“Delight” delivered at Hyatt Regency, Lucknow

The day we checked-in I was fuming because someone told us to park the car in the basement and take the elevator to reach the lobby. Amma was with me and Krishnan was at the lobby. I got parking only on the 3rd basement. When Amma and I got out of the car and looked around for a lift, there was none. We walked up to the 2nd basement and the door to the lift lobby was locked there and I don’t think it was functional. We finally walked up all the way and Amma had to stop midway a couple of times to catch her breath. Naturally I was furious.

When one of the duty managers tried to pacify me, I was loud and angrily told him, that the hotel needs to think of the guest’s comfort while designing and not what works for them. The fact is most hotels in India expect the car to be given to the valet for parking and if anyone sees the valet driving the car, you wouldn’t give even a bicycle to him to park !! I have a rule to never let the valet park our car, Krishnan relents sometimes, but I NEVER do :).

Anyway, we reached the room and it was nice and well laid out. All our stuff reached us in time and we settled in for the week long stay. Once I slept for a couple of hours, all the anger left me and the next day breakfast just brought back my sunny self. Ofcourse I have to mention Saloni, our first contact at Hyatt. She was the duty manager who returned my call from Gurgaon regarding where to keep our cycles. We finally decided not to bring them, but she dealt with our “special” parking needs for the car deftly. She managed to get us a parking on the 1st basement and saved the car from atleast a few kilos of fine dust in the 3rd basement. Saloni is so calm and efficient that it becomes easy to resolve things ! She certainly has a bright future in the hospitality industry which is forever dealing with one service challenge or the other.

The breakfast at “Rocco” is a delight. The food is really tasty, its a huge spread and the service is outstanding. I did start my “gyan” session with the service folk requesting them not to change our plates every time because washing takes a lot of water. We don’t change our plates after every course at home, so why do it at a restaurant ! We also asked for RO/Filtered water to be filled in our bottles and flasks in the room rather than use the “bottled” water. Again, the service folks at Hyatt have been outstanding in ensuring that we get the water refills. We use atleast 4 to 5 litres of water everyday in this weather and imagine the number of plastic bottles that will be discarded just in one room. Anyway, thats for another blog.

The second day of our stay, Umesh was the one who refilled our bottles and he offered to make his special tea for us the next morning. The tea was so outstanding that now every time we come to Lucknow, we will stop by and have tea made by Umesh. Some people walk into trouble by doing an outstanding job :):). We treated Umesh to some authentic filter coffee and over the past few days, he has become a friend. His smiling face and awesome service just makes him the perfect employee in the hospitality sector.

By the first day of our stay here, we realised that the employees are a happy lot and very eager to serve the guests. The person(s) leading this hotel are obviously good leaders because their employees are happy and engaged.

Durgesh and Pawan at “Rocco” have been subjected to my “gyan” sessions about food wastage and water conservation and they have still continued to smile through it all. Durgesh is perpetually rushing to serve his guests and still manages to keep an eye on our table :). The minute Krishnan mentioned to Pawan that we were going to Ayodhya, he insisted on packing us a picnic lunch and the sandwiches were mouth-watering. I am a bread-lover but even Krishnan enjoyed those sandwiches.

Today, Naveen has gone the extra mile to find us a car wash guy who will come over and get the car cleaned up for us. What more can a guest ask for from a hotel ?? We were asking for a bucket of water to clean the car ourselves :). For us Hyatt Lucknow will forever be remembered for Umesh’s awesome tea and heartfelt attention, Durgesh and Pawan’s delightful service, and Saloni and Naveen’s handling of our “special” parking and car cleaning requests.

Well done Hyatt Regency Lucknow – hoping to see you soon as the best Hyatt property in the world. You have the right team and the right leadership to get there.