Warning to Thai tourism sector: Unfriendly staff, poor services hit competitiveness

[super22k]

What should be remembered is Thailand is not a hub of tourism. Only appx. 11million a year,which is poor compared with other countries.Even in Asia they come fourth behind China,Malaysia and Hong Kong.Worldwide France tops the list with 59million then USA with 53 million and many countries after that with Thailand near the bottom. Google it.

[GrantSmith]

This is they way I see it for any major hotel chain. There 'should' be a standardized training for employees and a manager on duty at all times to resolve customer complaints. They should be sensitive to sensible customer complaints and, similarly, resolve the issues in a manner that relies on common sense. In most major hotel chains, they are sensitive to return visits and developing customer loyalty. That is why you will see rooms or meals 'comped' when there are serious service issues. When a chain operates throughout the country, I should be able to expect the same level of service whether in be in Mae Sot, Hui Hin, Bangkok, Ubon, or Timbuktu. I hope you agree with that assertion.

I'm assuming that my deduction was correct? In that case, hardly a major hotel chain... Nationally speaking, not even the largest provider of hotels in the country... Worldwide? Well a blip on the radar as far as that goes...

In principle I agree that service recovery and procedures should be the same. Unfortunately, being humans, everyone's interpretation is different and common sense, even in farangland is not that common.

Essentially it could be argued that the service you received is the same, not sure how many times you've had the same issue with the same hotel brand?

Broken down to the nuts and bolts of it, you had a problem, you notified the hotel of the problem, they resolved the problem by their actions. Was it to your expectations? Clearly not, was it a reasonable expectation for the hotel to do what they did? Reasonable if it eliminated the problem. You then complained further and had your initial expectation met.

However, a quick question, when you notified the hotel of the issue, did you at first request a room change because of said problem?

It wasn't mentioned in your previous post, so I'm just curious....

[Just1Voice]

Something that no one has mentioned is Myanmar. They could be the death of Thai Tourism, or a least have a seriously crippling on it. Here's why.

After the "democratic elections" (take that for what it's worth) tourism in Myanmar more than doubled the following year, and continues to do so. The government was smart enough to realise, and publically admit, that they desperately needed help, and turned to other countries for that help. Not having the issue of "face" which Thai are so obsessed with, they hired a company from India to build 2 major highways the full lenght of the country. They hired a Dutch firm to come in and help design and contruct the infrastructure needed, from hotels and stores, to housing and street development.

Now, here's the "killer" part. One third of the total land mass of Myanmar is costal beach front property on the Adaman Sea and Bay of Bengal. If they develop that, and do it right, many tourists will be focking to Thailand, but only as a stop over to get to Myanmar. Places such as Pattaya, Phuket and others will still draw the sex-pats and sex tourists, but the "quality" tourists that Thailand says it wants - but does nothing to actually do it - will be heading to Myanmar.

[Thai at Heart]

Oh. And please stop kidnapping tourists for ransom.

[hanno]

Something that no one has mentioned is Myanmar. They could be the death of Thai Tourism, or a least have a seriously crippling on it. Here's why.

After the "democratic elections" (take that for what it's worth) tourism in Myanmar more than doubled the following year, and continues to do so. The government was smart enough to realise, and publically admit, that they desperately needed help, and turned to other countries for that help. Not having the issue of "face" which Thai are so obsessed with, they hired a company from India to build 2 major highways the full lenght of the country. They hired a Dutch firm to come in and help design and contruct the infrastructure needed, from hotels and stores, to housing and street development.

Now, here's the "killer" part. One third of the total land mass of Myanmar is costal beach front property on the Adaman Sea and Bay of Bengal. If they develop that, and do it right, many tourists will be focking to Thailand, but only as a stop over to get to Myanmar. Places such as Pattaya, Phuket and others will still draw the sex-pats and sex tourists, but the "quality" tourists that Thailand says it wants - but does nothing to actually do it - will be heading to Myanmar.

Myanmar is no immediate threat as they are going totally insane. I have been their 4 times in the last two years; in that relatively short time my hotel went from USD 80.00 to USD 240.00 a night and the rental car from USD 100.00 a day to USD 250.00.

I work in the tourism industry and know that many travel agencies are currently suggesting that their clients do not go to Myanmar straight away but wait until these dodgy practices have been stopped and the infrastructure improved.

And whilst the Myanmar are very friendly, service is still pretty dire.

