Hassanfushi

“We are the only 5 start restaurant in Male..” announces the young lady who identified herself as the Manager of a recently opened restaurant in Male. A boisterous claim, but doest it really mean anything in Maldives? I guess not.

Star grading and classification is official in most countries but it doesn’t really mean much in the Maldives. Resorts in the Maldives have been associating themselves with self-proclaimed stars for a long time. This claim is at times validated or rejected/rendered meaningless by the Tour Operators who promote the islands with grading/classifications that makes sense to their clientele. So a German Tour Operator may sell an island as a Four Star property in the German Market depending on the facilities available on the island, standard of service as prescribed by the star grading or tourist establishment classification in Germany or in destinations where Germans frequent.

However, this is the first time I heard a local restaurant claiming a star grade. Star grading means a lot of things in the countries where an establishment is officially classified, assessed, qualified and given a star. It means that the establishment meets a set of rigid criteria. In order to qualify as a 5 star establishment, many countries require the building in which the establishment is housed, to have certain facilities, features available. In most cases, you have to have parking space reserved for your customers. The criterion is so rigid in some places that they specify down to how many customers per vehicle space available. For instance, if you have space for parking 4 cars, the number of seats you can  have if you are 5 star is limited to 16, that’s 4 persons per vehicle. In addition, the place should be accessible to individuals who need special assistance, for people whose mobility is compromised due to a disability. You have to have lifts or ramps that one can use to access the restaurant.

Five star means you have to have your own restrooms and the numbers are clearly defined. These rooms need to be serviced and cleaned every hour.

Its not only about the building, it’s about everything, the whole operation. The most recent trends lean towards greener more environmentally friendly operations and for you to qualify as a 5 star, you have to have processes within your operation that are green and environment friendly.

Being classified as a five star establishment in some countries means that you have to have a certain number of waiters and cooks who are qualified through a systematic training process, or attended a college/a vocational institute certified by the local government. It also means that the service staff should be conversant in a particular language or dialect. For example, in the case of this restaurant in Male, the waiters might have been required to speak English and Dhivehi.

Star grading is usually given after detail evaluation, onsite inspections, both announced and unannounced by qualified independent assessors and it’s not something you can simply claim to be.

From what this young lady had articulated, I wonder where on earth her establishment would be graded a 5 star!! Her restaurant is located in a busy area of Male where parking spaces are always packed and I don’t think that building has wheel-chair access. I don’t know how many restrooms there are on that particular floor where her restaurant is located. She admits that her staff is multi-national but did not confirm that they can speak the local language.

Calling oneself five, six, seven or even beyond star may not be criminal in the Maldives, but deceiving customers definitely is not the best strategy forward for a startup venturing into the highly competitive catering scene in Male. If you feel your establishment is in a class of its own, don’t talk about stars, just be in your niche and reach out to people in that segment of the market who can afford your pricing.

So if you are reading this and if you are not really familiar with star grading, I just want you to know that what the lady articulated on the national TV about her restaurant being a five star is pure hogwash.

PS. I just advised a friend who also happens to be a restaurateur to proclaim that he has Michelin stars! Or simply say that his restaurant is above star!!!!

When Wataniya started here, I sincerely thought that the customers would benefit from the competition not only in terms of reduced prices but also in terms of the quality of customer service. I reserved a number from wataniya but did not start using the service right away; in fact I didn't even purchase the SIM card for some time.

Would you, as a customer, ever agree to pay for services you did not use? Neither would I, but wataniya started charging me long before I ever asked them to have my SIM card activated. Wataniya, in a way, forced me to do business with them but I probably would not mind and would have forgiven them if I was properly looked after as a customer from that point on. That was not to be. For three months, my statements came with the charges that were levied against me prior to my service being activated.

At this point I thought I was being dished out substandard service because I was an individual and that I would be more valued if my number was registered to our office. I changed my number, this time under company name, which I thought would have made me a corporate customer. Barely a month into the new service, my outgoing call service was suspended without any prior notice! I had to make a few calls and pull some strings to get my service back. Customer service never figured out why I was not sent a warning or a polite reminder.

My experience with wataniya was bad but what I was to experience with dhiraagu was worse. I got a so called nice number. The registration took a while, 25 minutes to be exact and I filled in the necessary information myself, including my e-mail address. I definitely wanted the e-bill service but according to dhiraagu, I did not tick the box in the application. So much for customer service... If someone gives his e-mail address and asks for all the other services including un-listing, would you not expect the customer service person to ask me whether I want e-bill service or not? I am still waiting for my e-bill service to be activated.

I started using my new number, unlisted of course. Un-listing, I thought would have given me more privacy. I was wrong. Someone named Atheef diverted his calls to my number. I put up with the nuisance of replying and ignoring calls from all his friends and family including his dad and sister for a day. I called 123 the next day but initially they would not admit there was a diversion. I asked the 123 boy to call Atheef's number and surely, ring ring, hello, it’s my phone, not Atheef's. It took them a while to reroute or cancel the diversion.

