How Would You Have Reacted To This Situation?
 

We stayed at the Four Seasons Maui in September and the Bellman told us the folowing story.

A man and his wife had checked in and were waiting for the bellman to escort them to thier room. The bellman approached them and greeted them by using the common Hawaiian greeting of "Howzit", meaning how are you, how is it going for you,instead of the starchy and more formal "Welcome to Hawaii sir. The man was VERY upset and called the GM to complain. The poor bellman got a serious dressing down by the GM.

I am used to these terms because we have been to the islands so many times and it doesn't bother me a bit, no matter what resort/hotel I am at.

Was this young bellman way out of line for being so informal? How would you have felt?

Well - I wouldn;t have complained to anyone about this greeting - but at a Four Seasons I would certainly expect a more adult, traditional greeting - esp if the couple weren't young.

My reaction would have been: Oh.

I am only hearing the dressed down bellmans side of the story. I also would expect a step up from that reception at a Four Seasons.

I respect your option to lean toward the "less formal" but I equally respect the other guests expectation of a special experience...whatever that means to them.

My first reaction is that if he had been trained properly in the first place, it wouldn't have happened.

Well, I live in Hawaii...and I also would have been taken aback if someone at the Four Seasons had said that to me upon arrival! The hotel has training, and I am pretty sure they tell their staff exactly how they want them to greet the guests. I wouldn't have complained, but I can see how other people might.

What was the bellman doing telling you another employees business?

That is what I find distressing.

It's kind of like calling a customer "Mary" instead of "Mrs. Smith." Younger customers may think that's great, but older customers (including my 74-year-old mother) take great offense. It's always better to err on the side of caution...

Same reaction as nytraveler.

I was brought up that if a person was old enough to be my mother or father, then you call them Mr. or Mrs. I guess this falls into the same category. It's called manners. I guess I just feel bad for the bellman because it had to have been a slip of the tongue.He might have been very embarrassed when he realized what he said. A slip of the toungue has nothing to do with manners. If this young man had been done this more than once, I can only guess that he would have been fired previously.

I have been to the FS Maui many times. You get to know some of the personnel. We had been talking about how many meanings the word Aloha has and other Hawaiian terms. That's why I was told this story. I have had better reasons than this story to go to the GM of a resort. A dirty room, bad meals and housekeeping not showing up would really get my knickers in a twist. THAT'S when I would call the GM.

I am just so darn glad to be back in Hawaii that a slip of the tongue can't possibly wreck my check in process. I truly can understand why people would get upset though. I just can't sweat the small stuff while in paradise.

Like GoTravel, I'm more disturbed that he was talking out of school about other guests. And not being from Hawaii, "Howzit" sounds like ebonic slang to me but don't think it warranted calling in the GM.

My reaction is people obviously don't have enough problems in their life if they get upset over something that trivial. Wow, it must be awful to be disrespected as you check into your 5-star hotel - I hope they have a good therapist back home :)

Having spent a lot of time in Hawaii, if someone said "Howzit" to me, the first thing I would think is that the hotel hired a real local person. It's not the formal stuffed-shirt greeting that a 4S customer might expect, but it wouldn't bother me.

But if I were the kind of person who doesn't want to meet locals when I travel, then I would have expected the standard, touristy, "Aloha, Ma'am" or "Mahalo."

And I do know that local people speak more informally there. I once had lunch at the same restaurant as then-Governor John Waihee, and I couldn't help overhear him ask his companions, "So you guys like talk about some other kind stuff now?" I don't think he meant it as a slight.

I go along with GT & GB. My biggest concern would have been that the bellman was airing the laundry. As far as the greeting, it would not have bothered me, but a more formal greeting would be a better course of action in a hotel like the FS Maui.
((D))8-)

I would be offended that the current bellman was bothering a paying guest (me) airing the hotel's dirty laundry.

Surely 4 Seasons training would have covered not gossiping with guests.

I think most businesses would have done the same. Even if that couple hadn't have complained, someone else could have overheard it and complained. I'm pretty casual, but I'm always very careful how I speak to the public - you never know how that person is going to react to it.

Heck, just find a 20-27 year old woman and call her "ma'am"...

The GM is at fault. He should have trained the bellman better and he should not have scolded him in front of guests.

Is every place in Hawaii this inept?

If this is what ***** is about, I'll stick with *** and ****.

To me, it really is no big deal that I was told this story. There wern't any names mentioned. It's not as if he pointed to someone and then told me the story. He never said the bellman's name or how long ago it happened. Bellman are full of great stories. If you want to know anything about anything, ask a bellman. I thought it was humerous. I have known the bellman for years, so It's not like he was telling a first timer to this resort. My answer was, when in Rome do as the Romans do? I did say that with a question mark.

Sorry, there was nothing funny about the story, and I am well known for my highly developed sense of humor.

