Service Gold 2015 Gracious Guests Award Recipients, nominated by hotel staff.

Singapore, 24 November 2015 – Service professionals from hotels across Singapore gathered at the Raffles Hotel today to honour their peers at the annual National Kindness Awards for Service. Jointly organised by the Singapore Kindness Movement (SKM) and the Singapore Hotel Association (SHA), the ceremony recognises and appreciates the extraordinary efforts of service professionals who create exceptional experiences for their guests.

This year, 87 service professionals from 52 hotels were presented with the Service Gold Award by the Guest of Honour, Mr. Heng Chee How, Senior Minister of State. Recipients of the Service Gold Awards are selected by a panel comprising representatives of Singapore’s hotel industry and the SKM based on nominations from guests, peers and supervisors.

Among this year’s award recipients is Helen Goh, a Senior Captain at Window on the Park at Holiday Inn Singapore Orchard City Centre. Since starting work at the restaurant 30 years ago, she has received numerous compliments from guests and peers for her passion, patience and attention to detail. Recently, when a family needed to return to their rooms urgently after their son suddenly developed a high fever, she ushered them out, promising to bring the bill to them personally, rather than keep them waiting. She also thoughtfully had an ice pack sent up to the room. These acts of kindness, though small, can have a powerful effect on a guest’s experience.

Youth and inexperience is no barrier to good service either. Siti Haniffa Binte Abdullah, is a 23 year old Service Associate from Hotel Jen Orchardgateway. In the five months she has been on the job, her enthusiasm, cheer and solution-focused attitude has won her commendations from her managers, and from the guests she helps. Being wheelchair-bound, Siti is able to bring a different perspective to service, and in anticipating the needs of guests.

Yet good service is only one half of the equation. The Service Gold Awards also included a category for Gracious Guests, nominated by hotel staff, to recognise and foster the importance of showing appreciation. Five of these awards were given out.

One of these recipients is Mr. Ad Broere from Netherlands, a long-time guest at Orchard Hotel. The relationship that Mr. Broere has with the hotel has become very family-like and it shows through his thoughtful actions, such as remembering the hotel staff’s names, asking about their well-being and getting them small gifts on special occasions like Christmas season. These gestures make the hotel feel blessed to be able to serve sincere guests like him.

Dr. William Wan, General Secretary of the Singapore Kindness Movement, said, “Over the last 21 years, the Service Gold Awards has been a mark of pride for the hospitality service professionals in our tourism industry. Service and Kindness have a lot in common. Both require us to see beyond ourselves and to take the effort to make someone’s day better. With a little mindfulness, as service professionals and as grateful recipients of such service, our nation of kindness can also be an ambassador for graciousness, the world over.”