It was the season of food poisoning for the media. It is always thus. One incident is enough to start a chain of events and then there will be nothing more. Everything shall continue the same way.
It started with the death of a person who ate Shawarma. This must be the first such incident in the world. Later one got to read daily reports of food poisoning and raids. Many hotels were closed down and many stayed closed in fear of raids!
But I do think that many hotels are taking their customers for granted. Maybe they are getting enough revenue from those who seek their daily spirit.
Recently we went to a hotel in Tiruvella for dinner. We had finished shopping from a new outlet and since Hubby needed to get his pants altered, we chose the nearest hotel. It is one of the oldest in the town. We glanced through the glossy menu and saw many delectable names. With much anticipation we placed our order with the head waiter. This is when he suggested that we order just chappathi and chicken curry if we want to get our order fast. Although our original order was not that great, he told us that it will take more than 30 minutes. Since we were all hungry we decided to take his advise. Thus started our wait for the food to arrive. 10 minutes, 30 minutes and 40 minutes passed. Hubby decided to collect his pants in the mean time. Later the food arrived and we wanted more chapathis. It was after considerable time that it arrived. Later when Hubby arrived we found that we might need more chapathis. This is when the waiter told us thus: " Did I not give you 2 just now? Even when it was meant for other guests I gave it to you! ". Hunger can lead to many emotions and I don't blame Hubby when he lost his temper. He was just about to dig into his food when he hears such 'encouraging' words. In Malayalam they say " Paysa koduthe kadikkunna pattiye vanghichathupole ayi" or we paid for a biting dog. Here we are spending money to have some food but we are scolded for stating our needs. He gave it to the waiter and the head waiter comes with explanation that there are many functions going on and hence they are busy. In reply Hubby told him that in this case they should just close the restaurant and not open it for business. By then he had lost his appetite and went to find the manager. The manager nodded his head and said sorry. Anyway that was the last visit to this hotel.
It was this same experience we got in Bangalore. We had a booked one called " Ivory Inn" through the net. I had called them and asked them if it was near to MG Road etc. and I was told it is very near. But it is only when we saw the rooms that we found that we had been cheated. Since it was late at night we couldn't find another. This place was also far away from main Bangalore. We shifted from there the next day itself. We had found this place from Trip Advisor but next time we shall be very careful.
It is time the hotels made an effort to keep customer service their prime objective. With customer service should come cleanliness and quality. After all we are paying for it and if you lose customers who shall pay for your livelihood?
Thought I shall add how things are done out here. It is mandatory that sandwich / shawarma shops operate in full view of the customer. This way they are forced to keep things clean. They normally have an open room where one can see everything being done. Municipality also checks frequently and those who violate rules are sealed. Our government too needs to operate thus. A dream?
It started with the death of a person who ate Shawarma. This must be the first such incident in the world. Later one got to read daily reports of food poisoning and raids. Many hotels were closed down and many stayed closed in fear of raids!
But I do think that many hotels are taking their customers for granted. Maybe they are getting enough revenue from those who seek their daily spirit.
Recently we went to a hotel in Tiruvella for dinner. We had finished shopping from a new outlet and since Hubby needed to get his pants altered, we chose the nearest hotel. It is one of the oldest in the town. We glanced through the glossy menu and saw many delectable names. With much anticipation we placed our order with the head waiter. This is when he suggested that we order just chappathi and chicken curry if we want to get our order fast. Although our original order was not that great, he told us that it will take more than 30 minutes. Since we were all hungry we decided to take his advise. Thus started our wait for the food to arrive. 10 minutes, 30 minutes and 40 minutes passed. Hubby decided to collect his pants in the mean time. Later the food arrived and we wanted more chapathis. It was after considerable time that it arrived. Later when Hubby arrived we found that we might need more chapathis. This is when the waiter told us thus: " Did I not give you 2 just now? Even when it was meant for other guests I gave it to you! ". Hunger can lead to many emotions and I don't blame Hubby when he lost his temper. He was just about to dig into his food when he hears such 'encouraging' words. In Malayalam they say " Paysa koduthe kadikkunna pattiye vanghichathupole ayi" or we paid for a biting dog. Here we are spending money to have some food but we are scolded for stating our needs. He gave it to the waiter and the head waiter comes with explanation that there are many functions going on and hence they are busy. In reply Hubby told him that in this case they should just close the restaurant and not open it for business. By then he had lost his appetite and went to find the manager. The manager nodded his head and said sorry. Anyway that was the last visit to this hotel.
It was this same experience we got in Bangalore. We had a booked one called " Ivory Inn" through the net. I had called them and asked them if it was near to MG Road etc. and I was told it is very near. But it is only when we saw the rooms that we found that we had been cheated. Since it was late at night we couldn't find another. This place was also far away from main Bangalore. We shifted from there the next day itself. We had found this place from Trip Advisor but next time we shall be very careful.
It is time the hotels made an effort to keep customer service their prime objective. With customer service should come cleanliness and quality. After all we are paying for it and if you lose customers who shall pay for your livelihood?
Thought I shall add how things are done out here. It is mandatory that sandwich / shawarma shops operate in full view of the customer. This way they are forced to keep things clean. They normally have an open room where one can see everything being done. Municipality also checks frequently and those who violate rules are sealed. Our government too needs to operate thus. A dream?
