Hotel Design and Customer Convenience

Having been to (and stayed in) two different hotels in the 4-5 star category in recent times for seminars on the IMT-Grenoble doctorate (DBA), these are observations born of necessity. One major irritant that I find in hotels is that you need your key card to operate the lift. It is a huge inconvenience to the guest, as you are caught unawares and then left to figure it out. And the visitor cannot visit on his own, without an escort. Overdoing the security bit? You bet.

The other great inexplicable I find is that bathtubs have gone missing. They used to be a luxury that one could indulge in without stepping out of you room. You do have fancier and fancier showers with five different ways to use them, but they are not the same thing.

The third I find most irritating is the (lack of) lighting in the room. They have eight different lights, but not one bright enough to light up the room entirely. You have to struggle first to find the hidden switches, and then to just read normally. TV remotes galore confuse you further. Why do you need two remotes when one will do? Anyway, the stress is on showing off rather than on functionality is my conclusion. I prefer the old-world options with basic aesthetics. Heck, I AM old-world.

Delhi Musings, Customer Service and More

Two incidents of customer service first. We had gone in a group of seven to eat lunch at a fairly expensive restaurant in Bangalore e-city recently. The lunch buffet was excellent. But at the end, we had to wait 20 minutes for the bill, because the cash register had failed!

The second incident is of a private sector bank which did not feel like crediting a cheque I wrote, because my payee's (wife was the payee) middle name was not written along with the long first  AND name. I am sure the idea was to prevent large gangs of cheque-stealers from raiding a poor prof's account, but it was not amusing!


Anyway, on to more pleasant stuff. I have found at least one good bookstore (Om book shop), though it's in Faraway  Gurgaon. But there is a metro station near it (MG Road), so it's accessible. I also found the bus system is good to use on weekends. Friday evenings, the traffic seems quite terrible, but OK on others.

Also celebrated the 50th birthday of a dear childhood friend yesterday at his place. Having had mine a couple of years earlier, I know the feeling- of having lived about two-thirds of your life. And I caught up with more friends from my teen years a few days earlier, so it's not too bad.

Actual Experience Minus Expectation

There is a theory in Services Marketing that the Satisfaction of a Service customer for any kind of service is given by a formula Perception of Performance- Expectation. If Perception of actual service experience is higher than expectations, the customer is satisfied. Could be true of life as well. Karma with zero expectation would probably sound outrageous to most of us, but isn't that what the famous four lines from the Bhagvad Gita advocate?

But that (lowering of expectations) applies only to "rewards" that one expects, and not to the quality brought to the doing of the job. There are intangible gains from anything done well. A smile of gratefulness, a burp of satisfaction (from a belly you filled with your cooking), a hug from a child you told a story to, or a look of understanding (rare though it may be) from a student you have been teaching.

My favourite example of expectation and its impact is from films. Sholay was one of the best things to happen in the Hindi film industry. But expectations from Ramesh Sippy (the director of Sholay) were sky-high after that, and he could never again meet them, not with Shaan (not a bad movie) or any other film he made since. So, the flip side of doing well, be aware, is that it will raise expectations from you for the next time. Not such a bad thing, really, for quality improvement.