Hong Kong Convention
Arrived in Hong Kong at 10:08 yesterday. How glad I was to land at the airport. United Airlines planes are simply crappy. It was a jerky flight and I got air sick. The route from the gates to the immigration was so bloody long. Had to go up and down, take the train, and walk so bloody far. And then, it took us about an hour to clear the customs. Talking about efficiency and excitement. Wonder how the rating works.
After clearing the customs, we still had to wait almost an hour for the people taking Jetstar. They took off earlier but landed later than us. Wasted so much time there. Finally, after so many hours awake, I fell asleep on the bus to YMCA.
The hotel room was damn small. And everything was so ex. The Internet I'm using now to type this entry costs HKD$40. After settling my belongings, I took a ferry from Wan Chai to Tsim Sha Tsui to look for my Dad. He was waiting for me at Star Ferry with a business partner and we went to a cafe nearby for me to get my lunch.
After lunch, we got back to Shangri-La at Tsim Sha Tsui to dump my laptop there and we took the train to Luo Wu in Shenzhen. We took the first class train there which costs about HKD$70 per person. It was comfortable and fast. We should have such a service in Singapore as well. In Shenzhen, we went shopping for suits. My gosh. Every single brand is there. They even managed to find Fred Perry. Of course, they were all fakes.
After our shopping, we went to Shangri-La Shenzhen to get a cab. And the stupid doorman dared to told us to go away. He even tried to say that the government ruled that you can't get a cab from the hotel lobby, and when Dad's friend told him to shut up or we would get the boss here, he even told us to go ahead. And so, we got the front desk manager out to demand an apology from him. For which, he refused to give. Only the porter who tried to act smart and joined in apologised. I would like to see whether his rice bowl or his mouth is harder when my Dad's friend visits Singapore.
It's Shangri-La for goodness sake. Anyone who steps into the hotel, is a customer. And they just offended one of their big customer in China. Even if we don't stay in that particular Shangri-La, or any other Shangri-La, I don't give a damn. As far as I am concerned, as long as you belong to a particular franchise, you act in the goodwill for it in any part of the world. And they just ruined their reputation for Shangri-La in the world.
When I was with a friend at Grand-Copthorne Waterfront in Singapore, we went to the concierge asking for directions. Even though we do not stay there, and we definitely look like it, the person went on the Internet, called the place we were looking for to check out the exact location. This is the kind of service a hotel should provide. China surpassing the rest of the world in globalization? Impossible with the kind of service they provide which is prevalent even in a five star hotel.
P.S Although Cheryl said you can't expect much from service providers in China, I beg to differ. More than 10 years ago while I was in Beijing, I stayed in Hilton as well as Holiday Inn, 5 and 4 stars respectively, yet, they provided excellent service.