In today's dog-eat-dog world - maybe being nice is all it takes to keep your customers and staff happy - as Yeoh Siew Hoon learns.

I have finally realised why the Ritz-Carlton in Singapore remains in a class of its own when it comes to service. It's because it is nice to its customers.

There I was, after having attended the Jones Lang LaSalle Hospitality Investment Conference which is held every year at the Ritz-Carlton.

I had resigned myself to a long wait at the taxi stand because, well, every year it happens – too many people wanting to leave at the same time and not enough taxis because, believe it or not, even in super-efficient Singapore, the taxi problem is one that hasn't yet been cracked.

This time though, the staff had anticipated the problem, had booked a fleet of taxis that were waiting in line and, wait for this, had even paid the booking fee for us.

"That's very nice of you," I said, when I was told that I shouldn't pay the booking fee as it had already been taken care of by the hotel. "Last year, we had to wait a long time," I added.

She laughed. "I know, that's why we wanted to make sure there were enough taxis for everyone this year."

What a nice gesture, I thought. And what a nice end to a morning where I had spent hours listening to hoteliers talk about economic uncertainties, softening markets, investment flows and, of course, the staffing crunch that's hitting every tourism market in the world.

Indeed, it fitted in really well with what Jean-Marc Merlin of Vietnam's AppleTree Group had to say about the staffing problem. When asked how his company, which owns Exotissimo, the Indochina travel specialist, was dealing with staff retention, he shrugged his shoulders and said, "You keep people by being nice to them."

Peter Gowers (pictured): "People are not commodities to be tethered."

It was a train of thought that the youthful Peter Gowers, the Asia Pacific CEO for InterContinental Hotels Group, picked up on during the hotel CEO panel that followed.

"I don't know why people are surprised by staff leaving them for a few dollars – didn't they do it themselves when they were younger? I think we have to wake up to the fact that people are not commodities to be tethered.

"We have to give people career opportunities, look after them, be nice to them. People join companies but they leave bosses," he said.

Richard Hartman, CEO of Millennium & Copthorne PLC, remembered his first job managing a restaurant. "There were two kinds of bus boys – the good ones will join someone else and the bad ones, well, they will stay …"

Citing Disney, he said that for every 100 people they hire, they file 300 tax returns. "They don't expect people to stay forever. At some point, you got to lose your enthusiasm – how long can you sit in a boat in a theme park and point out the fake crocodile?

"It's the same with airlines – you can tell the ones who fling the food at you from the ones who are still enthusiastic about serving you. It's a function of how long you've been doing it."

In a later conversation, I asked Hartman if this applied to general managers. Could you tell the ones that have stayed too long in one job versus the young, fresh-faced, everything-is-so-exciting types?

"Yes, there are those who sleep on the job while on active duty," he said.

With one or two exceptions, Hartman believes the optimum period for a GM to stay in one property is between three and five years. "Beyond that, the cracks start to show."

Asked if this was also true of hotel chief executives and how long they should stay in one job, Hartman said, "They don't last long enough these days for us to worry about that."

What a nice thought.

Yeoh Siew Hoon, one of Asia's most respected travel editors and commentators, writes a regular column on news, trends and issues in the hospitality industry for 4Hoteliers.com.

Siew Hoon, who has covered the tourism industry in Asia/Pacific for the past 20 years, runs SHY Ventures Pte Ltd. Her other writings can be found at www.thetransitcafe.com

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