Luxury Global Brand Hotel – Bad Experience

What : Worst Customer Service

When : July 2011 (Summer)

Where : InterContinental Hotel at Shenzhen, China

Front View

This post originally intend to write my "pleasant" stay at China unfortunately it turns out to be really unpleasant stay at Shenzhen, China.  Below is my honest opinion which I would like to share with you guys.

This hotel is really meant for those who prefer to think highly about themselves, so does the employed staff.  Unless you have way too much money to spend unnecessarily or too much time to spare.  I would advice you to read this before you decide whether to proceed with your reservation and whether your money worth paying for this kind of customer service in return.

It is only a good hotel if you are regular customer without the need or guidance nor any other interaction form from any of the staff at all, either you plan to spend all day on entertainment and recreation or in the room, be like an "emperor", walk, stand, sit, eat, sleep, bath even spit whenever and wherever you prefer, if all above mentioned are in your checklist then it would be the perfect hotel for you. Definitely suitable for leisure opposed to business stay.

Sneak peek part of the hotel.

I never thought to ever find myself rant about anything related to customer service especially come to hospitality, I’m always and has always been very easy with customer service without much expectation. Nobody is born perfect, it is through choice, as long as you try your best and improve along the way.

Stayed at Shenzhen InterContinental Hotel for four nights. Overall is a very well presented 5 star hotel with good Spanish concept interior, interesting recreation and excellent room.  I would say well done on that.

Bellboy/ doorman's Spanish work attire and the lounge area.

Well, this is the first time I stayed in this hotel and frankly speaking I find 99% (those that I came across) of hotel’s staff are unfriendly and uninformative. I did not come across a staff who speak decent English.  Bear in mind, I never expect anything out from customer service even if it’s from a luxury global chain hotel in Shenzhen, China.

I hate to admit that every single of the hotel staff that I came across fails to deliver a decent customer service,  was also disappointing due to the poor performance and quality of service from the staff.  I would rate 1 star customer service out of courtesy for their existence by people-watching all the time.  There are plenty of way better decent hotel who delivers great customer service in Shenzhen, China.

Hotel elevator before 150 meters walk to our room at the very end.

The service throughout the hotel is unexpectedly slow, even for a bucket of ice, I have to wait for more than 30 mins or so for it to reached to my room.  I do not care if my room was located way end of the hotel, it is the way it’s been build, even my self has so walk for 5 minutes or so just to reach my room and there aren’t any other alternatives to reach my room within shorter period of time.

I do believe as a Global Brand Luxury Hotel staff should understand well enough not to keep guest wait for too long without inform from time to time and I need to call 2nd time to remind them to get it delivered.

Front desk/ information area.

I remembered on that particular day I was baking in hot humid weather, I just got back from a stroll and decided to head directly to the front desk to request a bucket of ice to be delivered right to my room immediately, I didn’t want to wait till I reach my room then only make a call that would take up a lot of time. That’s the reason why I requested directly from the front desk, I requested ice to be sent to my room and had repeated the word ‘ice’ for 5 times but front desk seem to have difficulty to even digest what is ‘ice’, there was 4 of them figuring out the word ‘ice’.  This is clearly a joke.

InterContinental being one of the upscale luxury brand hotel, hotel’s staff who do not understand simple English.  I don’t mind if you were young amateurs who speak minimal English as long as you try to learn along the way from your mistake, even if you flip a dictionary right in front of me, I won’t have laugh at you and there’s always a computer right in front of you so google up and make good use of the Internet.  Irony is that on their website, they claimed that their staff able speak German, English, Spanish, French, Japanese, Korean, Chinese which I highly doubt.

The long hallway, other exit are only available for emergency.

As a "food explorer" and curious of what kind of food Shenzhen has to bring. I did chat with the water park/ outdoor poolside's attendance since I was chilling by the pool side and was hungry by then, I saw clearly she has nothing to do at all beside people-watching and yada yada unprofessional with the life guard, so I asked randomly what are the delicacy food around Shenzhen, she replied “well, our hotel food are good enough, just dine at our hotel” aren’t this the most obvious lie told to my face?  If so, what are the delicious food in this hotel that she dare recommend?  No, she did not reply my question with an obnoxious horse face.  It is a bold untruthful statement made by her with the intention to deceived me as a hotel guest.  I don’t mind at all if she said “I don’t know” or that she is not familiar with Shenzhen and it’s better for me to ask more information from the front desk or recommend any special delicacies provided by the hotel. (I have to speak with her in minimal mandarin)

Interesting concept for a water park/ outdoor pool with real sand on the pool side.

