The Discovery Travel and Living channel is truly amazing. There are a lot of good programmes on this channel but my favorite has to be Travel Spies I simply love the whole concept of the show which is so adventurous and also funny with a lot to learn from the small tips which the anchors show us. All the 3 anchors Nilou Motamed, Jeff Gurtman and Kenn Gray the later being a interior designer by proffession and Nilou is a editor at Travel + Leisure magazine, and Jeff is a hospitality consultant.
About the show: Well the show has a very simple objective i.e. to review all the 3 hotels according to comfort, design, food, service, value for money and in the end give them points accordingly, each hotel is basically judged on simple aspects but practically very important that are how is the room, then are the guests needs are met and also other things like food, special requests and also complaint handling. The 3 hosts go with spy cameras which are not like those cameras used for voyeurism but much better than those. The best part of the show is they do not show any cheap thrills and cheap shows everything is proffessional, all the hoteliers will truly love the show which also gives them handy tips so that they can use for thier own hotels.
As one of the host says that hospitality is an art and not a science, well he certainly proves his points that it is so difficult to get a good brand name in the market and also to keep up to that level of acceptances by the guests by making them feel at home, providing them with all the comforts and ammenities and behaving in a right manner with the guests. The point here is to never say ’no’ to a guest.
More than the routine show there is so much to see and so much to learn from just one hour which includes everything from design, ambience, food, cultures, rituals, festivals, local public, information about a city, where and how to spend effectively while travelling and using those handy tips which really helps a traveller, like in one show they showed how much to tip a bell boy or while entering for first time in the hotel using stickers on the bags and writing your own information so that they are not lost and identified properly.
Its all about building a good relationships with the guests which will have frequent guests in there hotel which will boom up the business, all this is shown wonderfully in the travel spies. In one of the episode the lady host wanted 20 pillows in her room and she got it without any queries and in another show they wanted thier rooms to be decorated with hawaiian theme which was so sweet. Such small things make a huge difference in the end. Also after each review of the hotel the travel spies meet with the general manager of the hotel and tell them what they saw and where all they think they should improve.
Everybody who loves travelling, interested in interior decorations, food, etc should watch this show and also those who are already working in a hotel should first watch this show. It will improve your hospitality nature and make you win the customers. Also about the channel if viewers wants to know more then they do have other good shows like Globe trekker, Faking it, Made to order, etc. Go watch it its amazingly fresh.