As far back as the early 1980s, Anguilla has had the reputation for being a destination of the rich and famous.
Back then, when you heard Anguilla mentioned as a tourist destination of choice, it didn’t matter where you were in the world – as an Anguillian, it made you feel very proud, and it still does today.
Robin Leach, the famous British journalist – best known for hosting the television series Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous – often featured Anguilla as one of the destinations with “champagne wishes and caviar dreams”.
Those are some of the accolades that Anguilla and Anguillians have grown accustomed to, as a number of our resorts have been featured very highly among hotel properties, not just across the region, but around the world. Anguilla has developed a reputation for delivering five-star service and five-star products at our villas, guest houses, resorts and hotels – for which all of us could feel extremely proud.
When visitors to our island talk about a service experience that draws them back to Anguilla, it is usually about an experience at the resorts or at a specific restaurant, or at a quaint little shop where the customer-service was exceptionally great – the quality of the food, the presentation and atmosphere, the tender pampering, the friendly and helpful staff or the incredible beauty and breath-taking views at the establishments. This is what keeps them returning to Anguilla again and again.
However, the challenge that we have for Anguilla, is that as soon as we leave the resorts and fine restaurants, and look at the physical condition of most of Anguilla, including the broader customer-service experience, there is a clear disconnect between what is on offer at the resorts – the physical aesthetics and the level of service that is delivered – and the general condition of Anguilla and the level of service offered throughout the rest of the island.
What is interesting is that the five-star service delivered at the resorts and restaurants, for most part, is delivered by Anguillians. So, why is it that the level of customer-service delivered by Anguillians in the hospitality sector – more specifically at the resorts – cannot be delivered to other residents and citizens throughout the entire island?
By contrast, if you go to any grocery store on Anguilla, there is nothing gentle or enticing about the experience. There is nothing that makes you feel that it is the only place on the island you would want to shop. This feeling is not limited to the grocery store experience. When you try to access other services across the island – at the bank, the utilities offices, at the government offices and facilities like the hospital, the port authority, the social security office, etc., the level of customer-service is generally poor. Something is fundamentally wrong with our five-star service model.
Too many residents on Anguilla complain about the level of customer-service, for it not to be taken seriously.
You pick up a phone and call a business establishment or government facility and the kind of communication you get is deplorable. Most times, the phone rings and rings and rings out – no one picks up. On the rare occasion that someone does pick up, your call is transferred to an extension which, most often, goes to a voice mailbox and you are prompted to leave a voice message. However, more often than not, you cannot leave a voice message because the voice mailbox is either full, not working, or is not set up to accept incoming calls at the time.
Should you make contact with someone on the phone, it seems as if his/her primary objective is to get you off the phone as quickly as possible, and oftentimes, he/she is not being very helpful at all. This level of courtesy is typical, and something is fundamentally wrong with our five-star customer-service model.
Sometimes you enter an establishment and the staff appears to be ready to assist you. But while some of the persons on the front line might be charming, a lot of the time their service is inefficient or ineffective. They waste a lot of time engaging in small talk with each other, and with customers, while others are waiting in line to be served. There is no sense of urgency, but a clear lack of professionalism and respect in the way things are done. You are made to feel as though you are interrupting them as opposed to them serving your needs. You seldom get a level of service that encourages you to return. Fundamentally, something is wrong with our five-star model of customer-service.
As we continue to talk about five-star service, one of the biggest challenges we must overcome on our five-star destination – Anguilla – is the unpleasant blight of ugly and unsightly structures that leave the impression that Hurricane Irma happened just a few days ago, or the unkempt appearance of some yards and premises that seem to be in competition with the Corito dumpsite. We can and should do better than this.
June 1st started the new hurricane season this year, and we know that when the hurricane season is upon us, with little or no notice we can have hurricanes coming through in quick succession. We should all be concerned by the amount of debris and rubbish strewn about the island and, in some instances, loosely stored on properties with the potential to become airborne and damage other people’s property. Most of the debris is resting in people’s yards, or hanging loosely from houses and buildings that have sustained serious damage.
A glaring example is the old Cottage Hospital on Crocus Hill and the backyard of the Water Corporation. The government of Anguilla should lead by example and address this unsightly and potentially dangerous threat. One needs only drive through communities on the island and see there is a desperate and urgent need for a comprehensive clean up of Anguilla. Something is fundamentally wrong with the aesthetics of our five-star destination – Anguilla.
There is policy in place in some islands in our region, like Barbados, where inspectors use guidelines to determine if a property/premises is deemed unsightly, filthy or untidy. Owners are warned, ticketed and fined. Perhaps, we in Anguilla should have a similar policy in place as well. As a people, we need to recognise that the product which we are projecting to the rest of the world is a product that speaks about Anguilla, not just about a resort on Anguilla. Are any of us in Anguilla, prepared to live among what appears to be rundown or derelict conditions? Will tourists just try to get from the port of entry to a particular hotel or resort and remain there, or move around, with blinders on, for the duration of their stay in Anguilla? Is that really the tourism product that we are proud of?
So, with all the talk of Anguilla being a five-star destination – Anguillians, let us not fool ourselves. We are anything but a five-star destination when you think about the unsightliness that tourists and we, as Anguillians, are subjected to every day as we traverse across Anguilla. We have to address it wholistically, because the level of customer-service that we are subjected to – outside of the resorts – is unfortunately, consistent with the unsightliness of the island. Something is fundamentally wrong with our five-star status and something drastic can, should and must be done to address it.
So, while we are at it, Government of Anguilla – appeal to the hotels to train our government switchboard operators as to how to man a phone system. The sloppiness and the lack of respect that some of our frontline operators have for the people who call in to access services from the government of Anguilla is unacceptable, unethical, and unprofessional. It is downright shameful. Fix it, please.
With respect to the Disaster Preparedness Department, its teams need to be empowered to do site inspections to look at any debris that has the potential to become missiles during a hurricane. They need to bring to the attention of property owners that their property needs to be prepared for the hurricane season.
If we are able to address these issues now, we can improve a lot of what is wrong with our five-star customer-service across the island and adopt the Ritz Calrton mantra: Ladies and Gentlemen Serving Ladies and Gentlemen. That could be the mantra throughout Anguilla – whether we are at the villas, resorts and hotels, restaurants, grocery stores, or accessing any organisation or government agency services. We can make Anguilla a true five-star destination with five-star customer-service: Ladies and gentlemen serving ladies and gentlemen, losing the crowd and finding yourself in tranquillity wrapped in blue.
Anguilla’s dirty laundry is not being exposed in this article. Anguilla’s dirty laundry is exposed. It is hanging out there for all to see – let’s clean it up.
