Just as Visit Britain Chairman Christopher Rodrigues CBE told The Independent on 7 January that poor service in UK hotels and restaurants could put off tourists and cost thousands of jobs, Kyodo News revealed that Japanese firms abroad are introducing meticulous and cordial service standards that are shaming the locals.
Rodrigues said that poor service could cause some of the 50,000 anticipated job losses in the industry this year. “Threadbare towels, a previously used bar of soap and a grumpy person who says ‘we don’t do breakfast before 8am and we don’t do it after 8.12am’—and you don’t get a lot of happy customers”.
And the BBC chipped in on 12 January by quoting Michelin-starred chef Michel Roux Jr saying that bad customer service is “everywhere in the UK”. “Surly, slapdash and dreadful”, he called it. “It’s not just in restaurants; you get bad service anywhere. Even buying a newspaper you can find that you’re not even acknowledged. There’s no eye contact, no greeting or anything”.
The UK came 14th in the 2010 international customer service rankings from the Nation Brand Index and was ranked 13th for its “welcome” by visitors. Top is Canada, followed by Italy and Australia. It doesn’t bode well for a country just months away from a royal wedding that’s expected to attract millions of visitors to the UK, followed by the Olympics next year, the BBC lamented.
Meanwhile, a 39-year-old lawyer visited the Usagiyama Hotel, near Zurich, that had been built in 2003 to promote Japanese culture. “‘I was quite surprised when a maid knelt before opening a sliding door to enter a room”, he said. “The service is impeccable”, he added. At Uniqlo in Paris, about 30 shop clerks rehearsed, in unison, their ‘‘Bonjour’’, together with a phrase meaning, ‘‘Please tell me if you need any help”.
As customers flock around a checkout counter, a clerk rushes to another cash register so that shoppers can be served more quickly. Shop clerks have just 90 seconds to wrap a product, hold out a receipt to the customer with both hands and look at him or her in the eyes with a smile. This is rare in Paris, where shop clerks often chat with colleagues instead of serving customers.
‘‘In the past, for example, foreign critics have said that we were trying to make up for the inadequate functioning of our cars by throwing in nonessential frills”, said Shiro Nakamura, Nissan Motor Co.’s chief creative officer in charge of design and brand management. ‘‘Now that we have caught up in terms of product performance, our ability to offer features tailored to customer needs has become an asset that enhances the uniqueness of our products”.
One firm last year drew up a new service manual in 21 languages. ‘‘The warmth of Japanese-style customer service should be welcomed all the more in this age when person-to-person relationships have become so tenuous,’’ said Jean-Charles Viti, vice president of Shiseido Europe S.A.S.
