Page 24 - IHG Global Etiquette_Compendium_S7_flipbook

GLOBAL ETIQUETTE COMPENDIUM
AC TI VI TY
1A. TASTES AND CUSTOMS
INTRODUCTION:
This activity is one of three which examines
how we can DEMONSTRATE WORLDLY
UNDERSTANDING.
It takes just under 10 minutes.
This activity is about creating awareness of different
cultural differences but does not replace cultural
training.
LOGISTICS:
This is best run in groups of up to 6.
Ensure you have a room “off-stage” so that you are
not interrupted.
SET-UP:
Take two sheets of flip chart paper and stick them
around the room.
One sheet should be headed up ‘tastes’.
One sheet should be headed up ‘customs’.
RUNNING THE ACTIVITY:
TASTES
Start with the idea of ‘tastes’.
The important point to make about tastes is that
whilst different cultures influence taste, they don’t
always dictate tastes.
We need to be aware that people from different
parts of the world often have different tastes and
anticipate them as much as possible.
Start with a brainstorm about different tastes.
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Examples might include:
• Guests from Britain tend to drink their tea with
milk (rather than lemon or plain).
• Guests from the US tend to want extra ice in their
cold drink.
• Guests from China often like to drink plain hot
water with their meals.
• Provide one or two examples that are relevant to
the typical guest profiles in your hotels and then
let the group come up with additional examples.
Then ask:
What if a guest from the UK asks for a cup of tea? What
do we serve it with?
The answer you are looking for is that we should
indicate to the guest that we know that guests from
Britain tend to like milk with their tea but not
assume that is what they want.
In other words, the conversation we are expecting is
for the colleague to ask a guest who orders a cup of
tea “would you like milk or lemon with that?”.
Key Learning Point:
DEMONSTRATE WORLDLY UNDERSTANDING is
about having a knowledge of different tastes but not
making assumptions about what a guest might want.
CUSTOMS
Then move onto the idea of ‘customs’.
Customs are different to tastes because they tend to
be shared by people from the same culture.
Start with a brainstorm about different ‘customs’
from different parts of the world.