I thought that was the end of my suffering but I was wrong again. I woke up one morning to find that my outgoing was suspended. I did not receive a bill and neither did I receive a warning. Just like with wataniya, dhiraagu too could not figure out why I was not warned when I reached my credit ceiling. You would have thought this happening to me once is enough, no. It happened again, I woke up on the 9th of this month to find that my phone was suspended again. I was handicapped for a few hours.

I still do not understand why the telephone companies pulled nasty surprises on me, or are these common occurrences? If this happens to me alone, I guess I will have to accept it as fate or some cosmic intervention. But if this happens to many of you out there, then the service levels of these companies is what Ron Kaufman would call 'criminal'. I really don't want to know the reality because either way, I am stuck with this service provider.

If you are not a Maldivian you probably might be thinking whether it should be “symphony sounds” instead of “symphony tastes”, the truth is, Symphony is a restaurant chain in the Maldives. If you live in Male, chances are that you have visited a symphony restaurant sometime in your life. I did many times. I guess I am what waiters would call a difficult customer because I always ask for something, I want things done my way and I am never ashamed of asking. I started going into symphony restaurants when I dated my wife and she used to work at Iskandar School back then. Sypmphony was very conveniently located for us at that time.

My initial interactions with the service staff at symphonic bordered on disaster, all ending in pathetic situations. The first incident was when I asked for a half portion of a nasi goreng. It was rejected right away and the explanation was that they did not sell half portions and customers cannot be billed for half portions, it was against management policy. So I volunteered to pay for a full portion but told them I would still like to be served a half portion. The supervisor thought that serving me what I wanted would compromise their reputation and I was never able to convince the service staff. The result? One unhappy customer, an annoyed girlfriend and waste of half portion of nasi goreng! Who won? None!

The second incident was when I ordered a chicken dish that was supposed to be served with French fries and I asked the French fries to be replaced with steamed rice. The supervisor wouldn't let me have my way explaining to me that the chef would not allow customers decide how the dishes on the menu are served. You only get what is on the menu, only as it is on the menu. The result? Again, an annoyed girlfriend, an unhappy customer and lost sales because I abstained from ordering anything. I simply had no will to be force-fed by the supervisor and the chef. I went there not only to eat but to enjoy a meal and the enjoyment would have only come from me being able to eat what I wanted, not what was on the menu.

The next incident happened quite recently at their garden restaurant in Vilingili. I took my son out for pizza one day and while we waited for the order to arrive, my son started playing with the ever-present sauce bottles. Just as he touched the bottles, a waiter just shocked us with the speed of his approach to pluck the bottles from my son. My reaction? I love my son and didn't want to see him get upset. I told the waiter that I will pay for the sauce bottles and/or any mess or loss the restaurant may face as a result of my son accidentally breaking the bottles.

Children are special customers and they have special needs. They need to be entertained and engaged and it is up to the service provider to think of creative ways of keeping children busy and their parents happy.

So far I have been relating to you some negative service encounters but I must also give credit to the service staff of symphony restaurants for the positive and creative stuff they pull off on customers. They are very child-friendly at times, serving them small baby bottles of water and packets of snacks. The also provide drawing blocks and color pens.

What I observed next at symphony is truly a WOW moment. I really appreciate what the supervisor did and commend him and Sypmhony for that. We went there for lunch, the whole team from our office and in the chatter someone mentioned that it was someone's birthday yesterday. It was past, gone but the supervisor was creative enough to make that moment truly memorable by bringing us a large slice of cake with a candle on it and wishing the lady belatedly. We all joined in, the waiters did too, to sing happy birthday and got her to blow out the candle. If I ever saw a WOW moment in a Male restaurant, this was it.

A visit to the spa is supposed to give you the ultimate soothing experience, to give you total relaxation. I wonder what that ‘total’ and ‘ultimate’ really mean. What I experienced recently on a visit to a five star spa could be likened to an episode from the Fawlty Towers.

To me a spa experience should be soothing to all your senses and the spa experience should start from the moment of the very first contact a customer has with some one from the spa. Many spas in the Maldives lack uniqueness in terms of the overall concept, physical layout and design. Most of the times its fusion, a bit of Balinese art and Thai architecture with very little Maldivian-ness. A spa should have a continuous and consistent pattern with regard to concept and physical design. A spa reception or treatment room should have an inviting feel, I would go as far as wanting that feel to be sort of hypnotic that makes you want to sleep. The idea of green and flowering plants, running water and waterfalls actually do give a soothing sensation and it plays with your sense of sight and hearing. If we are really careful with the choice of plants and flowers, we can play with the customer's sense of smell without having to burn incense or scented candles.

