As a chef and professional hotel and restaurant inspector for almost 30 years I am regularly asked to recommend places in which to eat or stay. Often this is to celebrate a special occasion.
My response is always the same. Before I can be sure of making any suggestions, I have to do my homework and ask a few questions.
As much as I have had some truly memorable stays and many fabulous meals in places all around the world, there is no such thing as the perfect restaurant or the perfect hotel, for a number of reasons.
When it comes to food how important is price? Is the desire for a traditional Sunday roast or the latest in fusion cuisine? How important is the venue location and the environment?
Is location and a room with a view important for somewhere to rest your head, or is the room itself and the facilities on offer more important?
Eating out and sleeping in rooms alone for much of the time I have plenty of opportunity to focus on aspects that others might overlook. Even when not on ‘inspection’ duty I find it impossible not to cast my professional eye over the proceedings.
Some places will appeal to me but not to others, and much will depend on the occasion; a romantic dinner for two, a family gathering, the chance of a budget mid-week break, a lone business trip or a girlie weekend. All of us will want different things at different times in our lives. The success or failure of what we choose to do in our free time with our hard-earned cash is as much to do with the choices we make as the experience we end up with.
Places to eat or in which to stay are living breathing things, a moveable feast if you will. As hard as they may try, in this people industry disasters will happen. Every place has its ‘off day’. It is par for the course. What matters is not so much what goes wrong, as long as it is not repeated, but how the mishaps are dealt with and managed. Or better still, having the ability to spot a blip and intervene before it escalates to a full-blown complaint and public disapprobation.
Whilst the traditional guides have taken something of a step back since the advent of social media, like it or loath it, sites such as TripAdvisor can now play a significant part in building or damning the reputation of even the most highly regarded establishment.
Personally, I rarely use such sites, preferring to make my own decisions based on my own research; a look at a website, a scan of the menu, or a quick phone call can tell me all that I need to know. For somewhere I am familiar with, how can I be sure that at the next visit it will still pass muster?
I just love 5 Star luxury, without the pretention, and at the other end of the scale I adore ‘down and dirty’ street food. What I loth, with a passion, is the indifferent poorly run establishment where they care little for me as a customer and skimp on everything. I am looking for generosity of spirit as much as anything. A smile costs nothing. Places that I might once have favoured can quickly earn my disapproval, and especially where restaurants are concerned, a change in personnel can have a significant impact.
It may be that you are seeking a quick, cheap and cheerful turnover with low customer expectations, except perhaps to have a good time without breaking the bank. At the other end of the scale are what we think of as high-end luxury establishments where perfection, or as near as damn it, is expected. At this level there can be the dangerous tendency to over promise, only to disappoint when you fail to deliver. Fairly or unfairly, I tend to be toughest on those places I like the best; because I want them to be the best.
In recent years, and more so since the Brexit vote, obtaining, and keeping, good staff is a problem across the industry; all the more reason to keep the ones you have got if they are performing well.
All too often, especially where tight budgets are concerned, there is the temptation to cut corners in the belief that either customers will not notice, or will accept a lesser standard of service or quality than they have become used to. Unless there is no need for repeat business this is merely a recipe for disaster and word of mouth is a powerful thing.
The key to any successful business in the hospitality industry is knowing your market and how to reach it, attention to detail and well-trained staff, who can have a significant impact on sales, who have the confidence and authority to make decisions, and a passion for pleasing the customer.
It is after all the customer that pays the wages, despite what greedy shareholders may want their staff to believe.
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