Any Idea On How To Deal With Indian Tourists

[livinthailandos]

I'm not writing this put down indian tourist or anything this is just from my experience serving them so far. I know everyone is entitled to their own opinion and entitled to

Good Service

and Allowed if conditions be for a refund if necessary

Have had many indian tourists during the year, and no matter what they always seem to have the highest rate of complants, I wouldn't still be in business this long if I didn't try to make the customer happy. ( NOTE been in business for 4 years. All complants and problems will happen I am aware, but they seem never to be satisfied with anything, and always asking for refunds. I will serve them as a customer but my experience so far makes me wonder is thailand ready for a people who are never happy or satisfied. I guess only 5 - 6 Stars hotels might be able to help them who knows. I've dealt with Germans, Chinese, Koreans, Japanese have far few and little compliments. Maybe its just me but any ideas on how to deal with this people, YES i am aware always improving customer experience and service is the best thing.

1. Have you dealt with indian tourists

2. How to manage to give them service them effectively and make them happy

3. Any bad experiences with them if so what?

I've done free room upgrades / free breakfast/ 30 min free massage to them.

[sbk]

A forewarning, please refrain from racist comments in this thread thanks.

[Jingthing]

I have a lot of experience working with Indians. It is not a mai bpen rai culture. The only things I can think of are:

collect the complaints and see if there is a pattern, and if you can address the most common complaints with a change of service, try that

be firm and say no civilly when the demands are outrageous

offer Indian food options if you have food service

hire some Indian staff to help bridge the gap

[jdinasia]

Ignore the race/nationality of your customer and only consider the actual complaint. If it is valid then deal with it like you would for anyone, if it is not then reply with something like "I hear what you are saying and am sorry you feel that way. This is our company policy..."

Jing ... did you really say "hire some Indian staff" after your moral outrage in the thread about someone looking for Asian Nationality only in prospective employees?

Edited December 26, 2008 by jdinasia

[neverdie]

Maybe you could 'outsource' your complaints section....just like major telcos in the west......all complaints can be patched thru to lets say far east coast of Africa where they communicate in Swahili (Nothing racist about that)

[Plus]

With Thais there's always a way to redirect the problem somewhere else, then find some common thing to talk about, and no one would remember what they complained about in the first place.

The trick is to create that special bond that says "I would forgive this guy/girl for anything, he/she is my friend". It works with Westerners and Chinese and Japanese perfectly, though you'd need someone to do the talking for you with Asians. I have no idea how it couild work with Indians, ie. what makes them click.

At the moment it seems they see you as a perfect target to practice their complaining skills, there might be nothing wrong with your service whatsoever. I guess you should try not to provoke that attitude in the first place.

[Jingthing]

Ignore the race/nationality of your customer and only consider the actual complaint. If it is valid then deal with it like you would for anyone, if it is not then reply with something like "I hear what you are saying and am sorry you feel that way. This is our company policy..."

Jing ... did you really say "hire some Indian staff" after your moral outrage in the thread about someone looking for Asian Nationality only in prospective employees?

If you have many Indian customers, then why would you ignore the obvious cultural differences of your customers? Cultural differences are real.

Yes, in this case, at least one Indian staffer especially one with the appropriate language skills, would be a merit based requirement in an establishment with a lot of Indian customers, if that staffer could solve the business problem of communicating better with Indian people.

Edited December 26, 2008 by Jingthing

[thaierless]

I'm not writing this put down indian tourist or anything this is just from my experience serving them so far. I know everyone is entitled to their own opinion and entitled to

Good Service

and Allowed if conditions be for a refund if necessary

Have had many indian tourists during the year, and no matter what they always seem to have the highest rate of complants, I wouldn't still be in business this long if I didn't try to make the customer happy. ( NOTE been in business for 4 years. All complants and problems will happen I am aware, but they seem never to be satisfied with anything, and always asking for refunds. I will serve them as a customer but my experience so far makes me wonder is thailand ready for a people who are never happy or satisfied. I guess only 5 - 6 Stars hotels might be able to help them who knows. I've dealt with Germans, Chinese, Koreans, Japanese have far few and little compliments. Maybe its just me but any ideas on how to deal with this people, YES i am aware always improving customer experience and service is the best thing.