[GrantSmith]

My son worked in the Kitchen for a foreign chef, 300 baht a day if lucky. 16hr days, driving to the market for produce, arriving early for service, then leaving late after service. Never saw any share of the tips, was even ripped off on his last pay packet. My fault, as I encouraged him and believed that working for a foreigner would be a stepping stone in an industry in which he was interested.

Have a chat with a number of the big name chefs globally and see if their story varies in great lengths to that of your son.

Yeah, you'll see a difference in the wage gap and the being ripped off on the last pay packet but the experiences will be extremely similar if not worse!

Watch Gordon Ramsay's "Hells Kitchen" series to get an idea. Granted Ramsay's not the best chef in the world, but he's in that brigade and he learnt it from Marco Pierre White, whom some say was even worse than Ramsay.

Apprentices are whipping boys, you don't answer back, you accept what comes your way. Is it right? A HR manager will probably tell you otherwise but it's how it's done and it is what it is. 16hr days? Not a bad shift. Driving to the market for produce? What apprentice wouldn't enjoy that experience! Arriving early for service is all part of preparation. No way could you turn up on time for service and expect to be ready.

I did my apprenticeship under - now one of my best mates back home - he was nothing short of a rex hunt, but if you delivered what he wanted, happy days and beers in the cool room after a service period from hell. Did I get along with 100% of the time? No freaking way! Did I bust my balls and get no recognition for it? Absolutely. Was I being mistreated to the point where I felt like I needed to go to HR and ask them <deleted> was going on? No, because I figured that this is how it's done. Did I continue on cooking after my apprenticeship? Nope, but I stayed in the industry and ended up working with my old chef at a hotel a number of years later. I even still call him Chef. Would I go back to being a chef? Having been on the other side of the oven for too long I probably wouldn't. My interests lie elsewhere these days but having my background helps my future.

chrisrazz, I'm not trying to say that your son shouldn't question what's going on but there's plenty of hard work and loooooooong hours in the first few years and they are probably the worst.

[robertson468]

Thailand unemployment rate is 0.77 percent so obviously low paying tourism industry is not that attractive to Thais.

Sorry, but you are so, so wrong Sir! Hotel Salaries are far from low because the Staff also receive a share of the Service Charge. Two Thai Fiends of mine (who incidentally speak excellent English) receive about 50K per month as Managers, which is topped up by between 5-20K depending on the Season. On top of that, there is more status to working in an hotel than say doing housekeeping in a private residence. And anyone who has lived here for any length of time will know how important status is to Khon Thai. More often than not, the only housekeepers that are available are from one of the other Asian Countries, who will be off like a shot, and without warning, if they see another job with a higher salary .

[dao16]

I had dinner with a few friends a few nights ago and the service was fantastic my beer glass was never empty until I had finished and I never once touched the bottle. Stop complaining service is the same world wide you get good and bad just never go back to the bad and if you do go back stop complaining.

Have to agree with you ......I've been here 10 years now and have enjoyed pretty good service most of the time...especially with service industries ..eg..A/C servicing...vehicle work...electrical..(dodgy, but prompt!)...etc.....

Hotels I have been to have also been equal to the west.....yes..there is the language issue...

To me, France has the one of the worst language issues.....especially in Paris....

Haha....the funny thing is that, in Paris, they all understand your English, they just don't want to speak English to you! Only half (or 1/4) joking.

The thing I find bizarre is that I find people nicer at the lower level hotels (the sort of 1000-1400 range BKK hotels) than I do at the more expensive ones. Granted, I have only been to 3-4 upper end hotels in Thailand, but the service there was lacking. Just basic things like asking for excursion ideas or good places to eat--no lang barrier as I can speak decent Thai and I am married to a Thai lady-- they don't seem to have any idea of what is going on anywhere and in some cases they don't want to say (yes, I know the reasons for some of these. Still, it is irritating that you can't rely on hotel staff to be on your side).

There are exceptions, both in terms of establishments and individuals within bad establishments, but on the whole I am not impressed with service here. Malaysia was great in all the cities and we weren't staying in more expensive hotels. Same price range as we would here. The people acted like hotel professionals, something I have rarely seen in Thailand.

Just compare this to Mexico, which is somewhat similar to Thailand in terms of tourism. People from North America and Europe go for price, beaches, jungle, temples, spicy food, beer and women. But, Mexicans are generally professional and hard working, even if they do bitch about the customers behind their backs (that exists everywhere). It just seems that people in Thailand can't be bothered to even act like hospitality professionals.

[djayz]

I have noticed that the "smiles" are much less nowadays than let's say 6 or 7 years ago.

I can, to a certain point, understand the hospitality staff - they work long hours for 6 and sometimes 7 days a week for a few thousand baht and they seldom get tips.

