New journeys

The new year is here and with it come new journeys, new aspirations, new dreams and new hopes.

I'm starting the new year in my new home, Miri. I relocated here in Oct 2011 and must say this place has grown on me day by day. For those who are unfamiliar, Miri is in Sarawak, a state on East Malaysia. Being the second city of Sarawak, total population is above 300,000 however in the city area, you probably feel that there is only about 80,000 people.
The pace of life here is a bit slower, do not expect high rise buildings and plenty of shopping malls. I would describe it as Penang 20 years ago. Expect lots of lush greenery, family run businesses, warm and friendly people and a better quality of life with family and values. Here, the community is a close knit one and invitations to houses for meals are abundant. Being here allows me a retreat from the hectic city life I've been through for many years. It allows me to take a step back and life rather than be caught up in the rat race. Being further away from family and on my own here, you appreciate family time, reflect on great memories and look forward to the next time you're with your loved ones again.
Being here with colleagues who are also away from home, you develop a kinship and look out for each other when ill or even when going through bad patches. You are never truly alone. I have made a few true good friends here and I am thankful for that :)
The air here is much less polluted thus it helps with my sinus. For me, I love that I'm right by the sea. Those who know me well enough will know I'm a sucker for the sun, sand and sea. From my room, I hear the waves every day. The sun rises earlier at 630am and the sky is dark by 630pm. I have the full facilities of a hotel available to me thus health is taking a front seat with me heading to the gym 3 times a week. The aim is to be fit and healthy, while eating right and getting enough rest since this is the first time in 11 years that I only work 5 days a week. Shall try to blog more often then :)

Standards of service

Over the weekend, I welcomed a group of motor enthusiasts to the hotel. Being their first trip here, I met them at the Sungai Buloh R & R to lead them. It was an interesting drive as I was handed a walkie and the convey didn't realise I could hear their whole conversation about me! Hahaha :D the reaction when they found out was priceless! The weather was against us, it was raining cats and dogs but we trudged on to our destination.

Individually marked bays ensured parking for all cars. We wanted to ensure a quick and smooth check in as they had been on the road for the last 9 to 10 hours. The ladies were excited as expressions of 'Ooohhhssss' and 'Aaaahhhhhh' and 'Woooooooow' were heard as soon as they walked into their rooms. Until then, I had a smile plastered on my face as everything had gone according to plan and my promise of service had lived up to their expectations.

Unfortunately, it only takes one fallen card to crash the whole house of cards. Someone made a mistake and one of my guests was given an occupied room. All hell broke loose when he opened the door and saw someone in the room. As my colleague was conveniently on leave, I was on the receiving end of a bazooka, loud enough for the whole lobby to hear. There is a constant struggle between sales and operations and it is at times like this that you feel most disappointed by your team.

The guest had every right to be angry. I would too if the same had happened to me. I apologised profusely and immediately escorted him to the correct room. This is a classic case of travel trauma. Being on the road for over 8 hours, tired, driving through bad weather and hungry will make any person edgy. The main priority is to get into a room and rest, not to find someone else in the room.

It was a painful experience but I'm glad that I managed to salvage the situation while they were here. They will be back and we will not fail this time. Did I make someone's head roll over this? Hell yeah! I have my own set of expectations of standards of service so you better suck it up and deliver to our guests.

We will change and improve the standards of service and staff mentality, that's a promise. When the fish stinks, it stinks from the head. Change comes from the top and I will knock as many times as I need to get my message across.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

After the long hiatus

I've not blogged in a while. There's been a lot going on, too much to write and I guess I just don't know where to start. All I know, it's time to start writing again. Here's looking forward to sharing more of my experiences and journeys.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

The extended monkey clan - Part 2

Growing up was fun, a whole lot of fun. For those who know Penang, I grew up staying in government quarters at 35 Jalan Imigresen. It was a double storey house with a long garden and back yard. That house fed my wild imagination and was my personal playground for 15 years until we had to be shifted out as they were making the houses there into a hotel. Its sad that I didn't have many pictures of the house but I do have lots of memories which I will share.

Growing up with an elder brother made life extremely interesting as it was him who exposed me to cool stuff such as comics, cooking, role playing games, water guns, fighter planes, helicopters and guns :) Pretty much, lotsa boy stuff. My brother is 7 years older than me and one day (before my existance ;P), he asked my parents the million dollar question, 'Why does everyone else have brothers and sisters but I don't?' There on, my mom explained to him the responsibility of having a sibling and what it would entail and he was game for it. Yippee!!! He asked for me and I came to the world :) And boy did he take his word seriously. Growing up, we spent a lot of time together as he would take care of me, bathe me, feed me, cook for me and yes, even wipe my bum after I'd gone to the toilet. I was a real monkey as a kid, and my brother was always so patient with me, never screaming at me, never punishing me, even though I used to wreck his toys and go through his personal stuff, hehehe. I still remember this one time when we burnt the toaster together. Hehehe!