1. Have you dealt with indian tourists

2. How to manage to give them service them effectively and make them happy

3. Any bad experiences with them if so what?

I've done free room upgrades / free breakfast/ 30 min free massage to them.

I would ask Thais, they have longer and more experience with them, sure they can offer some helpful hints.

[BlackRussian]

Maybe its just me but any ideas on how to deal with this people, YES i am aware always improving customer experience and service is the best thing.

Put a visible sign in Hindi "We do our best guys, but sorry, the actual slogan is "No refunds" though" © "Simpsons", 2007, it was about Apple

Seriously, I think it is rather way to minimize expanses for such customers than disappointment, and it rather depends of the level of their income than of nationality.

[hanno]

I have been working in hotels for 20+ years and Indians (or at least some of them) are some of the toughest customers I have had. Continuously unhappy, always looking to bargain, and impossible to satisfy. I think you will just have to suck it up. Having said that, the only time I ever lost it with a customer was with in Indian. This after he had me called to his room at 02:00 to complain about the aircon not working (it was). We then proceeded to move him 3 times until he ended up in a Suite free of charge. He was still unhappy at which point I turned around and walked away. He went ballistic at that and started screaming at me and sticking his finger in my face. This is when I told him that I would snap of his had if he stuck his face in my face one more time. He didn't like that one bit but i felt a lot better

[mattias33]

wouldnt "warning level raised" be enough? After all i dont see you commit any crime in this thread so far?? .

[samuibeachcomber]

well i see everyone's behaving themselves but its a pity no one is really allowed to say what they really feel.

[sbk]

I thought a forewarning might warn off those people who can't keep their bigoted comments to themselves. You are free to think what you will but forum rules are very clear regarding racist comments.

[samuibeachcomber]

yes i know and i appreciate you have to do this.

[onnut]

Indians in my experience are very hard to deal with, they want discounts on everything and never seem to be happy. when they call for me I normally just smile and keep nodding my head, they seem to understand that.

[Pushit]

We have many Indian/Thai customers at our spa and we normally manage to satisfy their requirements, but yes they are more vocal in requesting satisfaction than say a westerner that would not and leave, not to return.

Our Indian customers communicate better than most, why not?.

[samuibeachcomber]

I'm not writing this put down indian tourist or anything this is just from my experience serving them so far. I know everyone is entitled to their own opinion and entitled to

Good Service

and Allowed if conditions be for a refund if necessary

Have had many indian tourists during the year, and no matter what they always seem to have the highest rate of complants, I wouldn't still be in business this long if I didn't try to make the customer happy. ( NOTE been in business for 4 years. All complants and problems will happen I am aware, but they seem never to be satisfied with anything, and always asking for refunds. I will serve them as a customer but my experience so far makes me wonder is thailand ready for a people who are never happy or satisfied. I guess only 5 - 6 Stars hotels might be able to help them who knows. I've dealt with Germans, Chinese, Koreans, Japanese have far few and little compliments. Maybe its just me but any ideas on how to deal with this people, YES i am aware always improving customer experience and service is the best thing.

1. Have you dealt with indian tourists

2. How to manage to give them service them effectively and make them happy

3. Any bad experiences with them if so what?

I've done free room upgrades / free breakfast/ 30 min free massage to them.

try the fawlty tower approach that should stop them in their tracks.

[Briggsy]

If they are more trouble than they are worth, do not accept the booking.

[Mark Wolfe]

I don't think pointing out certain idiocincracities is racist. I for one, having lived on Taiwan for 20 years, can say with some authority that many (but not all) people from there, and also from the mainland, can be horrible travelers. Luckily, not many mainlanders come here.

As for the Indians, the fact is that they don't make up anything like the lion's share of nationalities here so you can always refer to the owner's right to refuse service to anyone as they see fit. I don't think you'll go under having not kowtowed to an Indian or two.

Or...take the Thai way of doing things: if you complain to a Thai, most often you get, "GO SOMEWHERE ELSE THEN!" I have almost never seen anything resembling, "The customer is always right," here. It's basically, "It's my shop and I can do what I dam_n well please, and if you want to complain, go the hel_l somewhere else."

