Service is the challenge for Singapore

by Yeoh Siew Hoon

I was being entertained to lunch by an airline executive in a local hotel. While my friend was still at the buffet line, picking food for the first sitting, I was presented with the bill.
He came back in time to intercept the exchange and asked the service staff, a young Burmese, I suspect. “Can’t you see the name on the card is a male name? She is female. I am male.”

The staff looked at the card and apologised sweetly. She then handed him the bill.

“Do you want me to sign this now when we haven’t ordered our drinks yet? If I sign now, and we order drinks, then you have to open another bill and I will have to sign again,” he explained patiently the way airline men do.

She apologised, again sweetly and said, “But I just need you to sign this voucher.”

My friend took a deep intake of breath, and signed dutifully.

At that point, he had to explain things to me. He was part of a dining programme which entitled him to vouchers at certain restaurants.

At reception, he had left his card and voucher with the staff manning the desk, saying he was entertaining a client (I like that) and that he did not want the client to know he was using a voucher.

Well, not only did I know by now he was using a voucher but I could see my airline friend was trying not to look too flustered by the exchange.

“See, this is what happens when someone slips up at first. It leads to a chain reaction of service mistakes,” he says. He works for a leading airline which is known for exemplary customer service.

Singapore is facing a severe service challenge. Business is buoyant. Hotels are struggling to cope.

Going by Singapore Tourism Board statistics, average occupancy city-wide in the first five months of this year reached 86% from 82.4% the same period a year ago. Average rate touched $189 (an increase of 19%), and RevPar topped $163 (an increase of 24.2%).

As rates and occupancies have climbed, customer satisfaction ratings have fallen. Again going by STB data, the Overseas Visitor Survey in 2006 showed a drop in customer satisfaction ratings from 6.3 in 2005 to 6.0 in 2006 while the satisfaction ratings for hotel facilities and services fell by 2.6%, from 5.9 in 2005 to 5.7 in 2006.

It’s not only within hotels that service standards are slipping. The night before, I was dining at Oso, rated one of Singapore’s top restaurants for its service levels – consistent and impeccable. On Monday night, it was packed and for the first time, I noticed strains in the service.

And I fear things can only get worse. The town is full of stories of how developments like The Venetian in Macau or Atlantis in Dubai have been scouring Singapore for staff. Major hotels are losing good quality staff to bigger and better paying jobs in bigger and sexier destinations.

How Singapore copes with this challenge, given the boom months ahead and with new events such as Formula 1 coming, will be the acid test of a place that prides itself on efficiency and professionalism.

After all, if you want people to pay high prices, you’ve got to deliver the goods.

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