Surprises of Japanese Services

By Shen Fangzheng

My wife and I made a trip to Kyushu, Japan, last month and stayed in a lesser-known hotel. However, surprise after surprise came before we even checked in.

We knew there were two wellknown sushi restaurants in Kyushu and wanted to have a try. So we e-mailed the hotel and asked them to reserve a table for us in advance. The hotel replied that one was fully booked, while the other didn't accept foreign guests' reservations. Generally speaking, the hotel had fulfilled its duty by giving us the feedback. However, the staff from the hotel sent us another email later, apologizing for failing to get us an ideal reservation. In the email, another three sushi restaurants with detailed introduction and reviews for our reference.

I received a reservation confirmation message the next day after I told the hotel which sushi restaurant we wanted to visit. We had already enjoyed their considerate service before departure.

When we checked in at the hotel, one receptionist handed over an envelope to us in a polite manner. In the envelope, we found a map of the sushi restaurant we were going to visit on the third evening and a card with recommendations on it, including the dishes they suggested, the price, and the name on the reservation. One tip advised us to go early to avoid traffic, because our reservation was at 7 pm.

We had a pleasant time in the sushi restaurant that evening. When we went back to the hotel, I thought to myself, “The hotel's recommendation is really great. It doesn't matter that we didn't go to the two famous restaurants.” Then we saw an envelope lying on the table. There was a questionnaire inside, asking whether we were satisfied with the sushi restaurant recommended and whether we enjoyed the meal. If so, they would recommend it to the other guests. Besides providing service for the needs of the guest, the hotel had also done its best in providing surprises and making the guests happy.

The first day when we went into the room, we found eight pieces of wagashi in four flavors placed in a bamboo basket—on the top of it there was a greeting card from the general manager. The sweetest thing was that there were two origami cranes made out of the flags of China and Japan respectively. We were so surprised that we exclaimed, “Wow! That's so sweet!”

We had two pieces of wagashi and planned to have the rest in the following days. But when we came back the second night, there was a new basket of wagashi, covered by new cards and origami cranes.

We wondered whether they would send another basket of wagashi on the third day. That would be too much. It didn't seem like a good idea to send the same desert to the guest when they hadn't finished the previous. That day, when we opened the door, we saw an exquisite plate of cut-up fruit on the table. Two origami cranes were placed on the transparent cover of the plate. Obviously, the staff tried their best to surprise the guests.

We seemed to have communicated silently with the staff through the origami crane, wagashi, and fruit. I had to admit that their thoughtful service was far beyond my expectation, and a warm feeling crept into my heart.

We ordered a 7 pm flight back home on the fourth day. In the early morning of that day, the signal light on the phone flickered. I dialed back. The staff answered and asked me whether we needed a late check out or a taxi. We left our luggage at the reception in the morning and had fun for half the day, and then came back to hotel 15 minutes before the taxi came. It was then that we met the manager of the hotel. He arranged a staff member who had attended an exchange program in China to talk to us in Chinese and help us take our luggage to the taxi. When we checked our luggage at the airport, I suddenly found the last surprise of this trip—the staff wrapped a tag on my luggage, on which there were ten hand-written Chinese characters, meaning “Thank you for coming! Please visit again!”

(From Cheers, Issue 6, 2018. Translation: Li Li)

飯店讀心術

文/沈方正

上個月，我跟太太去了一趟日本九州，入住一家不是很大也沒什么名氣的飯店。還沒入住，驚奇已然開始。

九州有兩家有名的壽司店，我們想去品嘗，又怕沒有位子，于是出發前先寫了電子郵件，請飯店幫我訂位。后來接到飯店回復，說一家客滿，另一家不接受外國人預約。一般來說，飯店在充分告知之后，服務就結束了。但他們又發了一封電子郵件給我，說很遺憾沒能幫我訂到理想的餐廳，不過他們又推薦了三家壽司店，還附上相關介紹和評價，請我參考。

我研究回復后的第二天，就收到預訂確認，是我最想去的那一家。旅程開始前，我已經提早享受到他們的貼心服務。

到了飯店，去前臺登記，服務人員恭敬地遞給我一個信封，里面不僅有我們第三晚要去的壽司店所在地的地圖，還附上一張“前往注意事項”，包括幫我預訂的菜色、價格以及代訂人員的姓名。因為訂位時間是晚七點，這段路很容易塞車，“事項”上還建議我最好提早出發。

那天晚上，我們在壽司店度過了一段滿足而愉悅的時光。回到飯店，正當我想著“飯店的建議真不錯，就算沒去成原先心儀的那兩家也沒關系”時，發現桌上又躺著一個信封，原來是一份問卷，飯店希望知道我對他們推薦的壽司店是否滿意、用餐體驗是否愉快，以此作為他們下次推薦的參考。

除了領先顧客需求一步的服務之外，關于如何創造驚喜，讓客人會心一笑，這家飯店也做得相當出色。

第一天入住時，房間里放的不是一般的水果，而是盛在竹簍中共八顆、分成四類的和果子，上面放了一張來自總經理的問候卡片，最特別的是，還有兩只分別用中國國旗、日本國旗折成的紙鶴，當下就讓人忍不住驚呼：“哇，真是非常用心。”

我們吃了兩顆，剩下的打算留著慢慢吃。結果第二天晚上回來，發現竟然又多了一簍八顆不同種類的和果子，新的卡片和紙鶴都移到了這簍和果子上。

我們忍不住好奇，第三天還會再送來一簍和果子嗎？這就真的太多了，從服務業的角度來看，明明客人吃不完，繼續堆積似乎不是個好辦法。

當天回來一推開房門，只見一盤切好的水果優雅地排開，兩只紙鶴就站在蓋住水果的透明盒罩上面。顯然服務人員是花盡巧思，不斷想辦法帶給客人驚喜。

透過紙鶴、和果子和水果，我們就像默默進行了三場對話。我不得不承認，這樣的關心和服務實在超出預期，一股暖意更是直達心坎。

回程訂的是第四天晚上七點的飛機，房內電話上的信號燈已早早亮起，我撥過去，原來是問我是否需要延遲退房，或者幫忙預訂計程車。這天早上，我們把行李寄存在柜臺，又出去放心地玩了大半天，直到預訂的車子抵達前十五分鐘回到飯店。這時候才見到飯店主管，他專門請了一位曾到中國做過交換學生的服務人員出來，用中文和我交談，并幫我把行李送上車。直到在機場不經意整理行李時，我才發現此行的最后一個驚喜——不知道什么時候，對方竟然悄悄地在我的行李箱上掛了一個吊牌，上面寫著“謝謝光臨，歡迎下次再來”十個工整的漢字。

（摘自《快樂工作人》2018年第6期）