[samuibeachcomber]

I don't think pointing out certain idiocincracities is racist. I for one, having lived on Taiwan for 20 years, can say with some authority that many (but not all) people from there, and also from the mainland, can be horrible travelers. Luckily, not many mainlanders come here.

As for the Indians, the fact is that they don't make up anything like the lion's share of nationalities here so you can always refer to the owner's right to refuse service to anyone as they see fit. I don't think you'll go under having not kowtowed to an Indian or two.

Or...take the Thai way of doing things: if you complain to a Thai, most often you get, "GO SOMEWHERE ELSE THEN!" I have almost never seen anything resembling, "The customer is always right," here. It's basically, "It's my shop and I can do what I dam_n well please, and if you want to complain, go the hel_l somewhere else."

could n't agree more.

[Jingthing]

Denying service based on nationality, I suppose that is legal here, but it seems very extreme and not really necessary. There is a hotel I regularly visit (to eat at) in which half of their customers are Indian. Culturally, they are just different. They are usually direct and to the point and not very smiley. It is not fair to say all of them or a majority are intolerably difficult. I wouldn't ask Thai people about Indians, they are in general very prejudiced against Indians for irrational reasons such as they think their curries are "wrong". I would hope as farangs we don't fall into this bigotry trap. If certain individuals of ANY nationality are outrageous in their demands, just put the foot down and deal with these individuals. Indian tourism is too large a growing market for many businesses to even afford being so closed minded.

I wonder if the same people who think it is okie dokie to deny service to Indians just based on nationality are the very same people who feel the same way about Israelis. This kind of bigotry is not attractive, folks.

Edited December 26, 2008 by Jingthing

[hanno]

I wonder if the same people who think it is okie dokie to deny service to Indians just based on nationality are the very same people who feel the same way about Israelis. This kind of bigotry is not attractive, folks.

I am not saying that I would refuse service to anyone based on nationality. Fact is, however, that certain nationalities have certain character traits. Obviously, it does not apply to all, or even a majority; but it is certainly true: some Germans will put towels on pool chairs,, some Brits will get rat-asred and become obnoxious, some Russian women will come for breakfast in a string bikini (not that I am complaining about that one ) and some Indians are very tough to deal with.

Funny that you should mention Israelis though; general consensus among hoteliers is that they are, by and large, the worst guests to have. Not bigotry, fact.

[samuibeachcomber]

Denying service based on nationality, I suppose that is legal here, but it seems very extreme and not really necessary. There is a hotel I regularly visit (to eat at) in which half of their customers are Indian. Culturally, they are just different. They are usually direct and to the point and not very smiley. It is not fair to say all of them or a majority are intolerably difficult. I wouldn't ask Thai people about Indians, they are in general very prejudiced against Indians for irrational reasons such as they think their curries are "wrong". I would hope as farangs we don't fall into this bigotry trap. If certain individuals of ANY nationality are outrageous in their demands, just put the foot down and deal with these individuals. Indian tourism is too large a growing market for many businesses to even afford being so closed minded.

I wonder if the same people who think it is okie dokie to deny service to Indians just based on nationality are the very same people who feel the same way about Israelis. This kind of bigotry is not attractive, folks.

i dont really think its bigotry,no one has to put up with rude,overbearing people,who rightly or wrongly just keep complaining and continually demand attention.due to western political correctness it is deemed wrong to voice an opinion with regards to race incase it might upset them.........time to stand up and be counted in my opinion and say it like it is.people need to get some thicker skins.........my 2 cents worth.

[samuibeachcomber]

I wonder if the same people who think it is okie dokie to deny service to Indians just based on nationality are the very same people who feel the same way about Israelis. This kind of bigotry is not attractive, folks.

I am not saying that I would refuse service to anyone based on nationality. Fact is, however, that certain nationalities have certain character traits. Obviously, it does not apply to all, or even a majority; but it is certainly true: some Germans will put towels on pool chairs,, some Brits will get rat-asred and become obnoxious, some Russian women will come for breakfast in a string bikini (not that I am complaining about that one ) and some Indians are very tough to deal with.