Money is a great motivational factor... if the hospitality industry introduced an incentive scheme whereby they reward the staff for excellent service, improving their language skills, etc., I'm sure that would encourage a lot of people to try harder. Guests would be happier and would return thus creating more revenue for the hotel/resort/restaurant which in turn could use that revenue to continue to reward it's more diligent and service-minded staff.

I worked for a few years in a hotel in Europe, and they had a pretty good reward system: for up-selling, for compliments received, a percentage of the sales price of tickets sold (to local events, tours, etc.), free language courses, regular training sessions, etc.

This is an industry that needs good, motivated and happy employees - if you don't invest in them, then you can't really expect too much from them except the bare minimum. It's human nature.

[djayz]

Thailand unemployment rate is 0.77 percent so obviously low paying tourism industry is not that attractive to Thais.

Sorry, but you are so, so wrong Sir! Hotel Salaries are far from low because the Staff also receive a share of the Service Charge. Two Thai Fiends of mine (who incidentally speak excellent English) receive about 50K per month as Managers, which is topped up by between 5-20K depending on the Season. On top of that, there is more status to working in an hotel than say doing housekeeping in a private residence. And anyone who has lived here for any length of time will know how important status is to Khon Thai. More often than not, the only housekeepers that are available are from one of the other Asian Countries, who will be off like a shot, and without warning, if they see another job with a higher salary .

You mentioned the managers and their earnings. These make up a very small per cent of the overall hotel staff and the average guest seldom comes into contact with them. The people serving the guests earn much less than that and I suspect they receive much less of the Service Charge. I just cannot imagine any of the receptionists or waiters taking 20,000 a month home - if they did, I'm sure they'd be smiling non-stop. Just a hunch...

[kuiburi]

Maybe an idea to take away the staffs I-phones, I-pads, smartphones and the other crap they waste time with . Then atleast u not have to wave for 10 minutes like a lunatic to get there attention .

[atyclb]

Add hotels that make you pay in full at checkin then the guests discover there is no hot water as promised. Next staff create any lie about hot water to be working later in day, to make guest stay. Then refuse room key to allow guest to leave and change hotel without paying another day.

Although not 100% of society, there exists a significant % that indeed have zero integrity or morality and see corruption and cheating as religion, money as God.

[schbang]

Very true - we're all getting sick of the snarly Thais supposedly working as/in hospitality. A bloody shame.

I can understand them coping with some really poor farang behaviour. But it's all getting worse over the last 5 years.

Plus the threats to tourist safety. The murder, extortion, robbery, train derailments, bus + car accidents, dog bites, floods, poisonings, corruption, taxi, motorbike and water-scooter extortion are becoming everyday events in Thailand.

Oz + NZ tourists are getting the message now and are increasingly wary of holidaying here.

[Moo2cm]

If you walk into a McDonalds, KFC, or almost any mall store in any large Thai city you might get the feeling

that everybody is too good to be working there. What they are good at I am not sure.

[kuiburi]

I can remember , some 18 years ago there was some talk about improving service for restaurants , hotels and resorts . There where plans of starting a hotelschool . Seems that great idea went lost somewhere . Anyway , i don't care much if they serve me the wrong glass that should go with the drink . What i care of is that people are just friendly . My advice to tourists " stay away from the major tourist city's " .

[GrantSmith]

If you walk into a McDonalds, KFC, or almost any mall store in any large Thai city you might get the feeling

that everybody is too good to be working there. What they are good at I am not sure.

And that's any different to the west, how exactly?

[Moo2cm]

If you walk into a McDonalds, KFC, or almost any mall store in any large Thai city you might get the feeling

that everybody is too good to be working there. What they are good at I am not sure.

And that's any different to the west, how exactly?

Not a bit different.

Ahh! but just 10 years ago....

Anyway, was just a thought as I had while sitting in a Jollibee this morning having a cup of coffee in another

country, not yet so bothered by tourist and snarly staff.

[Riverman63]

Can only talk from my own experience but I found staff, service and attitudes to be great in the hotels I stayed in and they were middle range I guess. One in Pattaya gave us ground floor room, next to swimming pool but said we could have another room if we didn't like it. We didn't and we had another room.

I have no doubt that some people do get bad service. Also, expectations can be high. In UK we have people who will walk into Tesco and expect Harrods like service because they feel they are special. Personally, I walk into a shop, get what I want, pay and leave. I don't want or expect to be treated like god.