Here is another joke which I find myself was so amuse and never thought I would say this that hotel’s staff do not greet you, not even the bell boy, doorman, lobby staff, front desk except for the housekeeper which always has been respect and ever so polite to their guest.  What the other staff loves to do the most is scan you from head to toe, literally it could burn and sip right into your bone with a blank face, this is what they do best at and get paid by doing so!  They are brilliant doing that.  Oh! They should start attend moral class or smiling class to loosen up the muscle on the jaw and cheeks.

Real sand, of course it speaks by itself.

Customer Service Basic Keys:-

• Anticipate Guest Needs
• Body Language/ Commutation
• Know what products/service you are offering back to front

Shenzhen InterContinental Hotel’s staff do not Anticipate Guest Needs – Nothing surprises your customer more than an employee going the extra mile to help them. Always look for ways to serve your customer more than they expect. In doing so it helps them to know that you care and it will leave them with the “Feel Good Factor” that we are searching for.  In fact I feel the most disappointing stay after 4 nights which they fail to perform at the very beginning until last of my stay.

Shenzhen InterContinental Hotel’s staff do not have any Existing Body Language/Communication – Two of the most important parts of positive body language are smiling and eye contact. Staff at the hotel has never show any sign of it. Never make sure to look their customers in the eye. It shows that you are listening to us, not at us. And then of course smiling is just more inviting than someone who has a blank look on their face.  I need to say no more about this, staff that only know how to stare from head to toe with a blank horse face, not even a simple smile, this is what hotel’s staff expert at.  It is the most basic obligatory courtesy to smile to your customer no matter what.

Shenzhen InterContinental Hotel’s staff do not know/ understand what kind service they are offering back to front.  In other words be an information expert.  It is okay to say “I don’t know,” but it should always be followed up by “but let me find out” or possibly “but my friend knows!” Whatever the situation may be, make sure that you don’t leave your customer with an unanswered question like what the water park/ outdoor poolside attendance did, tell obvious lie to my face.

Top view for the outdoor pool, can you spot the ship?

Skin color alike doesn’t mean that some of us are from your country and understand your language.  Do not speak to us in your native language, make your own assumption and assume we understand what you said and  expect us to speak your language in return.

Sneak peek of children's playground.

I do notice most of the staff at the hotel were young amateurs with little 5 star hotel experience.  To all staff of Shenzhen InterCotinental, improve yourself from time to time and do self-evaluation. Being hired by global upscale luxury brand InterContinental hotel doesn’t mean you are way better than others and above everyone, so that you feel that it is right to continue to think highly about yourselves and live in your imaginary world.

View from inside of the medium icon-boat.

 I would like to add that hotel internet is a joke too, it kept disconnecting.  Food wise is acceptable.  I won’t say it was wonderful delicacy food that worth paying for the price, it’s more of pay for the convenient.  I came across so much positive mandarin feedback on Tripadvisor and I start to really suspect whether how accurate those feedback are.

Well maintained man-made fish river/ pond.

If were to give a positive remarks about this hotel is that the housekeeper did a good job maintaining the cleanliness of the hotel especially the room.  Frankly speaking, all of the other hotel’s staff are highly disappointing, think highly about themselves and not even helpful at all, do not take the initiate to ask or help customer.  The only staff of this hotel I will give/ ever gave tips to are none other than the housekeeper.  Well done, keep up the good work!

Unique red bowl ashtray on top of a bull shaped stand.

Or may be the fact before I step a foot into the hotel, I’d subconsciously set a standard since it’s a highly rated hotel in Shenzhen but hey that I was expecting 10 out of 100 for a decent customer service.  I would still rate 5 out of the 10/100.

• 1 point for interior
• 1 point for excellent room
• 1 point for the housekeeping
• 1 point for the water park/ outdoor pool
• 1 point for facilities

This is the only special thing that caught my attention to the details and uniqueness

No matter how reputable InterContinental is a brand for some upscale luxury hotels, customer service plays an important role too.  I would rate quality and level of customer service has decreased tremendously in this Shenzhen InterContinental, and fail to deliver not even close to a basic decent customer service even if were to compared other decent hotel in Shenzhen.

The Irony - it's saying to be stamped all over on the hotel guest post-it notepad, clearly every single hotel's staff that needed and should be instill from the very beginning.

Bottom line is hotel and house keeper are good, the hotel staff especially those who responsible to serve hotel guest need to send to learn basic courtesy and social etiquette.

Readers – I have my say, now it's your turn to say!