Archive for July, 2011
Hotel representative job description
So, one gets excelled in his interview and he is offered a position as a hotel representative. Now what? This depends on whom he works for and which resort he is sent to. There are numerous tour operators who hold specific training courses in the resorts. Specific areas have the influx of new recruits each season and some of the people prefer to get trained in UK wherein the duration of the training is a week long course. Such courses of training are provided to the people who have been selected for the position of hotel representative. The course covers everything like how to deal with an unavoidable situation in the resort and how to present a welcome meeting in the resort.
Course description
The courses are very informative and are provided within the hours of the person joining the hotel, wherein he gets tremendous details on several issues. Within hours of his joining, he is taught the rules and ways to tackle any situation, after which he can start on his own. However, reps do no spend thirty minutes on their first hotel visits, couple of hours at the airport and rest in the free time by going for sun bathe and drink lots of alcohol. Hotel reps actually work for six days a week for months and months without any break. Some of the seasons they work are for continuous nine months on a stretch. There is no time at all for holidays. Further, under any serious issue like death of relative or such family related problem, the person can get holidays. There are some real duties of a hotel rep which can vary from resort to resort and there is a deciding factor which is during the airport arrival days. Some of the resorts have new arrivals per day and some have three airport days of arrival of the guests.
Duties of the hotel rep
An overseas hotel rep ensures that the guests in the resort are quite happy and are getting immense customer satisfaction. A rep schedules visits to each of the hotels that he is allotted and there is no one particular hotel which he has to work on. He has to cover more than one hotel and in some of the hotels the reps will have to cover at least twelve hotels that come under their jurisdiction. In each of the hotel, the tour operator has an information board and in this board the reps will provide and update his details during their tours to the particular hotel.
Myths on hotel reps
There are some myths on hotel reps which start to surface. It is more that meets the eyes. A hotel rep takes thirty minutes for taking information on particular hotel and covers total twelve hotels overall. The reps detail the times that they visit the particular hotel and one can see that the hotel rep covers thirty minutes for each of the hotels. If it’s a quiet day, the rep can sit in the hotel reception and answer the questions of the holiday makers on the hotel or the resort. However, if there is any emergency in a specific hotel, the hotel rep can be called to a certain room to help a guest and this happens more frequently. One of the biggest complaints that a hotel rep receives is they were never in the hotel. The guests are in total wonder as to whom the hotel rep is and whether he can help them or not. In such cases, the hotel rep is always on a lookout to see that the guests are being given the utmost customer services and that they feel at home during their stay in a hotel.
Come summer and it is all sweat and no fun. For a tropical city like Chennai, the heat seems to be in no way considerate. The temperatures reach searing height of 40 degree C (even higher at times). This becomes a playground for a host of manufacturers and dealers who make the best of the opportunity to throw their stocks at us. Air conditioners, water coolers, air coolers and all have their lion’s share in the market. Cool drinks and soft drinks manufacturers fight for their space, buttermilk fresh lime and watermelon vendors cry out loud to be a part of the competition, and consumers happily spend money to even buy themselves a glass of cold water.
The marketing gimmicks that these companies use to push their products in this season are worth mentioning. Summer sale is one popular hoax. Buying products at heavy discounts, e.g. fans, air conditioners, air coolers, and water coolers are wide spread. Though popular companies do provide great quality stuff, this is the time of the year when brands like Carreer, Panasoanic, Notional, and Blue Straw make their appearance. The less informed consumer group falls for these spurious brand names by acquainting them with their more popular counterparts. As a result, they buy home air conditioners and water coolers which had been spending the last few months in junk yards and tinkering shops. They will work for the time being, maybe a few months beyond the summer but then they’ll abruptly come to a halt, and by that time the “person” who sold it to them would be long gone. This is not only the case with people who are not well informed, even affluent people fall for this kind of forgery.
