This Merdeka, we celebrate some Malaysians who have unusual jobs.
KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 31 — Fancy room that comes with a personal butler, and a pool in your suite is what most people would love to experience at least once in their lifetime, but the price tag that comes along with it might just be too pricey for the average traveller.
Imagine a job where you go to the best hotels, just to ferret out their flaws, saying perfect is just not good enough.
Christina Toh, 43, the General Manager of Dorsett Regency Hotel Kuala Lumpur is a volunteer hotel inspector and has felt the effect of her presence even on the staff of the most reputable hotels.
“They would usually feel intimidated... even if they have an outstanding compliance, and yet the fear factor is there,” she said, adding that it is a “very human” thing to be scared when inspected.
Being a hotel inspector
She said she had to sit though a one-day rating workshop to get a three-year licence. So far, she has inspected four five-star hotels.
She said unlike secret shoppers, the hotels are given a heads-up about a day before the inspection. Toh said while it is supposed to be like the secret shopper concept, hotel representatives use the excuse that they might be too occupied to show hotel inspectors around on the day of an unannounced visit.
She said rightfully the hotels should pay for the committee to stay in the hotel for at least one night to be able to get an overview of the hotel’s performance.
She added that the committee will only stay for the night if it was out of Kuala Lumpur, because the Ministry of Tourism has a limited budget with which to reimburse the committee members for the hotel stay and travelling expenses.
Some of the criteria on the checklist would be making sure all food handlers have their compulsory typhoid vaccination, check the temperature of the freezer, check for pests, cleanliness and the speed of the receptionists attending to guests.
The more trivial points are to check for the right direction for the Kiblat sign, which is mandatory in every hotel in the country, checking if the TV channels match the numbers in the TV guide and checking for the right level of chlorine in the swimming pool.
Toh said being environmental friendly is also on the checklist. Although it is not mandatory for hotels to recycle, for example, they would earn extra points on the checklist. However, she said “charity starts at home” and that she made it compulsory for her team at the hotel to recycle.
She talked about her five-year-old’s reaction to her teaching.
“Mum, am I killing more trees?” he would ask as he is about to tear a page of paper.
Being a hotel inspector is not all glamorous, she said, sharing her grossest encounter with The Malaysian Insider.
“Once there were cockroaches crawling out from a greasetrap,” she said, emphasising that it was a five-star hotel.
She explained that just based on that incident, the hotel could have lost a few stars from its current rating. However, they are usually given a second chance, usually up to two months to fix the problem, and have a committee return to check the condition.
“As a fellow hotelier, you understand that no one is perfect... what you can judge on is its consistency level. Everyone deserves to have a flaw, as long as it’s not detrimental to its service,” she said.
She said she once encountered one of the most serious hotel crimes, a syndicate stealing liquid crystal display (LCD) screens from hotel rooms.
“They would actually put it in a blazer cover on the way out,” she said, saying that it is still a wonder how they managed to pull it off. Toh said they were eventually caught, but was not convicted for “lack of evidence.”
While it’s not compulsory for the MAH to participate, she said it is advisable.
“You want to maintain the service standard in Malaysia,” pointing out that tourism is the second biggest revenue generator in the country.
She said as a general manager she felt that it was her responsibility to participate as a hotel inspector. It made her extra attentive to the tiny details in her own hotel and sometimes, she would also have the chance to inspect a competitor’s hotel, which is a plus.
“That’s generally a hotel GM’s responsibility,” she said.
Prior to this job
Toh who has been in the hotel industry for about 20 years started her first job at a Penang resort.
“Sales and marketing is my forte,” she said, explaining that her current position as a general manager at Dorrsett was her first, and she had been in that position for the past nine years.
Toh said as a hotel inspector she gets to experience another hotel’s operation flow and that she sometimes will learn and also educate the hotel representatives.
She originally majored in sales and marketing and graduated with a Diploma in Marketing from Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM). She is currently pursuing a Master in Business Administration in hospitality.
She said she got married a little later than most people because she wanted to concentrate on her career. She now has two sons, a five-year-old and a 19-month baby.
Perks
She said despite her position, the perks of staying at a hotel while travelling would depend on individual hotels. She said some would give her a number of free stays, some would have a hotelier rate while others would refer her to its website for its best avalable rate (BAR), which is available to the public.
Toh also said she loves meeting new people and the challenges offered by her job as a hotel GM and an inspector. She said that she would rather be “running around” than be stuck in an administrative position.
She said she can’t imagine being confined in an office cubicle all day, working from nine to five.
“I loved it and I still love it today. I don’t see myself in any other line,” she said passionately. “It is like a blood transfusion in me, I just love it.”