Live up to the brand or be branded
A by-product of the rather inhospitable practice of dual pricing has now hit certain sectors of the Bangkok five-star luxury hotel market, flouting international compliance requirements and corrupting brand values. Basically, the scam works like this: Cha
Just look online. Mixed in with oodles of “wow-wow-wow” rhetoric (much of it clearly posted by the hotels themselves) the loyal discerning customer has a different view of matters. Typical comments include “no longer truly five star, breakfast was like sitting in a campus canteen, screaming and doors slamming all night, going downhill, greedy, disastrous and despicable, poor service disguised in premium five-star garb” and “avoid like the plague”. These comments relate to just two adjoining, apparently unscrupulous five-star international brand-name hotels in central Bangkok.
Call this what you will – “creative brand destruction fuelled by greed” or “conspiracy to defraud both high-end tourists and international investors”. A brand is a brand at whatever level, and regulatory codes require the upholding of stated brand values and standards. There can be no compromise. If the brand owner loses control, then a “bubble” is created and the brand itself becomes a mirage. Regulatory and operational violations increase. Professionally trained staff is forced into a two-faced mentality and service standards plummet. Long-established customers rapidly realise that much-prized brand ideals and promises have suddenly vanished. All those wasted platinum points!
Ethically, there’s nothing wrong with making money, but how it’s done matters a lot. Yes, tap into the Asian economic miracle, the new “never-travelled-before-so-must-glue-together-in-loud-groups” tourist class, but not to the detriment of upmarket brands, the loyal premium-rate customer or even the international hospitality brand investor.
By all means, create a new category for the nouveau-riche, double-decker bus crowd that will pay cheaper prices for a different niche of the luxury traveller dream. But this must never be at the expense of the traditional five-star sophistication that those in search of tranquillity, elegance, comfort, quality service and refinement require.
Prime Minister Yingluck wishes to increase the number of upmarket tourists from the current 20 per cent to 30. Your plan is being covertly undermined, Madam, and if the above practice becomes widespread, longstanding upscale visitors to Thailand will vote with their feet and their credit cards. Actually, the negative spiral has already started.
John Shepherd
Bangkok
