If you look it up, you will find that there are many variations on the phrase ‘the more I see of people, the more I love my dog’.
A lot of famous people have expressed this sentiment, from Sir Thomas More to Charles de Gaulle and a lot of essayists and philosophers. My favourite dog quote is from President Harry S Truman: “You want a friend in Washington? Get a dog.”
All these people are basically referring to the innate nobility of dogs, which by implication is often a trait that is difficult to find in humans, especially on a consistent basis. But it’s not just a matter of nobility, although it is of course true that dogs possess a legendary sense of loyalty to their masters or mistresses, whom they are prepared to defend with all their teeth should the need arise.
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My dog Toffee, a young Yorkshire Terrier, is a great example to me and my wife in terms of her philosophy of life. She just loves to be alive. She wakes up in a good mood every day and greets us with a bounce in her paw and a loving lick on the nose.
She gets enthusiastic about the smallest things. She bounds over to the kitchen to eat her modest breakfast, as though it were manna from heaven. She makes a huge fuss of my secretaries when they come in the morning, who respond in kind with much affectionate clucking and baby talk.
She rushes joyfully out to the balcony to chase a passing pigeon, or dig up the plants in the flower pots. When we go walking, she revels in a hidden canine world of wondrous smells, sacred tree trunks and sanctified lamp posts.
Toffee likes nothing better than to rip up paper tissues into messy pieces! She sometimes steals small fruit, which we later find concealed in her basket. She can spend an hour chewing a bone, or sleeping curled up next to me while I watch the TV. She will prick up her ears to listen intently to the neighbours down the corridor, or the varied noises in the street.
When visitors come, she will most democratically spend a little time playing with, or sitting to be petted by each of them — she really is a terrific hostess.
Which brings me to my point — when a guest walks into a hotel, they really want to be greeted by someone with the human equivalent of Toffee’s enchanting graciousness and joie de vivre. My wife and I checked into a hotel as judges a few months back — a hotel sporting a very famous, super-luxury brand — and had a generally awful check-in experience. It was so bad that we were on the verge of walking out of the hotel.
However, it was eventually mitigated by the sunny attitude of one minibar attendant, who single-handedly saved the day with his cheerful demeanour and can-do approach. Thanks to him, we relaxed a bit and started to see the positive side of things.
That’s why hotel chains refer to their staff as ‘ambassadors’. In effect, each customer-facing staff member is supposed to represent the best values of their department, the hotel, the brand and the chain. It sounds like a lot of diplomatic responsibility, implying the need for many hours of training and work experience, but really it’s not.
Hospitality did not start in hotels, it started in people’s homes, whether that was a cave, a tent or a house. It began with a basic concern for people’s well-being and comfort, which stems very simply from kindness, compassion and love. And of course, joy.
My dog Toffee knows the secret of living in the moment, not worrying about the past or the future. She knows that people respond best if you simply treat them with love. She knows that once you show people some love, you typically find that they show it back, and everyone is happy. (Bow) wow! That’s wisdom. Can you say that about your staff and guests?
About the Author:
Guy Wilkinson is a director of Viability, a hospitality and property consulting firm in Dubai. For more information, e-mail: guy@viability.ae
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