Last summer at the Chennai Marina, I saw a family of well dressed people and their kids having fun, they had a Mercedes Benz (ok, the Benz doesn’t mean they are well informed but still their English accent was pretty good, and they were not foreigners, so I assume they were educated). The kids started pestering their parents after a while, asking them for ice cream. Their mother tried telling that they can have it at a parlor on the way back. It was of no use, their father went to one of those portable cycle mounted ice cream carts and got them each of what appeared to be Kwality Walls products. Seeing those kids eat made me want to have one, and I approached the ice cream cart. Before asking for the ice cream I noticed something unusual about the name, I realized that it was Kwality Halls and not Kwality Walls, I looked around to see if I could inform that family, but they had left. The work done on that spurious brand was amazing, everything right from the name to the graphics looked similar but they had a slight difference. I had no idea as to what to do. That particular company had not done anything wrong, they had their own brand name graphics et all. I could not say they were selling bad products as I did not try it. (I did not want to try, found it to be risky).
This duplication has its ill effects. The people who provide seemingly well known names to sell their products do not undertake the same quality tests and inspections which are done by the bigger companies. As a result the cases of food poisoning and communicable diseases also increase during summer. The duplication of products doesn’t end here, there is at least one duplicate brand for every popular brand, and they also make good sales in the summer. Rasna becomes Ranaas, Kalimark (popular soft drink in semi urban and rural Tamil Nadu) becomes Kallimark, even summer clothing have brand alternatives. I found VIP innerwear on T Nagar platforms under the name VPI. Imagine the condition of the person using if the quality of the material is bad. Summer sweating and itching can make matters worse. Well, what is it that can be done to curb this profiting practice? The companies concerned have to take necessary steps for copyright infringement or maybe file a complaint saying that the brand name is similar and so, misleading.
On our part, we can sharpen our observing skills and make sure that what we buy is what we actually want to buy.
What you see – Right along the chaotic Lakdi-ka-Pul junction is The Hampshire Plaza hotel. The huge lobby leads to a corridor to the restaurant – Bombay Palace. The door resembles that of a palatial chamber. Inside is the small restaurant which has a Mughlai feel to it. The walls have images of Bombay as it was in the earlier years. You are greeted with pictures of the Victoria Terminus, The Gateway of India, and the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation Building. There is a deep sense of nostalgia attached to it. It is really like a slice of Bombay in Hyderabad.
A famous international chain of restaurants serving Indian food in New York, Kuala Lumpur, Budapest, Toronto and London. The uniqueness of cuisine here lies in its adaptation to tastes of the local people. The place, therefore, mainly serves Mughlai cuisine with special Hyderabadi and Andhra dishes.
What you get – The restaurant has a very elaborate wine list. In fact, even water is served in long stemmed wine glasses. On the menu are a delectable selection of Kebabs from Shikampur to Sheek and a very good selection of Tandoori seafood thrown in. Even the roasted Papads are very tangy and tasty.
In the vegetarian starters there is a unique selection of Chaat dishes such as Ragda Patties (an ode to the iconic Chowpatty Chaat) to choose from along with other popular ones like Paneer Tikka, Aloo Wraps etc. The platter is the best choice if you want to savor the taste of all that is on offer.
Coming to the main course there is a very wide range of Biryanis. The traditional Hyderabadi Biryani is prepared in three different styles! Must-try is the aromatic Nizami Prawn Biryani. Then there is the traditional Mughlai fare which includes Murgh Makkhanwala, Kadhai Murgh and seafood like Fish Amritsari with cream.
Our verdict – For a unique experience as far as Hyderabadi Biryani is concerned go to Bombay Palace (sounds paradoxical but it’s true). The seafood is indeed one of the best in the city and the service is quite good. The restaurant staff is very courteous and makes efforts to make the guest feel at ease. For a good experience try the white wines with white meats and the red wine with the red meats.
The ambiance complements the food very well with light music playing in the background. Valet parking is available. The place is currently open only for dinner and in the day is available for large or party bookings with special packages on offer.
What you pay for a meal for two – Rs. 650 (without wine).