Hello!! My PP Island – I, ME, MY, MINE symptom (Part 2)

Early July, 09, I was invited by the Tourism Development Office, Ministry of Tourism and Sports (Thailand) to PP Island to conduct a training session on service excellence. The project was good and successful.

In the evening after the session is finished, a young hotel owner invites all of us, (4 officers from the tourist office and me) to have dinner at his hotel.  Though I am tired, I politely accept the invitation.

The owner is Thai, young, energetic and committed.  From a talk during dinner, I realized he has good knowledge of what he is doing.  I am sure he will somehow be successful in managing the hotel operation and the team.  However, I know that everyone has room for improvement.  I talked to him about 4 and a half hours from the first minute until last minute when I walked back to the hotel.  I am sure that nobody would be able to count the hundreds of I,ME,MY,MINE in his presentation and talk - from food, drink, guest rooms etc. etc.!  He is surly a bit extreme.  If he finally will realize and accept to change his habit, he might need a specialist or special clinic!!! I realize that he is very proud of his products; however, I don’t feel like this place is truly welcoming.

Let me review some of the unique experiences that evening:

1. “Good evening, welcome to MY restaurant”
2. “I have a special drink to offer you today.  My drink today is pineapple juice with sweet basil leave, I am sure you will love MY drink.  Nobody can make the taste like MINE”. (I ask him “Oh, are you the one who made this drink?” he says “No, it was MY staff who did it!!!!!”
3. “When you want to test whether the food is nice, you have to try simple food like fried rice and spicy soup”.  And, I can tell you that you will love MY fried rice.
4. “Normally, I test MY dishes by MYSELF and I will also invite MY department heads to test the food too”.
5. “When we finish the dinner, I will take you to see MY hotel”
6. “I also have a design hotel name….., this hotel of MINE is really unique, you will love it.  I hire the architect to help on the overall design with my brother but now I send my brother to attend training session on Phuket Island – my brother is MY twin”.  (I really feel from this sentence that he did control everybody’s life - from his staff to his brother).
7. Up to the hotel building, “I have a surprise; I will show the top type of MY room here, a honeymoon suite.   Look at this special tile, I select the style by myself, how is it?  MY tile is beautiful, isn’t it?”
8. I …my …I…my ….I …my …I ….my….my….my…I ….I ….. – I get so dizzy…
9. At the end, he says “I hope that MY hotel could be your choice next time”

My comment is….sir, please make it a bit more interesting that why YOUR hotel has to be MY choice!!!

How about if he simply changes the wording to: “I like to take you to visit your possible honey moon suite”, “may I present the special drink made especially for you”, “I have kindly requested our Executive Chef to prepare a simple but most special fried rice for you and hope that you will enjoy your food this evening”, “I realize that you travel quite a lot (I don’t think he realized that), you must have seen many beautiful hotels, I am happy that I have a chance to personally welcome you here”.     – With wordings like this, I would surly feel a little bit more at ease and welcomed rater than the “I-ME-MY-MINE products”….

During his whole presentation, he mentions only one time of the word “your” and I am surprised that he never asks about customer’s needs and the potential format of our next trip to PP Island.  Basically, he does not ask any questions at all.  He only presents his products from first to last minute.  Simply, he has no interest in his guests, he only presents his interests.  He does not even call his guests by name. Me, the guest, looks at his name card and when I arrive at HIS restaurant I address him by name.  Right now I am not sure anymore whether it is a culture in Thailand that customers should remember owners’ names, but owners don’t need to remember guest names.

He also makes a funny mistake: he mentions that he has the most hi-tech key system on the Island, as you don’t need to insert any key or key card, one only needs to touch the door pat with the key card and the door security system will de-activate and the door opens.  He is so happy about it but as a matter of fact, the hotel where we stay and which is not a new hotel, has the exact same key system as he has.

A little more open-mind, a little more details orientation and a little less ego with a visit to his competitors would save him from future embarrassments.