By Vernlyn Zakers
We experience it on a regular basis — bad customer service.
Having recognised this, the St. Kitts Tourism Authority and the St. Kitts & Nevis Hotel and Tourism Association hosted a 2-day Quality Customer Service Workshop this Tuesday And Wednesday. Novelette Morton, Human Resource & Projects Manager at the St. Kitts Tourism Authority chaired the workshop, with addresses being made by Martin Kreiner, Vice President of the HTA, and Lloyd Lazar, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of tourism, Sports and Culture.
Common courtesy has ceased to be common; it has in fact become a rarity, so much so that when we do experience the slightest hint of good manners from an individual, we ask ‘Are you from St. Kitts?’
If asked, who among us cannot recount numerous experiences with behaviour and attitudes that were downright rude, even bordering on offensive. Whether persons are communicating with each other or with visitors, good manners and quality customer service must play a vital role in our everyday interactions.
So, what do you think about the customer service in St. Kitts?
Eric Browne, Agronomist — I think that the level of customers service in St. Kitts is not at its best. We have a lot of improvement to make and adjustments. Now that we are so dependant on tourism we have a lot to learn about dealing with our customers. It really needs a lot of improvement, and in doing so we first have to educate our people, especially when it comes to the aspect of business and courtesy. We have to be more modernize and modest when it comes to serving the general public.
Lalah Matthew, Office Manager for St. Kitts-Nevis Hotel and Tourism Association — In my opinion the level of customers service is at the infancy stage. Many of us are just on the surface with it. I think we are still growing and this is why training is so important to persons who will have to serve or tend to an individual. One must actually understand what customer service is, before they can execute the quality of customer service that would appreciated.
Stacy Parris, Nevis — I think we need to improve customer service in both St. Kitts and Nevis so we can make our Federation the number one tourist destination in the Caribbean and world-wide. Right now I would rate our customer service on a level of five. I have experience a few bad customer service myself — I remember one time I went into a store and the lady in the store followed me everywhere. I thought that was very rude. I could not even touch any of the items that were in the store. I felt like if I was somebody else she would not have followed me around so closely. I think if they cannot treat the locals with courtesy how can they expect to treat the tourists any better.
Tiffany Parris, St. Kitts, Nevis Tourism and Hotel Association — I think the level of the customer service need to be improved on just a little bit more. I am accustomed to serving people and been served, and you don’t always put out your best and receive the best treatment. And this is something that we need to work on because people always feel pleased when they have been treated fairly. Whether if it is in a business place, hotel or restaurant everybody will want to make sure that they have been treated well and received their money worth. They want to be respected.
Skeffington Fazsen, Willett’s Photo Studio — Customer service is very poor in St. Kitts at this present time, I think the reason for this is that there are people out there doing jobs that they are not comfortable with. Some of these people are not qualified enough for the job and so if they were asked a question or questions they think it is best to deal with it in an attitude instead of being polite. I think they should train persons before putting them to deal with people because it is giving St. Kitts a bad name and the persons who they are working for.