Well I have to say if my worse problem on a vacation was a bellman saying "Howzit" I would consider the vacation a very good one.

I agree with Bob_KY- the couple obviously has a tough life when that sort of situation requires calling the GM! Take a vallium people!

I might have taken it in stride or I might have been offended in which case I very well might have talked to the MOD about it but I would not have escalated it.

But I don't buy the argument that it is not the employee's error, that somehow it was the manager's fault or a training issue. Maybe they do have a training issue. Or maybe they occaisonally have a problem with employees who decide to ignore their training. That employee was not the GM's puppet and should have known better.

If I'd actually taken time to notice that the bellman said, "howzit" instead of "Good Afternoon Your Highness and how may I kiss your butt today?" I wouldn't have spent my time whining about it. I almost feel a little sorry for this couple that complained. Can you imagine being so insecure that something like this would take up any of your time?

I do believe the story he was retelling was the "Hi, guys" story that cause so much uproar back in August. Apparently a visitor and his wife was greeted by someone at their hotel. I have heard it told as a maid and as a bellman. If this is the same story, no one is talking out of school, as the poor victim of such disrespect wrote a letter to the Maui News decrying

Ooops! Hit post by mistake...

Anyway...

He wrote to the Maui News about how disrespctful it was for his wife to be addressed as a "guy." This letter then sparked a series of response letters, each as amusing as the original "Hey guys" greeting complaint letter.

The incident has now found its way into local urban legend, and I have heard it told in several variations. Now you all have heard a version of the "Hey guys" story.

I'm not at all impressed when we're in a restaurant and the server appears with a, "Hi, Guys!"

Obviously there are a lot of folks who don't "mind" this sort of greeting enough to make a big deal out of it because it stands to reason if there were then that behavior would be forbidden by the management when all the complaints started rolling in.

"Howzit?" would be somewhat unexpected and off-putting but it certainly wouldn't be "offensive."

Offensive would be what that bellman probably wished he could say, "Hi, you ugly, overweight, pompous pair!"

This is not the story of urban legend. This happened last spring and the bellman actually did say howzit. I have had bellman say hi guys before. I have responded by saying, hi right back to him. Why do people think that just because they are at the FS Maui that if they smiled at anyone thier faces might crack? Geez, you are on vacation in paradise. Take a chill pill. We have found this behaviour every time we go there. Meanwhile, we get some dirty looks because we smile at people and actually say hello. How dare we? We don't find this at any other resort in Hawaii. The friendliest FS is on Lanai. When an employee says aloha, it seems they mean it rather than saying it in a phoney, lips pursed way. Some people act and look as if they have a severe problem with constipation.

It certainly seems as if the other guests bother you, fivestar, so why do you continue to go there?? Last November you wrote: <i>&quot;We have stayed at the Four Seasons twice and we have decided that we will never go back. It is so over rated that it's laughable. The first time we stayed in a mountainside room and had our room moved because of the garage noise and the dumpster noise. Management told us that these were after all their &quot;bargain rooms&quot;. We spent the remainder of our time there in an oceanview room, which to us was more of a partial ocean view. We had a pie slice of a view of the ocean. The last time we were there we had a garden view room, which was in the inner courtyard area. We had no privacy on our lanai because they face the building across from you. The front desk people were surly. Many mishaps happened to us while we were there. We couldn't help feeling that because we didn't spend $2200.00 per night on an ocean view suite, that we were looked down upon.&quot;,</i>

Your name stuck with me from some previous posts regarding this hotel. If there are issues, and if the guests aren't your kind of people, why go back?

That said, I wouldn't blink an eye if I were greeted with &quot;howzit&quot;. I would however, be bothered by a bellman telling me issues with previous guests, just as I would be if my hairdresser or whomever, started talking to me about other clients and things they've done. <u>That</u> is unprofessional!

I am not quite sure how a complaint like that would even make it to the GM in the first place. It isn't as if you can just ring him up. MOD, as someone else mentioned, yes...that's where those complaints go initially, from there to the department head in charge of hte employee, and possibly, if the guest made enough of a stink and the issue could not be resolved, it would eventually get back to the GM. It is not his to deal with, however, trust me...it would be the Rooms Exec, under whom bellman issues fall, who would be addressing the problem, just as it is the rooms exec who was in charge of his training. Chain of command, as with any company, is very much set, and department heads deal with all issues that fall within in their departments. Only if they can't be resolved do they eventually make it to the GM, and that is rare. This one would only as one of those funny hotel happenings, and as I said, the GM certainly wouldn't be the person who would deal with the employee. So....I have to question the bellman on a couple of counts...first, his good judgment in relaying something like this, and secondly, whether or not this incident even happened as he tells it.

People are so sensitive.
I made a faux pas once I shall NEVER repeat:
I was waiting on customers in my busy little shop. I started to wait on the next two in line, for some reason I assumed it was two ladies. I looked up and started to say, &quot;have you ladies been helped yet?&quot; when I realized it was a man and a lady. So I changed at the last second to &quot;Have you people been helped yet?&quot;.