A lot of spas I visit give me a drink, a supposedly healthy drink, but for me it is boring to taste the same thing over and over again. Besides, it does not taste any better than the ginger tea that you would brew at home. I would rather have a coconut or pure fruit juice, freshly squeezed.

By now you must be wondering what went wrong during my visit… well, it was perfectly alright and uneventful up to the moment I went into the treatment room. The girls were really sweet and I was able to 'wow' them with my Balinese greeting.. 'om shanti shanti om'..

At the treatment room, the therapist started a music that I thought was less than soothing, for some reason it did not put me at ease. I think spa operations could provide a better service by personalizing the choice of music played at the treatment rooms. Given the advanced technology available today, this should be quite simple.

There were some flowers on the bed and the therapist collected them carefully and put them on the table at the side. A few minutes into the massage, just as I was dozing off, I was stung! Not once, many times, left right and centre. I asked the therapist to stop and when I looked at the bed, there was an army of teeny weeny ants, too small for you to notice if you don't really look for them. They may have come from the flowers or may have been attracted to flowers but the negligent oversight of the therapist just cannot be forgiven. I doubt it was the first time someone noticed ants on the bed but from that moment on, there should be one additional task on the therapists’ checklist: check for ants and other creepy crawly insects.

We got rid of the ants and the therapist resumed the massage. A few minutes into the second half of the massage, my right hand felt warm, really warm and suddenly it felt really hot. I opened my eyes and saw that my right hand was exposed to the sun. It felt hot but all the while I thought the therapist was going to change my position or move me over to the other bed. It was around three in the afternoon so the sun was still quite strong. I am a Maldivian and the idea of sunbathing doesn’t really appeal to me. I waited for a couple of minutes and when there was not reaction fro the therapist, I told her that I don’t feel comfortable been in the sun and being roasted alive! She asked me to move to the other bed.

Despite being fed to ants and roasted alive with massage oil, I still thanked her. I went to the shower in the treatment room and after washing my hair, poured from the bottle that read as shower gel… well, the shower gel was green too (the shampoo is green) and it smelt and felt exactly the same as the shampoo. On my way back at the reception, I asked the girl whether the shampoo and the shower gel came in the same colour and she told me that their shower gel is blue!

So much for total relaxation...

Today we live in a global world. It is a global community where citizens interact with each other on a daily basis. Globalization is a fact of life we cannot deny. Industries expand and businesses go beyond physical, geographical and political borders. It is however baffling to see how the government of Maldives embraces globalization. It is at times hypocritical to the outside observer.

The economy of Maldives depends on two key industries: fishing and tourism. Both industries are highly labour intensive and the population of Maldives has only just reached 300000. If one looks at the speed of expansion and plans made for the future it is clear that the labour pool or workforce available locally is not enough to sustain the growth and momentum of these two industries.

Since the advent of tourism in the country during the early 70s, we have been importing labour. More importantly, we have been importing skill and capacity too. If the natural growth of the population will not produce a labour pool that can sustain both the fishery and tourism industries, I wonder what the government plans to do in the future.

My concern is based on the fact that the government of Maldives discourages diversity. This is evident in a number of the government’s policies and initiatives. There is a recent slogan in place, I think for this year, that goes "proud to be a Maldivian". I thought it was a surprising coincidence that the number of attacks and violence against foreigners have increased manifold with the introduction of this slogan.

Society as a whole looks down on foreigners, non-skilled labourers are frowned upon and ridiculed on the streets and public places and the media runs an unrelenting campaign with headlines like "dhivehinge bimugai dhivehin nikamethi kuranee". Is this how we promote diversity?

To compete in a global environment we must embrace the concept of diversity. Instead of teaching our kids and the general public to be proud to be a Maldivian, to protect the national and religious unity or “wahdhath” as we say, we should be teaching them to respect people from other cultures, other nationalities and religions. Being diverse means being tolerant and tolerance breeds understanding and harmony.

Tourism industry depends on people of other cultures, religions and nationalities and if we as Maldivians do not appreciate and value their importance, I just don't know how we will ever portray ourselves as the generous and gracious hosts that we claim to be. In a country with a population of only 300000, where over 40 thousand foreigners support and lubricate the main industries, government authorities are not doing the nation a favour by introducing absurd regulations like limiting the quota for certain positions. For example, the government is trying to restrict quotas for waiters or food and beverage persons. I know a lot of restaurant owners in Male and other inhabited islands who are struggling to find waiters. If the employment ministry wants to restrict or limit the number of waiters brought into the country, shouldn't we first consider the reality on the ground?

Diversity is important for us and it is time for the government and the society in general to look at the big picture and think of ways in which the foreign worker population can be hospitably accommodated within us instead of labeling them the necessary evil. We have to be tolerant and appreciative of their beliefs and religions. We can be proud to be Maldivians but we have at the same time respect the rights and freedom of the non-Maldivians who sacrifice a lot keep our economy going.