Diego Masciaga left his job as general manager of the three Michelin-starred restaurant The Waterside Inn at Bray in Berkshire earlier this year after 30 years of service. The Italian-born service professional, who is now working as a customer service consultant and mentor, will join Peter Hancock, chief executive of Pride of Britain Hotels in the session titled ‘Lessons from the Master of Customer Service’ on the Innovation Stage at The Independent Hotel Show 2018 on Tuesday 16th October. Ahead of the discussion he shares some interesting insight on hotel service with Hospitality & Catering News.
How do you define excellent service?
Excellent service can be delivered anywhere. You can find it in a seven-star hotel or in a pizzeria. Getting it right however is difficult. Sometimes service can be too much, with too many people around you and that’s not good. Equally, places where there are not enough people is not good either, so there’s a fine-line between the two. For me, personally, excellent service is not about giving the customer what they want, but about giving them what they’d never dream of. In Italy they say ‘make the step longer than your leg’ it’s a way to say ‘go the extra mile’ because when you go in a hotel, as you do in a restaurant you get wonderful food and wine, but if that waiter gives you more than you were expecting and really what you’d never dream of, that is excellent service. It doesn’t have to be too much.
What style of service do you look for when you stay in a hotel?
It depends on the kind of hotel you are staying in and the purpose of your visit, but overall, when I arrive I want to feel that staff want me there. I want to feel special and that they want me – whether I’ve booked a standard room or a suite – and want to look after me and care about me. Whatever kind of hotel you go to – whether it’s a small 10-bedroom hotel or a 500-bedroom hotel – you want to feel looked after. Ultimately, I want to be looked after in the same way I look after other people. The size of the room doesn’t matter, it’s the people there who do.
Which hotel provides the best service in your opinion? Why is that?
I’m not going to name any names, but I will say what kind of service is the best. If you’ve been flying for 10 hours all you want when you arrive at your hotel is to put your suitcase in your room, have a shower and relax. If you’ve queued for hours to get on a plane – whether you are in first, business or economy class – you just want to arrive at your seat and it’s the same with hotels. I don’t want to be hanging around in reception on arrival. Positive attitude is also so important. There’s nothing worse than arriving at a hotel and the doorman or concierge is grumpy or rude. Having a positive attitude in the reception is contagious, which is wonderful. You might arrive in a bad mood from a long flight or a long drive, but when you step into the door the positive attitude, the sounds and even the smells – because fragrance is important too – can make a big difference. I want to arrive to a sense of serenity.
What are the top three attributes that make a good front-of-house staff member?
First, I look for a bright, positive attitude. This is the most important factor for a waiter or concierge. Then, personality, sincerity and honesty. You can’t teach these things, but if someone has these attributes they can be taught everything else.
What words of advice would you give to someone starting out in a front-of-house position?
If you want to work front-of-house you have to understand that it’s not just a job, it’s a profession. Very often, especially in the UK a waiter is seen as a job. It’s very much in the American style where all actors take a job as a waiter to see them through, but it isn’t just a job, it’s a profession that should be respected and recognised and, sadly I feel we don’t do that enough in the UK.
Once you have accepted it as a profession you will realise it’s a commitment. Hotels and restaurants are open seven days a week and if you work in this industry, you won’t be working nine-to-five. As a waiter you will always know what time you start,but won’t always know what time you’ll finish. It is a demanding job, but one that can give you so much personal satisfaction.
You also have to love people and get pleasure in giving or something to them. If you don’t, then do something else.
Can you describe the proudest moments of your career?
I’ve been lucky. I have always worked in places frequented by royalty and celebrities. I’ve met most of the Royal Family and A-list actors, but the proudest time of my life was when my mum, my wife and my two daughters came to have lunch at The Waterside Inn. I come from a very humble background and I left home when I was 15. Although I’d been back home, it wasn’t that often. In the last 30 years I’ve seen my mum, maybe 25 times – once a year – if I’m lucky. The day my mum came to have lunch with my family was the proudest moment. She wasn’t aware of the world I was working in and had never had food like lobster so for me to be able to look after her there was very special. It was also terrifying. I was more tense looking after my family than I was looking after Her Majesty.
With the use of technology becoming more widespread within hotels and the move towards more casual service, how can hoteliers ensure they still provide a warm and personal service?
When I started technology didn’t exist like it does now. There were no mobile phones or tablets and it was easier to focus on the guest. However, I’m not of the view that technology is bad. If we want to fly all over the world and eat in restaurants and stay in hotels it makes life easier for us. If technology makes things simple and speeds up the process it is welcomed, but hotel guests don’t necessarily want to see it. I think we need to recognise that when people are going out for a meal, or staying in a luxury hotel they might want to switch off and focus on who they are with. I find the use of table computers to take orders quite irritating. An order pad or remembering an order means the waiter can engage more with the guest.
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