Many people stating on this thread that Thai staff should learn English.... errr, isn't there loads of threads here complaining about the Russian invasion? I bet Thai visa Minsk has loads of threads with moaning Russians complaining that Thai hotel staff don't speak Russian.

People constantly moan from their own point of view. Thailand has visitors from all round the world. All with different customs and expectations. It's impossible to please them all and Thais are no different.

In the end, people go to to Thailand to experience Thailand. If you want the USA hospitality, yes sir, no sir, how would you like me to smile sir experience, go to USA.

Yes Thailand can be a dangerous place but there are many others too. Look at all the problems in Egypt recently. People still flock there and have to be told to leave even when people are killing each other in the streets. Jamaica has walled tourist towns.... people still go.

Let Thailand be Thailand. If you don't like it, don't go

[55Jay]

An indirect admission that recent government fiscal strategies have failed so need to step it up on the tourism front to cover the losses?

[Carrerakiss]

I have a friend who is a partner in a leading law firm in London. I am guessing he is one of the high end tourists Thailand wants to attract.

He used to come with his wife and young family, but has stopped because he thinks Thai morals are degenerate. The final straw on his last trip was the antics of two Japanese guys cavorting in the hotel (4 star) swimming pool with two Thai girls. He does visit Asia every year, but no longer Thailand.

Not sure that the example he gave me says more about Japanese men morals, than Thai girls, but anyway he's stopped coming. I guess this kind of thing pits off some and attracts others.

No skin off my nose, but Thailand has a bigger reputation for sex tourism than cultural values. It's just a fact.

[Colabamumbai]

I think that more real tourists will start visiting surrounding countries.

After the war in Vietnam and the Pathet Lao war in Laos, Thailand was the place to be, the place in the orient that one just had to see. Pattaya with bungalows on the beach and maybe 3 hotels. You might see 15 tourists in the day. I just use this as an example. Chaing Mai, no modern hotels or roads.

If one travelled Thailand and Laos at that time, and got off the bus just anywhere, there were not Love Hotels (resorts they call them.) There were no hotels, no guest houses and we had to bed down at the local Wat, resuming our journey as we saw fit, usually well rested and fed.

Now with increased internet use and close proximity, with airlines flying almost everywhere people are opening their eyes and realizing that there are much better destinations than Thailand, in the surrounding countries.

They watch T.V., and read the newspapers and when they read the horror stories, a man with a wife and kids are going to think twice. That pretty backpacking couple, may just choose Malaysia, the ads are nice. I could not understand a single white female visiting Thailand alone in this day and age.

And for us older guys always complaining about something, there is always Cambodia, Burma, Laos, and Vietnam, I know I could include other destinations. Thailand has a bad reputation, and like some Thai women easy to get but even harder to gt rid of.

Everything has a price and unfortunately many unsuspecting foreigners come here and for what ever reason have major problems, while trying to enjoy the "Land of Smiles". Whether it be visa issues, dealing with immigration, or being killed in traffic accidents, ripped off here or there as do all of us living here for the rest of our lives. We all pay a price to live in Thailand, not necessarily in monetary terms.

But I think that the "price" is getting high and whenever I get a few days off I am out exploring some of these other countries and other options.

Thailands day has come and unfortunately gone. You can never go back.

[hunkydory]

Sounds to me like "Blame the staff" and not "us operators"

With bad business standards within the business culture there's something wrong.

Too much brainwashing propaganda of what the Thais call "education" doesn't teach children how to behave, but how to cheat and rip each others heart outs to get the profits

Exactly. This all stem's from when they first go to school. This Khun Thai Khun Dee and, somehow, Thai's are superior, indoctrinated nonsense that's puked out at any opportunity doesn't help. It has to start from root's up.

[barefoot1988]

not to worry. from what i head, thai tourism is impregnable

[matzen]

vtailandia is a wonderful country, I lived there for a while and I saw the same problems are everywhere. If you want you problems or approaches to them it is normal to have them. English speaking, if you go to China you know that 80% of residents do not speak English. and if you go to France or Spain like. Thailand has its natural language and hence we have to thank the efforts of the natives to excucharnos, weird is if I'm going to speak Spanish UK and want to know how many people would be happy with me?

[JSixpack]

Never. Thai managers will not admit their staff are wrong, stupid farang - not like go home !

I woish a great many farang visitors would go home. They are rude, ill mannered slobs. You should see how some of the guests leave their rooms. Because of Thailand's affordability, it attracts the yobs, louts and slobs of the world.

