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In tough economic times, airlines and hotels could learn service lessons from restaurants

In tough economic times, airlines and hotels could learn service lessons from restaurants

Like pistons on a crankshaft, there’s an interlocked choreography between airlines, hoteliers and restaurateurs driving the engine that makes the hospitality and tourism industries go.

A local hotel general manager may not know the name of the chief executive of, say, American Airlines, and the airline exec probably couldn’t rattle off more than two or three chefs in any designated town, but in their anonymity to one another they’ve formed a partnership if for no other reason than that they all are serving the same guest.

So it’s surprising, at a time when pundits expect a recession any minute and the three legs of the hospitality industry can least afford to get anything wrong, that airlines and hotels are not living up to their side of the bargain with restaurateurs.

Well-publicized instances of price-gouging, customer service nightmares and outrageous sanitary lapses among commercial airlines and hotel chains—most of these incidents defended by top executives as the price of doing business in a competitive environment—are horrifying both business and recreational travelers worldwide.

Even Congress is urging the Federal Aviation Administration to complete a Passenger Bill of Rights to bring some dignity and money to passengers when stranded for hours in planes stuck on tarmacs.

Right before Thanksgiving, in an article entitled “Aboard planes, class conflict,” The New York Times reported that if the airlines had their way, there’d be no coach-class compartments anymore. Every seat would be business or first class.

Apparently, domestic airlines are profitable again after a 20-year flirtation with bankruptcy and European airline encroachment, and they want to stay healthy.

But the problem is that they see their planes as ATMs and their only responsibility as delivering their precious cargo to their destinations safely.Amenities, except for the high-rolling flyers in first class and business class, are a thing of the past. If you’re in coach, expect to pay more for food, pillows, movies, blankets and even Web access, assuming these items are even offered on flights of less than two hours.

Meanwhile, in Atlanta a FOX News affiliate station reported and posted to the Internet a hidden-camera exposé revealing that maids in eight of the city’s most distinguished hotels or chain properties did not switch out dirty glasses from bathrooms or mini bars, but simply cleaned them in the rooms, in violation of local health ordinances.

Say what you want about the restaurant industry and its uneven financial performance of late. But restaurateurs seem not to forget what their business proposition is and what customer service means, recession or not. Maybe the leadership of the restaurant industry ought to sit down with their peers in travel and lodging and school them on what’s at stake before it’s too late.

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