I hear all these talks around Swachh Bharat and feel really amazed and impressed by the unity shown by the citizens of our country in cleaning up our nation. I am not sure about what exactly stirred the nation’s conscience-whether it was our PM’s speeches or the new TV commercials around it.Finally, we are treading on the path that we see most foreign countries following.
But all of this is making me wonder, why do we treat hotels or the restaurants that we visit differently? Why do we believe that if we are paying for a room, we have the right to abuse each and everything( placed in our room for our comfort) completely . It’s really sad that we tell our teams in all our staff meetings that ‘Guest is God’, ‘ Guest is always Right’. And when our House keeping team enters a room to clean up, they sometimes cringe in surprise and shock. The TV is left on, water is running in the sink( considering there is acute scarcity of water in most regions) the heater is on and placed dangerously close to the sofa or bed. Yes, you have paid the rent of the room for the night, but why waste the resources of our nation? Some guests are insensitive to the extent that they actually wipe their hands after a meal on the bed sheets and towels directly. Would we do that at our homes? Then why do things differently at someone else’s property? A hotel is also a part of a country. If a hotel looks nice, it is an asset for all to enjoy.
Yes, the bathroom amenities ( bath gel, conditioner, lotion,etc) are for you to use or take but not the bathrobes, bed runners, remote controls,or the flower vases ! These are the things that we hoteliers invest on calculating the returns over a period of time. These are not for one time use or the rent you pay does not cover these please!
As a hotelier, I have had the privilege of interacting with people coming from different nations.This one time, we had a huge Chinese group staying with us. I had joined them for dinner. During their dinner, they ordered only the amount they could consume( they were pretty well-off). They did not like the concept of wasting food. After they had their Indian meal, they were served finger bowls. I still remember that after washing their hands 2-3 people shared the same napkin to dry their hands. I was surprised and they explained that we know water is scarce in this region, why should the hotel unnecessarily wash more pieces? I was really taken aback by the sensitivity shown by them. It was not even their homeland! Amazing isn’t it?
These lessons have to be instilled in us from an early age. We have to learn to use not abuse our resources.