Heartbreak Hotel.
There are hotels and indeed there are hotels. There are motels that most people call hotels too. It's shocking that most people just want to go into the hospitality business without having any idea what being hospitable means. Being hospitable means you are vested in the well being of others. You want to make them as comfortable as possible as you can be. When people can't get value for what they are paying for, no matter how little it is, what's the point in it?
I've heard several stories of how horrible some hotels are. I've heard about terrible customer service too but this time around, I saw first-hand how people just go into business for the profit without caring about how it makes others feel. They are only after your money and nothing else matters.
It's not a bad thing if you have to wait to get your business running before you start. There shouldn't be any pressure to start it immediately when you are not fully equipped to. We always want to run that race where we can brag to people about having this or that and in this case, I am sure the owner of this hotel I want to talk about would be bragging to friends and family, "I am into the hotel business. I have a hotel now. You should come and visit sometimes" without knowing he was confidently saying nonsense.
When I travelled for the wedding over the weekend, most of the hotels I would have preferred were all booked. The few ones available were too pricey for the number of hours I needed them for. I knew they were standard and I had to respect myself because it's not their business if I am to sleep for 4 hours...I have to pay for the standard payment. I got to the hotel around midnight and I knew I would wake up by 7 am again to quickly go back to the groom so we can all dress up for the Church wedding.
I got to this hotel and the price was okay. It wasn't cheap but it wasn't too pricey either. I checked the room and noticed the AC was there which is good. I paid and moved my bag into the room with a few friends with me as well. We turned the AC on and noticed it wasn't working. We decided to put that fan to the highest at least but we noticed that one was blowing epileptic. We couldn't cry. We decided to shower and go to their lounge hoping we get anything cold to drink. I saw their Hollandia Yoghurt and I ordered it only to be told that they don't have cold drinks. They said that their fridges don't work.
They have electricity which was the only good thing about this hotel and a backup generator that still can't power up most things but can at least allow the ceiling fan to blow while powering up the lights too. I knew we were in trouble that day for choosing that hotel. I was super angry and I just kept to myself. My friends were complaining but I just resisted the urge to lash out in that anger. I ordered the Yoghurt and Lemon Five Alive drink like that.
One of my friends asked what they had in the kitchen and they said they only make noodles, nothing else. At this point, I just busted out in laughter and told him if he knows what's good for him he should let them be. He kept quiet and before we know it, someone from the kitchen came to tell him that the noodles would soon be done. We both gave him the look and in a few minutes, she came back again to tell us that the kitchen lady said she didn't know they are out of eggs and instead of making 2 noodles with eggs, to make up for it, she has added 2 extra noodles 🤣😂😂😂 to make it 4...for the same price.
I couldn't help but laugh out loud as I was playing my Mama Cat Game on Metamask. My friend rejected the food though and the kitchen lady walked past us, sulking. I was so disgusted that I finally asked one of them why they have terrible services there. She said they had complained about so many things to the management especially the ACs, lack of cold drinks, the poor state of the rooms and others but they refused to attend to their requests.
I further asked how long they have been in operation and she said the owner recently just leased the place and it all made sense to me the moment she said that. The owner recently leased the place and he didn't even bother about fixing the things to make it more appealing. The more appealing it looks the better profit he would make. It's a simple understanding... He is not willing to commit more funds to it and that's only normal that he cannot break even before his least is over. Anyone who wants to patronize them would always treat them as the order of last resort - when they have exhausted all possible options and there is no other choice, that's when they would patronize them. How can they break even when they have salaries to sort out?
A lot of people going into business need to understand that you have to invest money to get money. Someone mentioned on Twitter how much she paid on advertisements monthly even for her low scale business and she's seeing the rewards. If you are just into business to make money you will lose but when you satisfy your customers first, that money would come, if not double.
Thank you for your time.
My pen doesn't bleed, it speaks. I am love's chemical content in human form and that's why I advise people to take a dose of "Olawalium" daily. 🙈
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What I learnt is that one has to invest money to get money and business shouldn't just be treated as a source of income but customer satisfaction should be put in place.