I have a really great family. We play together, laugh together, party together - all in all we have a really good family life, even though we are scattered across the globe.
Every family though, has a dodgy uncle. Mine is called Kurt. He is to put it bluntly, a wanker.
Kurt is the ONE person you NEVER want to come around. Kurt is the one family member who never really listens to a word you say and never bothers to make his house presentable when you go round for a braai. Kurt couldn't give a damn what you drink...or if you are comfortable...as long as he is sorted, its survival of the fittest for the rest of you...
Why this boring lesson is Ross family culture?
Because, if hotels, as part of their value proposition, are supposed to make you feel like part of the family,....then Southern Sun, in my experience, has the same approach to visitors as my Uncle Kurt.
I have to confess, I have had a mixed relationship with Southern Sun since the hotel i was staying in caught fire...yes really! In the Newlands Southern Sun, about four years ago, a Chinese tourist had apparently decided to leave her nylon ladythings drying on an in-room heater. After a few hours, the melting point of synthetic chinese nylon was exceeded and the room went up in smoke.
Why the eire with Southern Sun in this case? Because their evacuation procedures were shambolic to say the least, their staff hopelessly under trained for the situation, and the cherry on the cake was an irate phone call from "Pat in Accounts" later that day threatening to sue me as i had skipped the hotel without settling my bill...i had to point out her speed-point was melting and her staff screaming in hysteria before she realised I may have a point...
Happily we resolved the issue the good old fashioned Southern Sun way - they denied anything was wrong, and i paid the bill without setting myself on fire!
...and here we are, a few years on...whoda thunk i would be irritated with this bastion of Southern African hospitality again?
Lets put this in context first...I work in Sport - Global Sport, and spend probably 100 to 150 nights annually in hotels, around the country and around the world.
I understand the "business"of hospitality, as well as the affinity to certain "brands" - and despite all belief to the contrary I dont think I am a "difficult" customer...I DO however like to think that i have the right to an opinion, and that when things are wrong they deserve to be aired.
So... the start of the Domestic Standard Bank Pro20 series is upon us, and to kick off the year lets look at my two Southern Sun experiences in two days in two different cities....
Cape Town first - where the air is pure, the mountain over-rated, and the Eastern Boulevard Holiday Inn a health hazard!
The usual check-in "dance of the missing booking" was already enough to get my blood pressure up (Southern Sun simply have no simple way to reconcile a web booking with their reservations system - I have resigned myself to this fate as we ALWAYS have problems checking in)....
Up to the room, and as the lift stopped on the second floor i was delighted to be welcomed, in the lift lobby, by an Ocean Basket take-away box in the middle of the floor. (it was still there in the morning).
Dodging the fishy welcome, I was happily greeted by three separate prostitutes (one counting her money) on the walk to my room. At least depending on survival in a service based industry they were infinately more pleasant than the hotel check-in staff.
I was delighted to learn upon entry of my appointed room, that apparently someone had stolen the furniture! (probably the prostitutes?) A gaping hole in the interior design layout made it clear that near the window a table and chairs once stood! The vacuous space overwhelmed the delightful '80's pine finishings.... on the plus side at least the view of the block of flats out the back was not obscured!
Luckily a single night stay was all i had to endure, and as the Sports game relentlessy marches on, so do all the support staff. Next stop East London!
In my humble, 100 plus nights a year experience...checking into the East London Southern Sun is about as pleasant an experience as a home lobotomy...in fact the lobotomy would probably be preferable as you wouldn't remember it in the morning!
The reprise of the "check-in missing reservation" dance was followed by the "door lock tango" - four rooms, four tired event managers, and four keys that would not work...a quick trip to reception solved the problem and we were told not to hold our keys near credit cards - apparently we had all deliberately sabotaged our keycards on the walk to our rooms...
So, after that rousing Southern Sun welcome, we decided to kick back, and have a drink - why not! The hotel has a bar, surely they can't screw a quick drink up? Sigh....
The furniture in the bar area should frankly be condemned by the WHO. Stains of indescribable origin mingled playfully on the arm rests as we settled into the padded chairs. Ordering a Jack Daniels, in a short glass - anyone that knows me knows my drinking preferences - was not as easy as it sounded...in the space of 5 minutes we established that the "bar" had 1) no whiskey glasses, 2) no change so paying with cash was problematic and 3) no abilty to run a tab as the barman was knocking off in ten minutes.... you can see where this is heading can't you!
