Laying out the World Cup welcome mat

BY NICK CHURCHOUSE

The days of rugby fans making do with a cold pie and warm pint are long gone.

The 60,000 international visitors expected in 18 months for the 2011 Rugby World Cup will be discerning, high-value tourists travelling halfway around the world to attend the third-largest sporting tournament on the planet.

The tournament is being looked at as similar to a busy tourism season, just arriving smack bang in the shoulder season.

And it will feel like getting an All Black tackle in the shoulder for many hospitality businesses.

Critics say New Zealand will not be ready for the influx of tourists, not to mention the thousands of Kiwis travelling domestically during the tournament.

Woeful public transport, lack of parking, second-rate venues and accommodation shortages are all part of the sceptical outlook.

But a national push for volunteers to help the country become a "stadium of 4 million" is central to the hosting effort.

Wellington chairman of the Hospitality Association, Adam Cunningham, says the professional arm of that hosting is ready to take on the Rugby World Cup crowd.

But only just.

"If it arrived tomorrow, what we'd offer is slightly manic but personable service."

Service standards in New Zealand are extremely variable, due to the lack of an established and professional culture of hospitality.

Many tourists marvel at the friendliness of the people they meet and the warmth and welcoming experience they encounter.

Other tourists marvel at the blank stares when they question why CBD restaurants turn them away at 10pm, and sigh as they rouse some fierce Kiwi umbrage by daring to complain about something they have every right to complain about.

As an experienced restaurateur and hotel owner, Mr Cunningham looks fondly on the charm inherent in local service, and shakes his head when asked how it stacks up internationally.

The crux of service success is not about being good, but being consistently good, he says.

"The majority of people coming to the World Cup are coming from European nations where the good service is better than our good, and the consistency is a thousand times better than us."

But New Zealand front of house staff tend to have a winning combination of genuine charm and warmth.

"They actually care. That's something you don't get everywhere, and you can't teach it." The weakness of that genuineness is that the service is not consistent.

"When it's good it's great, when it's not good, it's terrible. To put it another way, we are extreme with people that are not nice. That comes at a cost."

Mr Cunningham says bad customers get very poor service, which is the main difference between New Zealand and nations more experienced with hospitality.

"In Europe a bad customer is still a customer. We need to get that right."

Service staff needed to focus on the customer, and not react personally.

"Find a way to make them feel good when they walk out the door. That is your job, and it is your only job; anyone can carry a tray, anyone can pour beer, that's not hard."

Generally, international service standards are linked to remuneration, and tipping is not prevalent in New Zealand. Equally the general pay rates in the industry are poor, even with recent boosts to the minimum wage.

Mr Cunningham says the issue of turning hospitality into a true profession is ongoing.

"Half of me says it's getting better, half of me says I had this conversation 15 years ago."

Wages are the largest cost component for any hospitality business.

The recent rise in the minimum wage would be viewed one of two ways by businesses: as a burden for businesses paying bottom rung rates, or a non-event for those paying more.

"Neither one is right or wrong. There's always going to be those two tiers, and they represent two different approaches to business."

The reason New Zealand businesses struggle to pay what restaurants and hotels could in Melbourne or Sydney is because prices here have "hardly moved in a decade". "We're scared," Mr Cunningham says.

Restaurateurs are too sensitive to bad reactions, and too many would rather keep onside with one loyal customer by holding prices than manage their margins based on the overall numbers to make money, he says.

The downside was that wages went nowhere.

"It's a sad state that our industry is even dealing with the minimum wage. It's sad for those earning the minimum wage but it's sad right through."

Raising prices immediately would have next to no effect on the international visitor, Mr Cunningham says, but it would cripple the domestic market. "It's about those customers who will be there tomorrow after the World Cup."

The America's Cup example is a case in point – Auckland's waterfront precinct is still recovering from the bruising local customers felt from the hefty prices levied for the yachting festivities in 2003.

Individual businesses made the decision based on the short term profit, and many sold up soon after the sailing finished.

"Smart operators, but not necessarily strategic industry operators," Mr Cunningham says. "It has taken them years to build back their market."

The crux of delivering a world class experience is to develop the extra staff required to service the expected influx of tourists with "base competencies". Employees in general were let down by their employers, largely small time operators, who were still reluctant to train people. Hotel chains were equipped to provide a career path, but smaller operators were less progressive in terms of highlighting opportunities to keen staff.

Overall it is the churn rate that destroys the faith employers have in educating and building expertise in their staff, but the big picture is that nurtured staff tend to come back in time and the training enhances the whole industry.

Beyond hospitality training, which is in tune with international norms, there is still a subjective requirement that sets top service professionals ahead of others.

"It's nothing to do with their skill base, it's everything to do with their attitude and how their personality connects with other people."

Product knowledge and being able to turn unhappy customers into satisfied ones is key, but making the visitor experience unforgettable is about unique Kiwi charisma.

"Most of the people coming to the World Cup know what a cold beer looks like, funnily enough it's the same beer they have in their country. Staff need to have some Kiwi knowledge and the confidence to express their exuberance. I'd be spending more time on that than product knowledge."

"People will let a whole lot of things go, in terms of consistent standards, if they feel like they are being looked after, if someone is going out of their way.

"Most people travel for the people. They say they travel for other stuff, but once you've seen a mountain range you've seen them all. It comes down to the people you meet.

"We will definitely get it right for World Cup. More importantly we'll hold on to it after that.

"One peak year is not going to make the tourist industry in New Zealand, but it is a chance to showcase the people."

The overall proposition of becoming a great hospitality destination is something everyone can and should buy into – staff, local customers, business owners and people on the street.

"If you stop someone in the street in Melbourne and ask them how to get somewhere, half the time you'll get a 'don't have time'. In New Zealand somebody is likely to walk you there," he says.

The welcome mat is everyone's business.

- © Fairfax NZ News