Bad choice. The man was black. He screamed at me that I was a racist (I am white) and although they stayed and ordered a takeout meal, I could feel that man glaring at me the whole time. I knew it would only make things worse if I tried to explain that I was trying to keep from calling him a lady.

Sometimes things just slip out!
Just ask John Kerry!

I'm sorry, I don't understand why the gentleman was upset. &quot;People&quot; seems a logical word when you are addressing more than one person. I have quite a few Afican-American friends and acquaintances and I think they would not object to &quot;people&quot; especially considering many of the words than have been used in the past.

00,
I think most of us notice who's around us in many situations. I just tend to gravitate towards the people who dare to smile. I have read trip reports where people talk about the cell phone people at the pool and mis-behaved children, as well as all the plastic surgery.I am no different than these people. It doesn't take up too much space in my brain, but I can't help but notice what and who are around me. It's like taking the train to work and noticing who's around you. I would find it odd not to at least notice who's around me. We have gone back because generally we like an adult oriented resort with great service. We have spoken to the GM at the FS Maui and he is a genuinely nice man. We have been there twice since I wrote that review in November. Last March we had a wonderful experience at the FS Maui. I was ill and they couldn't do enough for me. This trip in September was far different. Consistency seems not to be the forte of the FS Maui. Each experience is almost the luck of the draw. We ask for very little. We just want our room to be spotless and we want our room cleaned at a certain time. I do get upset if I am paying $780 a night and these small requests are not fulfilled. We have been to the islands 14 times, so it's not as if we have been there twice and are making hasty judgements.

TMWeddle, trust me. If you use the phrase &quot;you people&quot; in the general direction of any black people or possibly any other minority, I assure you someone will suspect that you meant &quot;you BLACK people&quot;. It's just the way it is.

hey, it's the islands, i would like it that someone used local slang with me. but then i don't stay at the four seasons and have never complained to a general manager of a hotel about anything, ever.

I work in a hotel that also has condominium units. An owner did complain to the GM that a bellman addressed her by her first name.

She is an older European lady, and was highly offended.

Many people feel that they can be very casual; and no amount of training will change this.

I knew a GM whose mantra was &quot;change people or change people&quot;. (Very difficult to do in a union hotel.)

LOL Maybe it's the union hotels that are getting the rotten ratings? ;)

I do agree though...bellmen don't address people by their first names unless those people are about 8. Just not done.

I guess as long as the Bellman put 'Aloha' in front of it that would be fine.
When I go to Hawaii I want to hear a Hawaiian greeting.Not 'howzit' or whatever...
Debi

I thought &quot;howzit&quot; was considered local?
Once on Maui I was treated to an exchange of &quot;local&quot; native dialect (not Hawaiin or English) that was obviously meant for me NOT to understand, and I felt a little insulted. Then, unasked, the young man drove miles out of his way to get a tool to jimmie my locked car door, and the older man offered to draw a map of his favorite spots, and offered me a soda while we waited. Guess you have to decide when to take offense! (BTW, I'm older, and much prefer &quot;guys&quot; to &quot;ladies&quot; or worst of all, smarmy young people calling me &quot;young lady&quot;.)

All you have to do is watch an episode of Dog The Bounty Hunter. That will surely teach you some Hawaiian greetings! Tee-Hee

I did not mean that the event itself is urban legend, but it has taken on the life of an urban legend here on Maui. I have heard countless variations of this story in the past couple months. The hotel changes, the greeting changes. Sometimes it was the GM publicly berating the employee, sometimes it was other management, others the customer reacted publicly and dramatically. Sometimes the story is related as though the teller was actually present, sometimes it's a guy who works with their cousin. The common thread in all of these versions is that story originated after the Maui News letter to the editor volley.

I worked at the Four Seasons in Wailea a few years ago. Yes, they have a script of the correct way to address and respond a customer. First and foremost you never tell a customer no, no matter what they ask, even if the real answer is no. You can tell them you will check into that, but never no. But from my experience with Four Season's management I would have to beleieve that the offending employee would have to have had many other infractions in order to get a &quot;serious dressing down&quot; over a greeting. I was only a casual employee, and I made my fair share of faux pas, but the normal response was a polite, if not stern, reminder of the Four Seasons way.

I would not have reacted at all. By the same token, I wouldn't have been staying at the Four Seasons either...

Here_Today,
With all the &quot;Hollywood&quot; types there I bet that you could write one heck a smashing book. Maybe, the belllman was trying to see what my reaction would be. He knows I am not the type to run to the GM that he told me a story. This sounds like the game called telephone. Everyone whispers a message to the next person in line and by the time it gets to the end of the line, it is nothing like when it started. Lets hope this story doesn't get to the point where the bellman swore at a guest.