Good Service in the future will come from locals

The shout to buy local, be local, localize was often in the past a Marketing sting from hotel-chains and bigger properties to attract attention. Like the often misused word “Sustainable” it wasn’t honestly followed or implemented but more often resembled a cheap fake to attract guest.

Family first

Family owned hotels, restaurants and coffeeshops made the exception. Here you could find honest attention to detail, service that cared and a local atmosphere that locals appreciated as much as the tourist who found them often only by accident.

Vote with your Feet

The future - after the panic is over - will hopefully help to keep this places alive. To run an independent small restaurant or coffeeshop was always a struggle as the competition, especially chains had tremendous marketing budgets, could buy the best location and used every tax loophole that was closed for the small ones. In return these places offered mediocre or no service, food was the same whatever city you were in and staff was paid minimum wage or less. Many of the Hotel-chains that were great in marketing, and cost cutting measures offered their guest outsourced housekeeping and also restaurant service but nothing that made you wish to stay in a hotel.

Family owned restaurants came often from Italian families, Greeks and other nations that still had a service attitude, a family pride when it came to service and quality. Unfortunately many German small businesses lost the connections to the locals and died while trying to copy the big players.

The crisis of course killed the small independent business first as they were used to hard work but had hardly any cash reserves and almost zero support from governments.

Let’s help where we can

Service and quality will be the difference when we open up again. My wish is that these small businesses survive and will open there doors again. We all should prefer them, support them and vote for them by visiting and spending our money there. Try to avoid chains - they don’t need you - they just need your cash and don’t offer value in return.

Author: Stephan Busch, Academic Director at the State University for the Humanities Moscow RGGU, Faculty of Tourism & Hospitality and the Swiss International University earned his Master Certificate in Hospitality Management from Cornell University, USA. He has a diverse experience in launching operations, business development and service training- for hotel and cruise companies in Asia, Europe, Canada and Russia.

www.itsjusthotelsservice.com, contact@itsjusthotelsservice.com