I used to have a routine when he was in primary school where I would wait outside his class for him to finish school. He would then take me to the canteen and buy me food (yes, feed me feed me) and we would walk back together. Growing up, we spent a lot of time together and even shared our bedroom in that house. Anytime I wanted to go out, as long as it was with him, mom and dad would be cool about it. Dad used to be really strict with me, so once, I wanted to attend a girl friends birthday do at her place and dad said no. I was upset, and to my surprise, my bro told my dad off and said he'll take me there! Hehehe, needless to say, I was touched to tears :) Over the years, we have grown a bit apart but he'll always be my big brother and I know he cares for me and will always try to be there for me whenever I need him to.

The extended monkey clan - Part 1

Family has always been important to me. However, no one has a perfect family and we take each other (with whatever positive and negative traits) and try to filter out the negative.

I come from a small immediate family, mom, dad, bro and I. We've always been quite a close knit family, with the exception of dad. Dad has always been a looming authoritive figure (in short, we were all scared of him! Hahaha!) and his word was law. There was no arguing with him, no asking him why, just doing as he says. Mom being the house wife for most of the years, was always there for us (more time for us to bully her, hehehe!). Bro is 7 years older than me, as a child, it was always him taking care of me, bathing, feeding, teaching, cooking and educating me.

Dad was a government officer for most of his working years thus we lived a simple life. Home was government quarters for many years, no fancy holidays, cars, clothes, etc. We made do with what we had, I grew up on hand me downs and would look forward to the year end holidays when dad would put aside money to take us for a short holiday within Penang to the beach resorts. My brother and I didn't look at others and felt we had the shorter end of the stick nor did we make remarks to our parents such as, ' why don't we have this, why don't we have that'. Life was simple, but we were very happy and wholesome as a family. I will talk more about my life growing up in the next post.

Unfortunately, mom had a bad fall when I was about 10 and was paralysed from neck down. Overnight, I had an accelerated wake up call to life. I was doing housework, cooking, caring for my mom which included feeding and bathing her. It was surely difficult but that whole experience has made me a much stronger person today. After she recovered, I used to accompany her for her physiotherapy sessions and alternate medical treatments (I used to call them torture sessions at that age, coz I would see them stretching her and twisting her in funny positions). She was later given an option to insert a steel rod into her spine but the docs told us, her chance is either 50% recovery or 50% permanent paralysis. Mom being the fighter she is, decided to live without the rod and take things a day at a time. I am thankful to God that she recovered and is fine today. Looking at her today, one would never have guessed that she has been through this ordeal. She just needs to be careful not to have any more falls.

I was not that close to my dad in much of my earlier days. A lot of my friends and schoolmates will vouch to that statement as we hardly talked, and when we did, it was usually serious stuff. He left much of bringing us up to mom. It was only in the last 7 years after I moved from Penang to KL where we grew closer. I guess we both missed each other and that gave us the opportunity to talk more. Growing up, my dad isn't one who shows much emotion. He's always the cool, calm and collected one, a total opposite from mom! Unfortunately May last year, I was pretty devastated when I received news that dad was diagnosed with cancer. He had gone for a bladder stone removal operation and the doctors found another growth during the procedure. After that, it was multiple hospital visits as the doctor's in Penang mostly advised him to remove the whole bladder and live with a bag outside his body. Dad and mom have always been socially active, they have a life more happening than mine!!! Asking him to do that would pretty much have killed him if the cancer didn't. So we decided to come back to KL to see what options we had here. We were relieved when the doctor here said that there were alternate options of monitoring as the growth was still contained. From then til now, dad has had multiple procedures and also chemo. He is due for another check this Monday to check on the growth size after chemo. I pray all will be positive and that he will be fine. Dad has taken all this very positively, he has been eating regularly and is looking well. For me, I had to be strong for him and also my mom even though in my alone moments, I just break down and ask God for strength. I am sure all will be fine in due time. In life, you always imagine your parents as your pillars and just assume that they are 'super man and woman', that they will not get sick and old. I have learnt not to take them for granted and to appreciate all the time I still get to spend with them. I admit, I don't make as much time as I can to spend with them and this was something I told myself I would strive to do. Life is so fragile, you never know when things here today will be gone tomorrow. Something my dad shared with me one day when I asked him what makes him happy, he said 'Gaik, I am thankful each day when I wake up as God has given me another day to spend with my family. When my wife beside me stirs, I am again thankful as God has given her another day with me. When my phone rings and it is you or your brother, I am thankful as I know both my children are well with their families. For all these, I am happy.'

