I mentioned in my review yesterday that I had a minor service incident at the Andaz Bali and I want to unpack it a bit here, especially to praise the hotel for the way its excellent service recovery.
Perfect Hotel Service Recovery On Display At Andaz Bali
Breakfast runs until 11:00 am at this property…or at least it is supposed to. Since I am an intermittent faster, I tend to eat breakfast as late as possible whenever I am at a hotel. Here, I worked out in the morning and then arrived at 10:35 am for breakfast. First, I was told I was too late for breakfast.
I pointed out that it was only 10:35 am and was then seated, but told it was “last order” for food. The problem was not that breakfast actually ended at 10:00 am or 10:30 am, for others showed up too and were seated.
I ordered my food and my first cup of coffee, all of which was excellent.
But then at 10:50 am I went up to the barista to order one more cup of coffee. He (very rudely) told me I was too late and breakfast was over. He was visibly agitated and sneered at me, like I was trying to steal something from him.
I asked the waiter if he could get me one and he told me that it was too late, though he could use the automatic machine. The problem was the coffee simply does not taste good when coming from one of those machines (I tried).
I sent a note to Agus Virgianto, the Director of Rooms, who had checked me in and given me his business card when thanking me for my World of Hyatt Globalist status.
Dear Agus,
Thanks for your warm welcome yesterday. My room is lovely and the resort is very lovely – I am happy that the Andaz family now includes Bali.
I encountered a problem at breakfast this morning, that I wanted to bring to your attention. Breakfast at Wok Wok theoretically runs until 11:00 according to the hotel website. I even asked in person this morning at 9:00 am and it was confirmed that breakfast runs until 11:00.
I generally fast until 13:00, but make adjustments when I travel but will still eat as late as I can. This morning, I trained at that shared gym facility at the Hyatt Regency and returned at 10:35 am to eat breakfast.
Immediately, I was told I was too late. I said that it was only 10:35 and was then seated and told that it was “last order.” As the waiter stood over me, I quickly looked over the menu and ordered a few things.
At 10:50, I wanted a second cup of coffee and could not find my waiter, so I went up the coffee machine at the bar. A barista with a mustache was incredibly rude to me, telling me that breakfast was over and that it was too late. The problem was not just that he said no, but particularly the way in which he said it, which was rude and uncalled for.
Coffee is sacrosanct to my morning and I was horrified at his rude reaction, especially when it was still before 11:00. I found my waiter and he also said it was too late. I told him it was only 10:54 and he went and made a coffee at one of your automatic machines, which tastes nothing like the proper coffee machine at the bar. Bali is known for its coffee and any connoisseur of coffee will appreciate that an automatic machine simply does not compare.
I really did not like being lectured like a child that I was too late for breakfast when it was only 10:50 and consequently, this leaves a very poor impression of the hotel in my mind.
I am not looking for compensation or anything like that. I wanted to bring it to your attention because I hope you will take my feedback to heart and talk to relevant people about perhaps changing policy. Certainly, breakfast cannot run all day, but coffee should at least be available until 11:00. It is just flabbergasting that the young man at the coffee machine would be so rude.
Thank you,
Matthew (room 3103)
He wrote back a very gracious note:
Dear Mr. Klint,
Thank you for your gift of feedback and please accept my sincere apologies for various inconsistencies that you have encountered during breakfast earlier today. Your constructive comments are very important and allows us to continuously review our operations. I have passed this feedback to our colleagues who oversee the Food and Beverage operation for their follow up.
My apologies again, rest assured that we will make every effort to ensure your stay is memorable.
Please let me know if I can be of further assistance.
Sincerely Yours,
Agus
He later called my room and invited me to coffee, telling me that the employee who had been rude was counseled. Herry, the restaurant manager, met me for coffee. He was very apologetic. He then asked me what my favorite coffee was (what nodes I liked). A bag of coffee later showed up to my room, which was such a cool gift and a bag of coffee I greatly enjoyed after returning home.
It was a textbook perfect service recovery.
CONCLUSION
Even at the best hotels (or airlines), there are going to be service issues from time to time. This was my first written “complaint” in at least five years…I am not a fan of the complaining crowd who always finds something to complain about in hopes of securing compensation. Here, I was truly taken aback by the behavior of the employee, but I am confident that what happened to me will never happen again at this property.
And I still look forward to returning to it.
Loved the recovery. That’s how it’s done!
You spoke kindly and they listened. The coffee gift was the perfect touch.
Well done recovery with the bag of coffee.
Of course, you have to virtue signal about your fasting and gym habits when lodging a complaint.
Hotel recoveries can make such an impression. A few years back skiing at Jay Peak, VT my young daughter failed to get off the lift. The attendant was not paying attention (was on the phone) and missed that she was stuck and not stop the lift, so she managed to hang on and go all the back down. We contact the hotel management. They were very upset. Later in the da the GM met us to understand what happened. All we really wanted was to review their safety practices. A couple hours later we saw management team performing reviews with all the loft attendants. Checking all the lift equipment – the fail safe bar didn’t trigger to auto stop. Finally we received a call back to tell us what they did (and we saw) and proceeded to provide us with a very nice dinner at their more expensive restaurant. The rest of the week was very memorable.
Excellent hotel response. Cost of a bag of coffee, not much, Gesture = priceless.
Until someone calls you at home and needs that bag of “coffee” under the guise of threats. You might have inadvertently become a mule.
I know, I’m a cynic.
I am surprised the barista was so surly – I’ve never experienced anything like that in Bali and I’ve been about 10x (I live in Sydney). Clearly he had had a very bad start to his day. It makes me wonder if guests had been horrible to him and this was his ‘retribution’. Not ok by any means, but it would be interesting to know how some guests behave at ‘free’ breakfasts. Glad they rectified the situation, much more meaningful to write directly to hotel management than trash them on Tripadvisor.