Recommending restaurants

[Jaymes]

Thank you for your time in coming here.

My son is in the hotel business, and has worked at the concierge desk in several luxury hotels. I am going to relate here something that he has told me. Not because I believe you to be interested in his personal experience, but because my question is whether or not you find his experience to be typical.

At the hotel concierge desks where he has worked there are posted lists of restaurants. They have been told that they are never to recommend restaurants not on those lists, under thread of termination.

My son was told that the hotel was not interested in seeing to it that its guests have the best dining experience of their lives, but that they are supremely interested in seeing to it that they don't have the worst.

For example, the city where my son currently works is well-known for a particular ethnic cuisine. Many of the hotel guests ask at the concierge desk for the "best" restaurant of that type. Now, the hotel staff does have a particular favorite, but it's in a somewhat dodgy part of town, the ambience is non-existant, and the restaurant occasionally fails health inspections. So, when the people at the concierge desk are asked for recommendations, they always suggest two or three of the large, well-known, santitized, "Americanized" but safe restaurants.

Question: Is this typical?

In addition, my son says that he rarely pays for a meal out. The staff at the concierge desk is frequently invited via telephone, or by means of offering them some sort of coupon or chit for free meals. And also, he says that when they are dining out, they have discovered that should they mention where they work, the restaurant usually "comps" them. Because hotel work at their level is not particularly lucrative, they accept these free meals.

Question: Is this typical? Do you see any ethical problems with it?

Thanks again for your time.

Edited January 12, 2003 by Jaymes (log)

[fresh_a]

This is not at all the way we, or our hotel works. Our management has great faith in each and every Concierge's knowledge and savoir-faire. We never have been, or ever will be obliged to reccomend only certain restaurants... I'm really surprised by your son's story, it runs against the grain of every establishment I've ever worked for or heard about...

Most of the time, we pay for our own meals, and maybe at the end of the evening, if it comes up in conversation, we mention who we are... We do however have a large number of restaurants we work regularly with, who sometimes will throw in a free drink or two, or on rare occasions comp a meal, however this is not nearly as frequent as in the States.

No amount of invitations would influence us to prefer a low-quality restaurant or to reccomend said restaurant to our clients....

Unfortunately not everyone has the same high level of standards...

[Jaymes]

No amount of invitations would influence us to prefer a low-quality restaurant or to reccomend said restaurant to our clients....

Unfortunately not everyone has the same high level of standards...

Let me hasten to add here that my son and his colleagues on the concierge desk would never recommend an inferior restaurant to a guest based on invitations for free meals.

Even putting aside ethical considerations, to do so and to then have the guest complain that the meal or restaurant was not up to standards, would put their jobs into jeopardy.

And obviously, that's not worth it for a free meal.

Of course, that may be one more reason why hotel management posts lists and the concierge staff is "strongly encouraged" to only recommend restaurants from that.

[fresh_a]

It's a shame, as it takes away their right to give the client their opinion and to creatively choose an establishment for them... Many clients come to the concierge to know HIS opinion, being a knowledgable local, and come to a hotel because of a concierge's character..not to have "agreed" restaurants chosen from a list.

Does this hotel have a full-service concierge desk? If so, it'd be interesting to see what the concierge thinks about the hotel's various policies...

[Jaymes]

It's a shame, as it takes away their right to give the client their opinion and to creatively choose an establishment for them... Many clients come to the concierge to know HIS opinion, being a knowledgable local, and come to a hotel because of a concierge's character..not to have "agreed" restaurants chosen from a list.

Does this hotel have a full-service concierge desk? If so, it'd be interesting to see what the concierge thinks about the hotel's various policies...

My son has never been the head of the concierge desk, but even working there at all was a highly-coveted position in the hotel, and one had to work one's way up in order to "earn" it. My son felt insulted by the stringency and inflexibility of the policy, as did the others who worked the desk with him. On top of that, as he said, "it took a lot of the fun out of it."

They were indeed "full-service" concierge desks. My son worked with this particular chain of properties for about eight years. They are one of the best-known and respected luxury hotel companies in the world. And he worked the concierge desk at two of them.

Perhaps part of the problem is that both of these particular properties are in the U.S. and, sadly, we've become such a litigious society that the hotels' priorities may have changed from an attempt to offer the best service possible, to one of avoiding potential lawsuits.

However, my son has recently earned a degree in Hotel & Rest Mgt and no longer works for that company. He is, in fact, now in a management position with another luxury property. But he plans to remain in the hospitality industry for the foreseeable future so I am pleased to hear your response that you find these policies unfortunate, and not to be the norm.

It also makes me more likely to seek out the recommendations of a concierge when I travel. After his experience, I admit I felt less so inclined.

Edited January 14, 2003 by Jaymes (log)

[fresh_a]

Really strange situation, though. I've never heard the like....

Then again, I've worked only as concierge in France....

[Bux]

With my own, somewhat limited, international travel experience, combined with what I've learned by living with a travel agent all these years, I know that standards of hospitality and responsibility vary tremendously from country to country even between adjacent countries. Sometimes these differences are clearly the sort that make one country a more pleasant place in which to travel. In some cases it's just a matter of getting used to local customs and mores.

I've found France to offer some of the best hospitality at all levels and in many ways. Oddly enough many Americans find France an unfriendly place. I've not found it so either in the hospitality industry nor in the streets.

[fresh_a]

True that hospitality may vary greatly from country to country, however I'm surprised to hear that in a prestigious international chain of luxury hotels, that the standards would vary so much from country to country..

I'd really be interested in this hotel, and the chain it belongs too...