The Sheraton as a brand has been around in India for the longest time. Ever since the Oberoi Tower in Mumbai was branded as one, the name became a household reference for up-market hospitality. Today, the Starwood group is making a direct foray into the Indian market with the Sheraton brand, even as they hold on to certain co-branded management contracts with other properties. The first such property is in Bangalore and one visit is enough to help one establish just what a Sheraton brand entails.
I got a refresher course of sorts then, when I recently visited the swanking new property on the Cotai strip in Macau. This is where the world?s (well, at least) Asia?s business and leisure traveller is headed and the optimism is apparent in the size of these mammoth hotels. The Sheraton, for example, has 3,900 rooms, give or take a few dozen! But all that is of less interest to me than the F&B; how does a hotel go about the task of ensuring that with such a vast number of people descending for their meals twice a day (sometimes, thrice) nobody complains about service standards or product range. In short, how can personalised service be meted out at this scale and yet retain its boutique flavour?
The Sheraton does this by putting corporate programmes in place which break down an exercise into several simpler easy-to-follow steps. By following these guidelines, any property in the chain can achieve a set standard of service, one that the patron has come to expect and is accustomed to, one that would not lead to complaints of inefficiency of inconsistency.
The wine programme at the Sheraton is called the WoW?a not-so-humble acronym for Wines of the World?and for most parts, it is worthy of being labelled with such an exclamatory title.
The idea is simple really: a group of experts is carefully appointed within the group. This normally comprises the F&B managers and their respective teams from across outlets. They convene and taste all the wines that are to be considered for the hotel list. Marks are allotted, tasting notes are discussed, and finally, a list emerges, one that covers all points on the original manifesto: to showcase the different regions, the various grapes, and the diverse wine styles.
Allocations are created for special winemakers as also to accommodate various price points and also various cuisines that the wines may have to accompany around the globe. Trust your sommelier when I tell you this that to come up with a selection that can match everything from gobi sabzi to au gratin, or sichuan to sausages, is not an easy task. The deliberation required can take hours and at times, still not reach a point of quorum. However, the fact that this WoW programme exists and is successfully implemented means that the converged palates do manage to find common ground and this master list then becomes the basis for the wine lists of each individual outlet within the chain.
At Macau (or is it Macao, I ponder always), the Italian restaurant at the Sheraton is called Bene. They had a fairly extensive listing at affordable pricings, with some good Italian offerings by the glass. Coincidentally, the Italian restaurant at their Bangalore property is also called Bene (come to think of it, is it a coincidence really?) and although the wine brands may not be entirely the same?given local availability issues?the list manages to cover most points as may be ordained by the WoW programme.
Sheraton has been a pioneer in this process: reducing something as layered and complicated as designing a wine list down to a series of logical steps. Many hotels have emulated this model since. They may not have been the first but they certainly know how to run it successfully.
The lesson to be learned is this: wine is always an art but it helps to apply sound scientific logic to different aspects of its service and selection in order to help bring the experience closer to the guests.
The writer is a sommelier