Five Star Service? (Hotel Babylon - Imogen Edwards-Jones)

Name: helencb

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Product:	Hotel Babylon - Imogen Edwards-Jones
Date:	15/01/06 (290 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Light Reading, Interesting if you are in the Industry

Disadvantages: I don't think the book lived up to the description on the cover. Expensive in Hardback

I wandered into the bookshop in the delightful village of Long Melford some times ago now, and my eyes were immediately drawn to the cover of the book Hotel Babylon. While it was rare to see this book 18 months ago, it eventually did make it to the supermarket shelves at discounted prices, and now there is even a TV show about to be aired..

The book is tagged as “The decadence and debauchery of the ultimate service industry”. Having worked in the Hotel Industry for a relatively short period of time I was intrigued to know the author’s view on the industry and to see if in fact my group were guilty of any of the practices she describes!

The author herself is an award winning journalist and author of three other books, while the co-author – Anonymous – is the unnamed general manager of a five star central London hotel, and has based his stories on ten years in the industry at that end of the market.

The book is written in an innovative and story telling style from the perspective of one of the receptionists. The author(s) take us through 24 hours in the life of a typical five star City Centre Hotel with each chapter representing and titled by the time in the day it represents, beginning at 7am with a reception change of duty and our receptionist nursing a hangover due to the leaving party he attended the previous night.

As the day evolves we are introduced to more of the staff and their roles and responsibilities and the clientele that make up a typical day. We are also introduced to some of the creative ways in which the hotel and some of the staff members manage to make a little bit on the side..allegedly!

The role of the concierge is important in any top star hotel, particularly one in a capital such as London, and it is also a role where a good concierge can earn five times his basic salary of around £11K (in this case) in tips. Concierges through their networks are often able to work wonders getting tables last minute at top restaurants or good theatre tickets and our concierge at Hotel Babylon is certainly one of the best. His hotel manager knows this and turns a blind eye to some of his money earning opportunities.

By contrast the poor chambermaids get the rough end of the stick. Usually on minimum wage, they have to clear up all kinds of unmentionable mess that you, the guests, leave behind. And some of it is truly unmentionable believe me. They rarely get tips, as if they leave one in full view on the dresser the Bell Porter will likely get to the room before the chambermaids (Leave your tip under the pillow next time if you want the chambermaid to benefit!)

The reservations manager often overbooks the hotel (yes this is definitely true) as in particular with the advent of the mobile phone people chop and change their plans on a whim, and if she didn’t overbook, the hotel would never get to 100% occupancy, a pretty unobtainable target for the most part. Other tricks include the pre-reg guests, i.e. those on the red-eye arrivals, who want to guarantee a room on arrival – balance this with a guest needing an early check out to catch the departing red-eye and you have doubled your revenue for the room. Voila! However during this particular 24 hours she is 25 rooms overbooked at the start of the day – and no hotel likes to resort to out-booking, so she has a challenging day ahead.

The Bar Manager and Restaurant manager are competing for the F&B spend of the hotels guests despite the fact that logic would dictate spending in any part of the hotel is a good thing.

Meanwhile our poor Reception Manager is the first port of call for any enquiry whatsoever. And this includes the inevitable ringing of the phone as the staff start calling in sick. Meaning many staff inevitably have to pull a double shift or an area of the hotel doesn’t get manned as it should.

I did enjoy reading the book and relating to the different characters that make up the staff and guests at this anonymous five star hotel. And the behind the scenes panic that happens day to day to make sure things run smoothly front of house. I didn’t necessarily agree with the authors’ over simplistic costings of profit margins at times – they seemed to only include the basic materials – usually food items, and tended to ignore the costs of running, servicing the hotel itself – hotels definitely don’t make anything like the margins that are implied in the text!

It wasn’t quite what I expected in terms of content, and I did expect it to be more serious, such as the book Shopped on the Supermarket industry.

It is generally humorous and light in reading style and had plenty of humorous moments, not least the description of the different types of guests that frequent the hotel or its bars and restaurants such as the “Fizz and Leaves” brigade for Ladies who Lunch and the blanket categorisation of good and bad tippers based on their nationality!

The book has 308 pages and I managed to complete this in a few hours reading, mainly due to its simple story telling account style. I think it is a little overpriced for such a short read, and I imagine it would be of less interest to most people than it was to myself (unless you are a regular hotel visitor). But if you are still interested, then given the price and the short reading time needed, I would certainly suggest you wait for the paperback. I would rate it 7/10, primarily losing marks for the price.

Oh, and I deny all charges! (But I will be putting in my application to be Head Concierge first thing tomorrow morning…..)

ISBN 0-593-05272-2
Hardback price £12.99, available at appoximately 30% discount on line.

Published 2004 by Bantam Press

Now available in paperback from £6.39 with Amazon, and I have seen this in supermarkets from £3.83

Summary: Light reading, especially for those in the trade.