WORKSHOP 6 ? WEEK 8 ANSWER
TOTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT
Case study:
The Waterlander Hotel
The previous evening's banquet for Plastix International had been a complete disaster, and Walter Hollestelle, the hotel General Manager, was still recovering from the series of telephone conversations of that morning.
First with the Vice-President of Global Marketing, Plastix International Plc:
'I had hoped that by having our annual sales conference at your renowned hotel in Amsterdam, we would be treated to an even better level of service than last year, when we were at Rotterdam; but we were to be deeply disappointed. After all the problems you have caused us over the last two days, from faulty video projection to shortages of cups at coffee breaks, I had hoped that at least the final conference dinner would run smooth but you let us down badly. The cocktail reception was a farce: the choice of non-alcoholic drinks that we specially ordered didn't appear until the last minute, and as the President's wife is teetotal, you can imagine the embarrassment that caused! A spilt tray of snacks was not cleared up quickly and several guests got food all over their shoes and dresses. And why did the reception drag on for so long?
`When we were finally asked into the dining room, it clearly wasn't properly prepared. Some of the tables (including ours) were without flowers, which upset my wife, who had been involved with the selection of arrangements. Even the flowers that were there were the wrong variety and looked as if they had been on the tables since yesterday'
'The meal was the worst I have ever seen! I never expect banquet food to be as good as a la carte, but this was awful! The starter was dried up and chewy, and the sweet soufflés were flat and rubbery. ...