True. I quite agree about Thais and the work ethic, though there are many exceptions and this can be part of the charm. But also consider how awful the tourists are they have to deal with. Just a few bad experiences with them leaves a feeling of dread and reluctance. I couldn't stand it myself.

[LawrenceN]

I'm sure the billions of tourists coming to Thailand enjoy rude staff and poor service. T.A.T. will spin this one as usual.

Yup, they'll say that tourists love coming here to be abused.

Read the reviews in this TripAdvisor page. So bad you'll LOL. The owner is clueless. I discovered this hotel on a bike ride. It stands up in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by rice fields, so the claims of its isolation are true. Doesn't it occur to someone that, if they're going to put a hotel outside of town among the rice fields that they have an obligation to provide tasty nourishing meals? Just an example of how far Thailand has to come.

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g293917-d447575-Reviews-The_Nara_Boutique_Resort_Spa-Chiang_Mai.html

[BruceSmith]

I'm sure the billions of tourists coming to Thailand enjoy rude staff and poor service. T.A.T. will spin this one as usual.

Yup, they'll say that tourists love coming here to be abused.

By "here" do you mean TV?

[Jim walker]

Thee worst thing with these tourists most of them are foreigners and we hate foreigners they will take away all our land and businesses we must try and keep them out of Thailand,

[pookiki]

This is they way I see it for any major hotel chain. There 'should' be a standardized training for employees and a manager on duty at all times to resolve customer complaints. They should be sensitive to sensible customer complaints and, similarly, resolve the issues in a manner that relies on common sense. In most major hotel chains, they are sensitive to return visits and developing customer loyalty. That is why you will see rooms or meals 'comped' when there are serious service issues. When a chain operates throughout the country, I should be able to expect the same level of service whether in be in Mae Sot, Hui Hin, Bangkok, Ubon, or Timbuktu. I hope you agree with that assertion.

I'm assuming that my deduction was correct? In that case, hardly a major hotel chain... Nationally speaking, not even the largest provider of hotels in the country... Worldwide? Well a blip on the radar as far as that goes...

In principle I agree that service recovery and procedures should be the same. Unfortunately, being humans, everyone's interpretation is different and common sense, even in farangland is not that common.

Essentially it could be argued that the service you received is the same, not sure how many times you've had the same issue with the same hotel brand?

Broken down to the nuts and bolts of it, you had a problem, you notified the hotel of the problem, they resolved the problem by their actions. Was it to your expectations? Clearly not, was it a reasonable expectation for the hotel to do what they did? Reasonable if it eliminated the problem. You then complained further and had your initial expectation met.

However, a quick question, when you notified the hotel of the issue, did you at first request a room change because of said problem?

It wasn't mentioned in your previous post, so I'm just curious....

Yes, my first request was for a room change. When I noticed I was being bitten by the ants - the little red ones - I looked down on the floor and they were everywhere. I then noticed they were on the bed, too. Clearly an unacceptable situation for me. I don't know if you have encountered bites by the little red ants but it was not the first encounter for me. I wanted to move from the outset and I made it known to the clerk at the desk. Given the condition of the room, I should not have had to raise such a fuss to move to another room. The house count was only about 30%, if that. There was no reason for the hotel staff to be so flippant about a situation that could have easily landed me in the hospital. In my years working for several union's representing hotel workers, I can also be very critical of an unbending attitude by hotel management that the 'customer' is always right. In addition, I tend to complain less than other clients because of my union background. When the housekeeping staff has done a unsatisfactory job in cleaning the room, I just 'blow' it off because I don't want to get an employee disciplined or fired because of a complaint I made irrespective of my personal feelings on service. But that doesn't change the fact that my overall experience with the level of service in Thailand is less than satisfactory and the concept of customer service is not instilled in employees or managers. And if you remember my post about the broken glass that started my posts, the situation was totally ludicrous.

[Thai at Heart]

I'm sure the billions of tourists coming to Thailand enjoy rude staff and poor service. T.A.T. will spin this one as usual.

Yup, they'll say that tourists love coming here to be abused.

Read the reviews in this TripAdvisor page. So bad you'll LOL. The owner is clueless. I discovered this hotel on a bike ride. It stands up in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by rice fields, so the claims of its isolation are true. Doesn't it occur to someone that, if they're going to put a hotel outside of town among the rice fields that they have an obligation to provide tasty nourishing meals? Just an example of how far Thailand has to come.

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g293917-d447575-Reviews-The_Nara_Boutique_Resort_Spa-Chiang_Mai.html

One rant on there makes the letter to Branson about his food quite tame. "I an writing to you from the tourist police station"....