Indeed very wise words, to be thankful for each day and for the simple pleasures in live. It is something a lot of us have taken for granted in our pursue of career, status and material wealth. It is true that you cannot life without money, but you also need happiness and family to complete the picture.

"Life is full of beauty. Notice it. Notice the bumble bee, the small child, and the smiling faces. Smell the rain, and feel the wind. Live your life to the fullest potential and fight for your dreams."

Where this monkey hunts :)

Hunting, that is what I do on a daily basis. Hunting for new clients, hunting for more business, hunt hunt hunt. I am a sales person, thus it is my job to hunt.

The hotel industry has been my hunting ground for the last 10 years and I must say, it has been a real eye opening journey. My mom has always asked me to take notes of all my journeys and also the people I meet so I can eventually (or hopefully) write a book someday about um... me? :P (This is work in progress big time, with a loooooooooooong due date).

So, what is a hotelier? For those who have not read this before, it is from an email commonly circulated among those in the industry.

A HOTELIER must be a diplomat, a democrat, an autocrat, an acrobat and a door mat. He must have the facility to entertain prime ministers, princes of industry, pickpockets, gamblers, bookmakers, pirates, philanthropists, and prudes. He must be on both sides of the political fence and be able to jump the fence.

He should be, or have been a footballer, golfer, bowler, tennis player, cricketer, dart player, sailor, pigeon fancier, motor sport involving dice, cards, horses and pool cues.As he sometimes has to settle arguments and squabbles, he must be a qualified boxer, wrestler, weight-lifter, sprinter and peacemaker.

He must always look immaculate when drinking with ladies and gentlemen – as well as with bankers, swanker, theatricals, commercial travelers, and company representatives, even though he may have just made peace between two, four, six or more of the aforementioned patrons.

To be successful, he must keep the bar full, the house full, the storeroom full, the wine cellar full, the customers full and not get full himself. He must have staffs who are clean, honest, quick workers, quick thinkers, non-drinkers, mathematicians, technicians, and at all times on the boss’ side, the customer’s side and outside of the bar.

To sum up – HE MUST BE OUTSIDE, INSIDE, OFFSIDE, GLORIFIED, SANCTIFIED, CRUCIFIED, CROSS EYED, AND IF HE IS NOT THE STRONG SILENT TYPE, THERE’S ALWAYS THE THING CALLED – SUICIDE!

In short, 'Pau Sua Pau Hai - a Hokkien phrase' direct translation : cover mountain cover sea, meaning : pretty much responsible for everything!

Areas of responsibility include :

1) Selling of hotel rooms, food & beverage outlets, meeting rooms (the most obvious :P)

2) Keeping your guests happy and complaint free (another no brainer)

3) Keeping the people who make the bookings for the guests happy and complaint free (it starts getting interesting)

4) Keeping your colleagues within the department and outside of the department happy and complaint free (hahaha!)

5) Attending to your guests whims, fancies and interesting requests (lets see, within the last 2 days, I've gotten a request for a union jack flag, a blender, HP sauce, pickles, a dog... yeah, a dog, don't ask :|)

6) Strategizing action plans

7) Compilation of reports

8) Staff training and development

9) Everything else in between not covered (hahaha!)

Come to think of it, for those who watch Las Vegas, its a whole lot like what Sam does, minus all the glamour, incentives and commissions.

It takes a strange bunch of people to make the hotel work. Yes, I admit, I'm strange :) The hours are long, guests are demanding, stress levels are high and yet, I love my job. It is one of the sure things I can say I am passionate about. I love meeting new people everyday and being able to interact with them. Entertainment at the hotel lobby or bar in the evenings takes up time but makes the biggest difference to a guest feeling comfortable at the hotel. Where I am currently working, a lot of our guests are long staying, averaging at 3 months and above per stay. Imagine if you're all alone posted to a new country and you have to live in a hotel for 3 months, it would be nice to know other people, especially those who are also staying where you're at. That's where I come in during the evenings when they are back from work, introducing them to each other and just watching the magic of interaction and friendship take place. The satisfaction I get from watching a happy guest, and having him/her leave the hotel with great memories, new friends and a promise to return is priceless.

A picture speaks a thousand words, so for now, i'll let the pictures do the talking :)

The poolside

One Bedroom Superior Suite

The kitchen :)

Monkey faces

Hahaha... Mr & Mrs Tan with our monkey faces in Dec 03!