95. Case Review: Breakfast and Recovery at Capella Hanoi

At Capella Hanoi, we were looking very much forward to our first breakfast there before heading out to the pottery village about 90 minutes away.

At the entrance, the host was focused more on looking down than up as he remained completely unaware that we were standing an arm's length from him. We said, "Good Morning" and it probably startled him a little. Looking up with a mask on - perhaps that was why we could not see his nice smile; not that it was showing through his eyes - he merely nodded and led us to a table before taking a swift departure. No reciprocation of our greeting, no offering of beverages, no explanation of anything. Not even getting our room number. As we sat down, we gave each other an unspoken look of 'Mmmm......not going as well as we were expecting...let's see what's next."

The breakfast service was disorganised and chaotic to say the least. After several attempts, we eventually got another employee's attention to order our coffees and fresh juices. He went off before we could ask about the breakfast inclusion. While our room did include breakfast, we didn't know if we could order anything on the menu since it had prices listed. 

(At the far end near the open kitchen, there seemed to be a mini buffet of sort, but when we approached, we saw that it was a display counter for their coffee, signature crockery, bread/pastry and some packaged products. Perhaps our inclusion only extended to this section?)

In the end, we found another employee to clarify the situation with. I proceeded to order a bowl of Pho while my husband opted for the salmon on toast and some fruits. My noodles was served after about 15 minutes, and the hot beverages came soon after. After several minutes, we tried to catch hold of an employee, any employee, to check on the remaining dishes and when we finally managed to, the young lady did not get back to us on the mystery of our missing items. 

Our level of frustration (and my husband's hunger level) was rising, and another 8 minutes crawled by before we asked someone else. This male employee responded while walking past our table that "it is coming soon" without checking. His "soon" was another 12 minutes' wait. 

Throughout all these interaction with various individuals, there was no empathy extended. Eventually, my husband's dishes came 41 minutes after order was initially placed. Way too long. (In case you are wondering, the restaurant was not busy - and had only about 6 to 8 small tables occupied throughout our time there.)

Oh, and did I mention that the juices remained missing throughout too... 

While we were waiting for the dishes, there seemed to be a little mayhem going on. It looked like there was some sort of disagreement going on between the senior management, chef and service team near the open kitchen.  

On a positive note, my noodles were very flavourful and the coffee art on my cappuccino was well done.

Due to the delay at breakfast, we decided to change our morning plans since we didn't want to rush back from the pottery village for our pre-booked lunch appointment back in town.

Service Bank: Minus 5 💖

***

As we walked past the reception desk to the elevators, a female staff asked about our breakfast. We simply said, "Food was good but it was quite bit of a wait." She then apologised for it. 

When we returned to our room in the late afternoon, there was a hand-written card and a complimentary amenity in our room, acknowledging and apologising for the breakfast delay.

Service Bank: 2 x 💖

***

The following morning, as we walked towards the restaurant, we met Ms. Ha from the Front Desk. She apologised for the prior breakfast experience and assured us that it would not happen again. She escorted us to the restaurant and true to her words, we had a very pleasant time with much efficiency on this second morning. There was now a small buffet section set-up for the cold dishes and pastries - not sure if this was a new concept starting this day, or could it be the outlet forgot to prepare this entire area the day before? Anyway, it definitely worked.

Post-meal, Ms. Ha also enquired about our satisfaction at breakfast.

Service Bank: 2 x 💖 for Ms. Ha's genuine interest in our well-being.

***

Side note 1: For senior management, do make it a point to interact with all the tables when there is just 6 occupied tables in the restaurant. Chatting with 3 of them but not coming by to convey basic morning greeting (even just a mere "Good morning"), makes the rest wonder what is the "selection criteria"? (Refer to Post 54: Don't Show Favouritism to Your Kids/Guests)

Side note 2: There was another non-uniformed female employee (perhaps Sales and Marketing/PR?) who stood near the outlet entrance as we departed, perhaps waiting to meet with someone. She promptly looked away and walked towards her colleague by the bar, as if avoiding any guest interaction. She had wrongly thought that only those in service operations needed to tend to guests.


Reflective thoughts: List other examples where a restaurant employee's behaviour would project an image of being ungracious or/and not being service-ready.

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