Why hotel owners give poor service

Editor, I have been observing, with a keen eye, how hotels and other business hire and fire their staff. My conclusion is that nepotism is the single biggest factor in all that. A hotel owner feels more secure and confident if their investments are in the hands of their relatives in the premises, never mind if they are competent to work as managers or not.

Monday, March 05, 2012

Editor,I have been observing, with a keen eye, how hotels and other business hire and fire their staff. My conclusion is that nepotism is the single biggest factor in all that. A hotel owner feels more secure and confident if their investments are in the hands of their relatives in the premises, never mind if they are competent to work as managers or not.Yet such a choice only dampens the business. Picking one as a manager because you are related is a recipe for failure. Obviously the revenues will be affected because of such retrogressive decisions. Such employees only feed the proprietor with gossip and are often arrogant to everyone – other employees and clients alike.That’s simply wrong. I am not entirely against employing relatives, but they must be qualified in the first place. Otherwise, you can assist them without necessarily putting them in charge of your business.Also, some naive business owners simple lack the requisite skills. For instance, some think that a hotel is simply a building or the decor.  Enrolling for some part-time lessons and learning from others can help fix this challenge. MaridadiKigaliCustomer Service is an attitude, more so an attitude to work and a conscience that without it you lose rather than gain.An attitude is primarily shaped by governance and the way we govern is shaped by institutions that set standards of service. If a hotel does not meet certain standards of service, its staff not qualified and we still call it a hotel, then we are in trouble.There is need to re-look at the way we regulate, why we regulate and what regulation is really all about. Poor customer service has a bearing on the way in which we achieve development target and what sort of development we attain, because development benefits are directly correlated to what we invest in.Emmanuel MurangiraKigali