The history of the hospitality client

I have been a customer service aficionado for so long. As an eternal tourist and a world traveller, I have taken a great interest in how hotels treat their guests and how they warehouse returning customers. As a customer and brand expert, I am intrigued by how some hotels I use in Europe remember that I like soft feathered pillows; they remember that I get very cold and I like extra blankets. Is there any reason why I would not return to that hotel? In Lagos, there is a hotel I stay at often. After my first three stays, they started placing fruits and a bottle of wine in my room. They had observed that I always sent for grapes and watermelon when I arrived. They then began to give me a medley of sliced fruits and a centre placement of red grapes for me. This is customer service at its best. They have studied their guests, and they then curate what I like.

Another hotel in Abuja understands that views matter to me. I do not want to be in a hotel which is not equal to or better than my home. The views matter; please do not put me overlooking the hotel’s generating set and the soot that has settled on the rooftop outside my window. I do not want to be in a hotel room whose view is a building construction site or a dump yard. I am truly incensed when this happens, and because I take no prisoners. I would usually reject the room and insist that I get a better room. When I get into my hotel room, it serves as a retreat centre for my body, mind and spirit.  That is where I write that column that has eluded me for months; that is where I catch my beauty sleep, second only to our country home in Okpo, Kogi State, built specially for me by my well-respected spouse. I let go of my city stress in these three places: my bedroom at home in Abuja, our country home in Okpo, Olamaboro local government, and a good hotel.

Your brain needs to settle sometimes, and we all know that the noise around the world today can be daunting. So an oasis of peace where you eat fresh fruits, vegetables and nuts while walking around in an old boubou and worn slippers is simply a taste of heaven. This happens often in our country home; only a few hotels around the world can replicate this. But I pause and tell you an incredible tale of my latest encounter with what is considered a really good hotel.

So I check into this hotel somewhere in Nigeria, and I am met with some benign horrors. I am checking in, mind you, at about 4pm, enough room for housekeeping to do its thing, but what I found was fully unacceptable. Number one, there were no towels. Although I travel often with my own towels, using only towels that I have fully inspected as having been fully sanitised and cleaned and looking near new, there is no reason to deny me a towel. Number two, the beddings. Well, one pillowcase looked like someone had forgotten a patch of red oil, and the other looked like it had not been fully rinsed because there were patches of a film of soap stain on one. Then there was no kettle (I love my tea). Okay, before you crucify me with “What type of hotel is that you got yourself into?”, it was a premium hotel, trust me! Then the WC bolts and nuts were leaking, so the bathroom floor was wet when I checked in. I traditionally do not tolerate bad customer service and would have brought the roof down. But there was a huge convention in the city, and most hotels were booked full. So I made my peace. I calmly called reception and laid my complaint. By the second day, a few of the things had been fixed, but I walked into my room at 3:30pm, and it had not been cleaned.  Merde! How so? I walked into an unmade bed, an unclear bathroom and my empty bottles of water, which had not been cleared. Now it’s time to lose it a bit, so I call reception and the typical “We are sorry, ma,” comes from at least three persons at the reception.  I threatened that I won’t return to their hotel in the future.

They think it’s banter and laugh heartily. It’s so totally insane. I am not so sure why I am the only one who is not amused. In other climes, a supervisor would appear stern-faced, so sorry and sober, and then offer to send to your room a fruit plate, a bottle of wine or a complimentary meal to make up for the customer service sour taste in your mouth. But here, these ones think it’s a joke. In some hotels, making up for customer service failure is like pulling teeth. Mind you, what they would offer if they did it right can never make up for what was lost, which is trust in the hotel, but at least it was courtesy.

These things happen every day, and I truly wanted to jump on the counter and take out the smiling teeth of the laughing receptionists. But let’s return to how to curate the fresh customer. What did they like? What questions did they ask? Sauna, spa, food, bookshop? What do you know about them? Did they ask for an extra blanket? More water? A reduction in the temperature of the air conditioner?  I teach a course on customer service. These questions help with collecting intelligence information on this guest. This is the person’s history, and if the receptionist is well trained and paying attention, they would store this away for the future. With this history, if the customer returns, they are excited to know that the hotel remembers them in this truly warm way.

Hospitality is great in Nigeria amongst individuals and communities.  We are great at looking after strangers generally.

But hotels as an institution…There is so much to do. And yes… just a handful impress me.

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