Breathing deeply I went up to my room, noting happily that no one had stolen the furniture out of this one. I was however intrigued that the Southern Sun Interior design department had outdone themselves - this time with a novel approach to guest experience called "hide the vital switches".
For future reference the bathroom light switches for room 239 at the East London Southern Sun Garden Court are hidden behind a curtain that is stuck to the wall with Velcro!! You cant see them, nor lift the curtain away from the wall - so to find them you end up like a drunken boxer jabbing at the wall in the desperate hope a punch lands in the vital area - i am happy to report after about 15 minutes I was indeed able to turn on the bathroom light...
The final straw in the sorry tale of East London Southern Sun value proposition was the asthmatic aircon. To be fair, it tried...hard! It made a lot of noise, and moved the air around but never really managed to get, erm...cold? I woke up around 05h00 with that delightful "did i fall asleep in a sauna" head-ache.
So i decided to do what i probably should have done upon arrival - and leave.
I checked out...and was asked by the Cashier if i enjoyed my stay....probably not one of his brightest moves but i politely and gently explained in a calm voice what i thought of his fine establishment.
To his credit he insisted I chat to the duty manager - a true asset in the Cutomer Service ARSEnal of the Southern Sun group...a gem called Luckie.
In the twenty minutes Luckie tries to reconcile my bill, claiming despite me having paid up front for all 5 rooms and 11 nights that i still owed him more money, he never once attempted to solve the problem, resolve any of my issues, nor actually apologise for any of the poor experiences I may have encountered on his property.
He DID intimate i should have reported the faulty aircon - to be fair he is correct. I should also have bought my own shampoo to clean the furniture, and will make a mental note to always travel with my own whiskey glasses, room card encoder and change for the bar in future.
What's the moral of all of this?
I think the customer service industry in South Africa is notoriously fickle and I DO believe that a lot of the time, groups like Southern Sun DO get it right. The lesson here seems to be the processes in place when things go WRONG, where the first assumption is always that the customer is just an inconvenience and being difficult?
I firmly understand that occasionally things go wrong, and to be frank much of my irritation with Southern Sun this time is the way things were handled...but here is the zinger.
I DO have a choice...
I DO have the means and ability to stay elsewhere, and maybe - just maybe, if more people did so - the next time I check into a Southern Sun, my reservation WILL be on the system WITH the payment reflecting...and the light switch for the toilet just MAYBE moved from behind a velcro'd down curtain.
I sincerely doubt it though. I wonder of my Uncle Kurt uses Southern Sun when he travels.? He would feel right at home there!
Every family though, has a dodgy uncle. Mine is called Kurt. He is to put it bluntly, a wanker.
Kurt is the ONE person you NEVER want to come around. Kurt is the one family member who never really listens to a word you say and never bothers to make his house presentable when you go round for a braai. Kurt couldn't give a damn what you drink...or if you are comfortable...as long as he is sorted, its survival of the fittest for the rest of you...
Why this boring lesson is Ross family culture?
Because, if hotels, as part of their value proposition, are supposed to make you feel like part of the family,....then Southern Sun, in my experience, has the same approach to visitors as my Uncle Kurt.
I have to confess, I have had a mixed relationship with Southern Sun since the hotel i was staying in caught fire...yes really! In the Newlands Southern Sun, about four years ago, a Chinese tourist had apparently decided to leave her nylon ladythings drying on an in-room heater. After a few hours, the melting point of synthetic chinese nylon was exceeded and the room went up in smoke.
Why the eire with Southern Sun in this case? Because their evacuation procedures were shambolic to say the least, their staff hopelessly under trained for the situation, and the cherry on the cake was an irate phone call from "Pat in Accounts" later that day threatening to sue me as i had skipped the hotel without settling my bill...i had to point out her speed-point was melting and her staff screaming in hysteria before she realised I may have a point...
Happily we resolved the issue the good old fashioned Southern Sun way - they denied anything was wrong, and i paid the bill without setting myself on fire!
...and here we are, a few years on...whoda thunk i would be irritated with this bastion of Southern African hospitality again?
 |
| Its amazing what Photoshop can do... |
Lets put this in context first...I work in Sport - Global Sport, and spend probably 100 to 150 nights annually in hotels, around the country and around the world.
I understand the "business"of hospitality, as well as the affinity to certain "brands" - and despite all belief to the contrary I dont think I am a "difficult" customer...I DO however like to think that i have the right to an opinion, and that when things are wrong they deserve to be aired.
So... the start of the Domestic Standard Bank Pro20 series is upon us, and to kick off the year lets look at my two Southern Sun experiences in two days in two different cities....
