Five-star meal delivery

One development that has come out of the COVID-19 lockdown is the delivery of meals by so-called five-star hotels in Colombo. This is different to the not so hygienic looking Uber service which is rampant. In the five-star meal service, the hotel itself delivers the food to your doorstep.

However, this five-star exercise also illustrates why our hospitality industry lags behind other tourist centres, and the local hotel service is only known for grand looks, but actually is inefficient and unrefined.

To cut a long story short, a friend who lives overseas ordered online a meal to be delivered for my family from a five-star hotel. He was reciprocating a small favour I had done for him. 

Having ordered and paid for the meal from there (overseas), he informed me of the treat, jokingly telling me that I didn’t have to cook dinner and to expect delivery at about 7:30 p.m. I thanked him for this unanticipated gesture which was most welcome in these depressing times.

At 7:30 my doorbell rang and there was a posh-looking vehicle parked outside from which two uniformed gentlemen alighted. They were butlers and looked impressive. Having delivered the food to me, they then said that I had to pay for it. 

I was taken aback and told them that I never ordered the food, and that this was a gift from a friend living overseas who had paid for it. They then took a call to (I presume) the hotel and after some conversation confirmed my position.

My point is that a five-star hotel service must live up to its claim in every aspect. For a few minutes I was made to feel very uncomfortable, being demanded of money for the food delivered. It was as if my friend had put me in an embarrassing situation. In these dangerous times when we have to minimise contact with strangers, the two butlers spent an extra 10 minutes due to their own bungling.

In my opinion, before they rang my bell those butlers should have had an idea of the nature of the transaction they had to perform. They embarrassed me and reduced the kindness of my friend to a nullity for a moment.

There was no “enjoy your meal”, only a very substandard delivery, although dressed formally in a very European manner.

Among the food delivered was a small container on which it was written ‘Chilly Peast’, which turned out to be chilli paste.

This is five-star service in a country desperate to make a mark in global tourism.

R. Perera