Hotels are a vibrant industry – as temperamental, moody, fun, idiosyncratic, and eccentric – as the people who make the structure throb and come alive. And that presents a unique challenge to those who are responsible for ensuring that the brand personality seeps into each employee optimally for a cohesive representation of the brand. Ask the Training andHuman Resource fellas and they will tell you how much sleep they lose over beating, shaping, moulding, clubbing a delightfully eclectic mix into a unified cookie-cutter, strait-jacketed, assembly line incarnations of the Brand.
So, let’s take a closer look at these folks who hold the power of the Hotel’s universe in their very able hands.
2. WHEEL-DEALER
Remember that avuncular, well-mannered, warm and friendly just-to-the-right-degree Chauffeur in Pretty Woman who extends the finest courtesy to Vivian Ward in spite of the way she is dressed? Do you recall how he stays completely non-judgemental and guest-focussed regardless of the known fact about Vivian’s trade and goes enthusiastically beyond the brief to seal the liaison between the two love birds? Well! he truly personified the finest Brand Ambassador a hotel can dream of or train and retain.
From my own experience, I have run the gamut from the pros in fine fettle to those failing to a fault with a few square pegs thrown in between. I have been driven royally from Manhattan to JFK Airport in a luxury sedan by a delightful man; asked about my choice of music, comfort with temperature within the car cabin, choice of magazine and a drink of Evian. I have found myself cooped amidst the flawed interiors that reeked of grime, sweat, socks and a very musty uniform with manners that jarred. Then there has been that brief association with the Driver who spoke nineteen to the dozen at the wee hour of the morning when he picked me up from the KTM station in KL with an overfriendly demeanour that tested my patience.
When hotels pay a lot of attention to the wheels they choose to represent their Brand – from the latest models of Mercedes, Ford, BMW, Honda CRV or even good old remodelled Ambassadors – equal attention must be paid to the captain who will steer the ship to success with the guest. From the spic and span crispness of the uniform to the perfect p’s and q’s of conduct, product knowledge, positive perspective that is eager to serve but is never servile and a zealous compliance with service standards, the hotel chauffeur can have the guest in turn doff his hat admirably at this fine example of a brand embodiment.
Remember that avuncular, well-mannered, warm and friendly just-to-the-right-degree Chauffeur in Pretty Woman who extends the finest courtesy to Vivian Ward in spite of the way she is dressed? Do you recall how he stays completely non-judgemental and guest-focussed regardless of the known fact about Vivian’s trade and goes enthusiastically beyond the brief to seal the liaison between the two love birds? Well! he truly personified the finest Brand Ambassador a hotel can dream of or train and retain.
From my own experience, I have run the gamut from the pros in fine fettle to those failing to a fault with a few square pegs thrown in between. I have been driven royally from Manhattan to JFK Airport in a luxury sedan by a delightful man; asked about my choice of music, comfort with temperature within the car cabin, choice of magazine and a drink of Evian. I have found myself cooped amidst the flawed interiors that reeked of grime, sweat, socks and a very musty uniform with manners that jarred. Then there has been that brief association with the Driver who spoke nineteen to the dozen at the wee hour of the morning when he picked me up from the KTM station in KL with an overfriendly demeanour that tested my patience.
When hotels pay a lot of attention to the wheels they choose to represent their Brand – from the latest models of Mercedes, Ford, BMW, Honda CRV or even good old remodelled Ambassadors – equal attention must be paid to the captain who will steer the ship to success with the guest. From the spic and span crispness of the uniform to the perfect p’s and q’s of conduct, product knowledge, positive perspective that is eager to serve but is never servile and a zealous compliance with service standards, the hotel chauffeur can have the guest in turn doff his hat admirably at this fine example of a brand embodiment.
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