Cape Town first - where the air is pure, the mountain over-rated, and the Eastern Boulevard Holiday Inn a health hazard!
The usual check-in "dance of the missing booking" was already enough to get my blood pressure up (Southern Sun simply have no simple way to reconcile a web booking with their reservations system - I have resigned myself to this fate as we ALWAYS have problems checking in)....
Up to the room, and as the lift stopped on the second floor i was delighted to be welcomed, in the lift lobby, by an Ocean Basket take-away box in the middle of the floor. (it was still there in the morning).
 |
| Room Service, Southern Sun Style... |
I was delighted to learn upon entry of my appointed room, that apparently someone had stolen the furniture! (probably the prostitutes?) A gaping hole in the interior design layout made it clear that near the window a table and chairs once stood! The vacuous space overwhelmed the delightful '80's pine finishings.... on the plus side at least the view of the block of flats out the back was not obscured!
Luckily a single night stay was all i had to endure, and as the Sports game relentlessy marches on, so do all the support staff. Next stop East London!
In my humble, 100 plus nights a year experience...checking into the East London Southern Sun is about as pleasant an experience as a home lobotomy...in fact the lobotomy would probably be preferable as you wouldn't remember it in the morning!
The reprise of the "check-in missing reservation" dance was followed by the "door lock tango" - four rooms, four tired event managers, and four keys that would not work...a quick trip to reception solved the problem and we were told not to hold our keys near credit cards - apparently we had all deliberately sabotaged our keycards on the walk to our rooms...
The furniture in the bar area should frankly be condemned by the WHO. Stains of indescribable origin mingled playfully on the arm rests as we settled into the padded chairs. Ordering a Jack Daniels, in a short glass - anyone that knows me knows my drinking preferences - was not as easy as it sounded...in the space of 5 minutes we established that the "bar" had 1) no whiskey glasses, 2) no change so paying with cash was problematic and 3) no abilty to run a tab as the barman was knocking off in ten minutes.... you can see where this is heading can't you!
Breathing deeply I went up to my room, noting happily that no one had stolen the furniture out of this one. I was however intrigued that the Southern Sun Interior design department had outdone themselves - this time with a novel approach to guest experience called "hide the vital switches".
For future reference the bathroom light switches for room 239 at the East London Southern Sun Garden Court are hidden behind a curtain that is stuck to the wall with Velcro!! You cant see them, nor lift the curtain away from the wall - so to find them you end up like a drunken boxer jabbing at the wall in the desperate hope a punch lands in the vital area - i am happy to report after about 15 minutes I was indeed able to turn on the bathroom light...
The final straw in the sorry tale of East London Southern Sun value proposition was the asthmatic aircon. To be fair, it tried...hard! It made a lot of noise, and moved the air around but never really managed to get, erm...cold? I woke up around 05h00 with that delightful "did i fall asleep in a sauna" head-ache.
 |
| The Luckie Draw of Customer Service... |
I checked out...and was asked by the Cashier if i enjoyed my stay....probably not one of his brightest moves but i politely and gently explained in a calm voice what i thought of his fine establishment.
To his credit he insisted I chat to the duty manager - a true asset in the Cutomer Service ARSEnal of the Southern Sun group...a gem called Luckie.
In the twenty minutes Luckie tries to reconcile my bill, claiming despite me having paid up front for all 5 rooms and 11 nights that i still owed him more money, he never once attempted to solve the problem, resolve any of my issues, nor actually apologise for any of the poor experiences I may have encountered on his property.
He DID intimate i should have reported the faulty aircon - to be fair he is correct. I should also have bought my own shampoo to clean the furniture, and will make a mental note to always travel with my own whiskey glasses, room card encoder and change for the bar in future.
What's the moral of all of this?
I think the customer service industry in South Africa is notoriously fickle and I DO believe that a lot of the time, groups like Southern Sun DO get it right. The lesson here seems to be the processes in place when things go WRONG, where the first assumption is always that the customer is just an inconvenience and being difficult?
I firmly understand that occasionally things go wrong, and to be frank much of my irritation with Southern Sun this time is the way things were handled...but here is the zinger.
I DO have a choice...
I DO have the means and ability to stay elsewhere, and maybe - just maybe, if more people did so - the next time I check into a Southern Sun, my reservation WILL be on the system WITH the payment reflecting...and the light switch for the toilet just MAYBE moved from behind a velcro'd down curtain.
I sincerely doubt it though. I wonder of my Uncle Kurt uses Southern Sun when he travels.? He would feel right at home there!