Funny that you should mention Israelis though; general consensus among hoteliers is that they are, by and large, the worst guests to have. Not bigotry, fact.

good for you..........as i said before bring in the basil fawlty factor of that tv series fawlty towers,and dont put up with any nonsense from overbearing,annoying,obnoxious guests,no one needs them and as an owner of an establishment one is quite within one's rights to tell them to bugger off.

[yogi]

hi there

i am indian too,

yes you are right we are never satisfied,i tell you 1 simple thing,we indians have this habbit to bargain and discounts and complaining,

specialy indian tourist starts complaining so that they get some perk or save money,

we have tendency to try,"ok lets try to complain and see wat we get,if we dont get anything,we have nothig to loose also"

so just try to attain serious complains only,

[Samuian]

being for a long time in various countries, in the industry, having traveled India, Nepal and Sri Lanka extensively I am sorry to say that it might be very much a personal/individual thing!

I never ever ha trouble with them, except one, years ago but was out of his mind he ran amok in front of Victoria Station in Mumbai!

I think "Indians" do come with a pretty well tuned set of "Receivers incl. Antennae" and are very quick in sensing what the situation is all about.

Ever been on a Indian market, busy Indian restaurant, train, train station, life is quite different, it's a daily struggle in the midst of the masses, but still I have looked in many bright smiles....

Demanding? I always wonder how a customer in the service industry can be labeled as DEMANDING?

And yes..."free breakfast and free massage" where is that place I wonder, I'll come along too and promised if everything is reasonable good I WONT COMPLAIN, PROMISED!

Edited December 27, 2008 by Samuian

[Jingthing]

so just try to attain serious complains only,

The Indian guy told you the bottom line answer.

ont put up with any nonsense from overbearing,annoying,obnoxious guests,no one needs them and as an owner of an establishment one is quite within one's rights to tell them to bugger off.

Sure it is the owner's right. But to come to the conclusion that ALL members of a particular nationality are ALL unwelcome customers is ... wrong.

Of course there are businesses which totally CATER to one particular group. For example, a Japanese style karaoke bar or a gay sauna. For these kinds of business, for the most part, the customers themselves will perform the discrimination. That is a different matter than a general hotel.

Edited December 27, 2008 by Jingthing

[OxfordWill]

in my several years of dealing with indian staff and indian customers I have always found them to have some sort of inner perceptive 6th sense about summing you and a situation up very quickly. If they sense you do not also have this 6th sense, they will more often than not try to take advantage. If they sense you haven't summed them up similarly, they will try it on. If they sense you have the same sense as them, they consider you "one of them" and dont bother so much. I dont have this inner sense but I have found how to show the symptoms of having it (sorry, I cant describe how to do this, its a reaction more than anything) which seems to fools most indians I come into contact with and as such, I find them to be some of the most pleasant and easy to work with among all the nationalities I come into contact with. Their customer service levels, as staff, as especially good. And as clients they are ferocious when something goes wrong but very complimentary when nothing does. They also seem to respect a tough negotiator.

[Jingthing]

They also seem to respect a tough negotiator.

As do many people from many other nationalities.

OxfordW summed up some interesting impressions about dealing with Indians. My Mother worked with Indians and she couldn't adapt to the cultural differences, it drove her crazy and she became prejudiced. I, on the other hand, also worked with Indians and found them in general very intelligent, interesting and challenging. A few Indian individuals were intolerably full of s in a distinctly Indian way. I didn't turn me against ALL Indians because of some bad apples. It just turned me against these INDIVIDUALS. Call it PC. I don't care, people deserve fairness.

[koheesti]

I didn't know this behaviour was so common. I have an Italian friend in the furniture business. He told me a story about how he sold some really nice pieces to an Indian customer for his house. This is not just any customer, they have known each other socially for at least a decade! My Italian friend said that the Indian guy wouldn't stop complaining, calling him at all hours even during his vacation, looking for all kinds of discounts even though he's filthy rich. Maybe that's one way one becomes filthy rich in the first place?