where I have spent a significant part of my time over the last decade.
I have faced many awkward situations while travelling in India and while staying in a hotel there. Often there have been obvious issues with the room, food or very commonly with the internet connection but when I tried to complain about these to the staff or the manager of the hotel, they have refused to accept it. They would play it down- it is a small thing and can always happen'- type response rather than saying sorry about it'! There have been situations when even after paying over 100 US$ a night, it had been obvious that the bed sheet has not been changed. However the manager would not accept it though at one place the room service guy later accepted that the sheets are mostly turned upside down ad used twice!
On such situations, I have been forced to think- why can't this person accept the mistake and rectify it instead of suggesting that it is not such a big problem or trying to cook an argument to justify it'. There have been many such irritations in almost all aspects of travel in India.
The basic issue is that you can never afford to be off-guard while you are in India- you have to ask all possible questions beforehand or else you will not get what you expected. A friend of mine would joke- if you don't ask whether the taxi has 4 wheals or not, you may get one without wheals'! Oh, I must mention that I travel with a medium budget and therefore have mostly stayed in places those call themselves a 3 or 4 star hotel and almost never in a 5 star place. My comments therefore relate mostly to mid sector hotels.
Quite contrary to this, the level of service, commitment and professionalism that I have experienced in almost every hotel or restaurant I have used in Taiwan has been quite exceptional. In fact this notion of service is really the hallmark of Taiwanese business culture in general and possible the main reason of their success.
I should share an experience I had while travelling in Taiwan a couple of years ago. I was quite tired after a long flight and wanted to eat something before going to bed. I therefore chose a place not so far from my hotel in central Taipei. This was a nice and clean place(as most of the places in Taiwan are- though I must say I avoid these 'outside places' such as in night markets etc), and had rather immaculate furniture. Looking at the menu (they had one in English as well) it appeared a moderately priced local restaurant. Looking around it was clear that the place is frequented by a good number of foreigners.
I ordered a few items from the menu and a local Taiwanese beer to drink. A well dressed lady served me the food and I started eating. As I had taken just a couple of spoon of food, I found something strange in my mouth- on looking at it properly; it was a piece of plastic film which probably came from the packaging of one of the ingredients. I called the waitress and showed her the piece of plastic. She probably did not speak much of English, as she just said 'sorry' almost 4-5 times bowing her head, grabbed my plate and almost ran towards the kitchen.
I was happy that she had accepted the mistake and without me asking for it, offered to change the dish. That would have been perfectly good enough for me. Within a few seconds, a man who almost certainly was the cook came to me and said 'sorry' for another 2-3 times. I said don't worry about it' and I continued sipping the beer. After a few more seconds came a well dressed man (who probably was the owner or the manager of the place). He was also very apologetic and repeated sorry several times before saying 'Sir a fresh plate is being prepared for you now- and that he will make sure that it does not happen in future'. The waitress brought a fresh plate after a few minutes and while putting that on my table said sorry about the mistake! It was clear to me that only that they all are really sorry about what has happened there also was a clear desire not to let this happen again!
As I finished my dinner, I asked for the bill. The lady at the cash counter brought the bill to me, saying sorry again with the same sense of humility. I was really surprised when she said 'we have not charged you for that dish, since the chef did not prepare it carefully!
This event has sort of remained in my mind as an ideal of service I would like to see from anybody in general but especially from a hotel or a restaurant- the point is that it does not have to be dangerous; a piece of plastic should not be there in food'. Such a response is not always guaranteed even in the western world, a lot less in India, I must say! Even in Europe (where I now live), the reaction would most likely be- 'well, it is just a piece of plastic' or at best- we will change it' as if 'the mistake was your but I will do a favour to you and change it'.
However, three months ago, after a gap of over 3 years, I made another trip to India and I must say I was very pleasantly surprised during this time. Once again I was visiting Corbett Tiger Reserve' in state of Uttarakhand, which is more popularly known as Jim Corbett National Park' (http://projecttiger.nic.in/corbett.htm). Corbett National Park is the first national park in India and in addition to offering glorious views of mighty tigers it also offers really wonderful views of the nature and a complete wildlife experience. One comes across several wild animals and birds in the way to central park. I may want to write about the destination and the park in general somewhere else but now let me focus on the theme of hospitality in this area. I was staying only a few kilometres away from the Dhikala' entrance of the Jim Corbett National Park' in the village Garjia' just along the main road going to Ranikhet'. Ranikhet Road' runs between the river Kosi' and the village on one side and the main Park on the other.
Only till a few years ago there used to be only few hotels amidst the stretches of dense mango orchards in this area, but the mango orchards have all been cut and the land has been converted to brand new resorts offering decent facilities to the tourists in the meantime. In fact I learnt from a recent article in a British News paper (Sunday Times, date- 21/02/2011, Page 15) that this area with all these resorts is now called Vegas Strip' locally, which kind of makes sense! I was told there are almost 100 hotels and resorts from rather modest huts to proper luxury resorts in this area now. Such resorts are mostly started and operated by a younger, more business savvy generation that has a different perspective of business.
On the advice of a friend of mine, I decided to stay at Myrica Hotels' (www.myricahotels.com), a brand new, rather medium sized resort in comparison to some other properties located in the area here but I found an energetic ambience in and around it. With mountain peaks on both sides, the location is quite good even by the standards of Corbett National Park. The Dcor was soft and rather relaxing! Resort staff was very welcoming and really eager to help. The food was well cooked and original in style- moreover, all rather reasonably priced.
Before my departure I ran into a conversation with the owners of the hotel and what I heard from them struck a chord with what I have been thinking about the quality of service in India. The type of concerns I had about Indian hospitality industry (as mentioned above) is actually the reason why they decided to start this resort, they told me. Before I flew back to Europe, I spent a couple of days in Delhi. While in Delhi, I stayed at Hotel DophInn Grand (www.dolphinn.com) at New Friends Colony and I had another excellent experience at DolphInn Grand as well.
I am sure Myrica or Dolphinn are just examples. The point is that many new breed of hotels and resorts are coming up in India. This new breed' understands that the way to succeed is to offer best service to the customers, especially if you are facing a stiff competition. May be the lack of stiff competition was what was missing in Indian hotels scene till recently. Overall I wonder if the notion and quality of service is really changing with such new generation of more appropriately priced, business savvy, hotels and resorts springing across India?
This will indeed be a very welcome change in the scene of Indian hospitality industry!
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