A HOTEL IS A PLACE

......WHERE THE HOTELIER GIVES GIFTS TO HIS GUESTS TO COMPENSATE FOR DOUBTFUL SERVICES.

There was a time when soap, shampoo and a smile was enough. Then, in the absence of the smile came pillows 'a la carte', newspapers, bath oils and breakfast. Now, hoteliers are pulling out all stops and are going for jewellery, customised marmalades, perfumes, personalised ice creams and bespoke suits.What comes next .... a kiss?

However, some 90% said they were really only looking for 'friendly service' and would pay an extra $20 for it.

Perhaps the real problem in our industry is our inability to expand on the real interpretation of a 'smile'. For after all, how long can one smile? A few seconds, twenty seconds........let's face it, after a while, a smile becomes a grimace and who wants to standardise a grimace into the operations manual? And what's a smile without that friendly touch?

What do we really mean by a smile? Some smart Alecs in the fast food game solved that by giving employees hats with "HI" written on it or the more active "HELLO" and SMILE buttons. Did that solve the problem? Hardly....Due to the involvement of the muscle near the eyes, it is sometimes said that one can tell whether or not a smile is "real" by whether or not it "reaches the eyes".

I think we are getting there slowly as we start to talk about experiences, memorable moments, real, sincerity, eye contact, hyper natural.....but some of those descriptors are open to other interpretations by employees, many of whom speak other languages before English and whose interpretation of memorable moments might be misinterpreted.

We have learned a bit about facial expressions and body language but not enough. Let's face it, our expressions and language change through the day.

So now the dreamers who are seeking to differentiate their product from the crowd are describing 'experiences' as warm interchanges that are anticipated or pre-engineered from the heart between the employee and the guest, moments when two people connect, entwine and then drift apart. Needs or wants are pre-anticipated, provided ........and only later invoiced.

Virtual kisses, in fact.... not necessarily fully French, but perhaps virtual air kisses, the types of facial body language that has now replaced the handshake........which was a late arrival itself  to my England from Europe. Perhaps even with the same uncertainty that surrounds the North American version, in which we are not certain on which side to start or how many times! Somewhat like the handshake that started with a military shake, and ended with a two-fisted hand embrace plus an arm pat to end it.

Today's HR people are now realising that it is difficult to teach 'hospitality' and that they now need to source people who have 'hospitality' as part of their nature. I would venture to add that with the link between entertainment and hospitality that what we really seek are candidates who are in fact natural entertainers.

Puts added pressure on the HR office who now also seek anticipators, mind readers and good guessors to replace the smilers and the servers with the great attitudes that have filled our past ranks for years.

Perhaps it will not be too long before we give the kissers a chance!! That should ramp-up the job applications from the young people we all seek.

Perhaps the real problem in our industry is that we describe it as hospitality rather than entertainment leading us to be hospitable rather than entertaining.

But, at the end of the day, entertainment is what we are all about. Being hospitable is an enormous, unqualified understatement of our function in life. We are 'entertainers', plain and simple and our producers, directors, stage designers, scriptwriters, costume designers, lighting technicians and cast members better realise this rapidly or we will bore our public to death.

In the meantime, for those who are incapable of entertaining in the truest and most sincere fashion, gifts may be the answer or at least some form of acceptable compensation.

For ways in which you can ratchet up your hotel's entertainment factor and ratchet down the giveaways, contact [email protected]