Bob Puccini

Understanding Human Nature

At this point, you might have noticed that I travel a lot.  It has been an exciting couple of weeks. I was in Dubai this week for a World Travel and Tourism Council summit. While visiting that part of the world, I treated myself to a couple of days in Egypt to revisit the astounding architecture of the highly skilled ancient Egyptian people.  Their innovation and precision set an unprecedented standard that amazes me every time I see it.
 
In Cairo, I was awestruck by how advanced the Egyptians were to have gathered the conceptual knowledge to accurately build these massive tombs and temples. The outcome, shown through the gorgeous columns and carvings, look simple in retrospect, but all building takes planning.  Someone had to calculate quantities, transportation time (without trucks!), as well as training each craftsman to accomplish all of this accurately. Communicating the details of where each piece would end up to a vast crew of builders took an amazing amount of coordination. The final precise product, stunning pyramids that faced East to the sunrise and were precisely the same dimension on each side, is quite remarkable. And if you ever visit the Egyptian museum in Cairo you will see even more remarkable work in the metal smiting, painting and jewelry. It is too bad we don’t have any artifacts of their restaurants, I am sure there were some tabletop pieces that would blow our minds.
 
Following Egypt, I was in Dubai. This modern and thriving city is another example of architecture that pushes the limits of what the status quo thought was possible. While the Burj al Arab receives a lot of praise, it is not alone. There are so many examples of amazing architecture that I wonder how the gift of unrestrained architecture and design has lain dormant in this region for so long. All of these buildings are meant to impress, much like I expect the ancient Egyptians meant to impress their people and intimidate their enemies.Something struck me as odd in the cities of Cairo and Dubai (as well as many cities I have visited around the world): the difference between “hotel” restaurants and restaurants that were full of locals and tourists. The first oddity was all the dark suits. Why do hotels, even in climates of more than 100 degrees, feel like a dark suit on management people or service staff is the best way to make you feel comfortable and relaxed? Do you know what I noticed at the WTTC summit in Dubai where there were 1,100 people from 74 countries?  Almost all of these hospitality industry leaders wore dark suits. It seems clear that this conservative corporate culture of the hotel management is imposed on their restaurants. To be successful in a hotel, hoteliers must understand that restaurants are sensual, experience-driven spaces that should reflect the local culture and landscape, to capture local guests as well as increase the capture rate of hotel guests that want an authentic experience.

The second thing that struck me as odd was the name tags that the service staff wears. I know hotels have a standard of name tags, but I don’t get it. Seldom I can’t make out the actual name on the tag, and my eyes and gestures can often make a quicker and more meaningful connection with a server than by calling his or her name across a room. I like to use names, but generally it comes from establishing a connection, not from a name tag. Do they wear name tags in your local favorite restaurant?

Restaurants in hotels need to understand that competing with “street” restaurants means understanding human nature. As I have said before, and continue to find true in my life, hotels are often refuges from the stresses of travel. Hotels should be fulfilling their social and cultural requirement as much as the functional one of feeding you

Posted by Bob Puccini on April 29, 2008 | Comments (2)