The Financial Express8 l APRIL 15 l 2012

l F l O l O l T l L l O l O l S l E l

SharadRaghavan

WHEN I told myfriendsIwasgoingtoBangkok for a shortbusinesstrip,Igotallkinds of crass and

lewd jokes coming my way. But thatwas expected. Bangkok, and Thailandatlarge,hasareputationafterall,of be-ing home to a huge ‘massage’ industryand a deceptively large population oflady-boys. But jokes aside, Bangkokhasanextremelyattractiveelectronicsmarket, and as a tech buff, I couldn’twaittogetthereandstartshoppingforthelatesttechnologicalmarvels.

So, it was with a light heart and aheavy wallet that I joined a group ofjournalists for our flight to Suvarnab-humi airport, Bangkok. A note here:I’m sure you’ve noticed how Hindi-sounding the name of the airport is.Well, don’t be surprised, it’s a trendyou’ll see all over the place if you visitthecity.Afterall,92%of thepopulationisBuddhistandthere’sasizeablepopu-lation of Indian-origin people living

there.Alright,sobacktotheflight.It’safour-hourflightfromDelhitoBangkok,soI’dsuggesttakingabookalong—therelatively low importance and popu-larity of the route means that onlysmaller planes frequent it, whichmeans you’ll be lucky to get one withvideoscreensbehindeveryseat.

Stepping out of the plane was anexperience in itself. Going by just theclimate, you could have stepped outinto a bright Chennai day and youwouldn’t have noticed the difference.But I’m getting ahead of the story. Iwaswarnedinadvancethatimmigra-tion lines in Bangkok are a night-mare, routinely taking two hours toget through. I don’t know if I waslucky, or if the stories are wild exag-gerations,butIgotdonein10minutes.And here comes note number two:with the climate in Bangkok usuallyvery hot and humid, most buildingsset their ACs to very low tempera-tures—be warned, you wouldn’t bethe first person to catch a cold by justsitting in your hotel room.

Onourwaytothehotel,wecouldn’t

helpbutnoticethemodernlookthecityhas. Expressways, bridges and under-passes weaved over, under and besideeach other to convey a feeling of con-crete fluidity I have only seen in theWest. The newly-opened Suvarnabhu-mi Airport Rail Link, which our buswasspeedingdown,isawhopping18.6kilometreslong!

So, thanks to the new link road, wereached the centre of the city prettyquickly, only to be foiled by somethinguniquely Thai. The royal family wastravelling on the very road we neededtotaketogettoourhotel,andsoalltraf-ficwasblockedonit,whichmeantour

bus had to circle the block severaltimes before it could take the rightturn. Now, such blockages happen inIndiaaswell,thankstoourpoliticians.Buttheirdurationisusuallyshort,thetraffic police knowing full well thatthere’sjusttoomuchtrafficforthemtostopfortoolong.InBangkok,however,the royal family is king (pardon thepun), and traffic will be stopped for aslong as the security forces think itneedstobe.Finally,wereachedourho-telandcrashedforthenight.

Or so the organisers thought. Infact, an intrepid bunch of journalistslike us wasn’t going to waste our firstnight in a new city by just sitting inour hotel rooms. We went for a walkand were pleasantly surprised to findthatthecitystaysawaketillquitelate.Thestreetswereteemingwithpeople,hanging around street corners talk-ing,ortryingtosellallkindsof thingsto eat—ranging from simple satay, tosnake’s blood (they’d actually kill asnake in front of you and drain itsblood, if you so wished!).

The first half of the next day wasspentworking,butthesecondhalf wasspent on a cruise on the main river inBangkok, the Chao Phraya. The riverwas as they are worldwide—largelyclean, but with definite hints ofgarbage towards the banks. It’s thebanks that really set the river apart,however.Dottedwithimpressivesteel-and-glassbuildingandtraditionaltem-ples alike, the landscape is a stunningexample of exactlywhat makesBangkok sospecial.Even

though most companies favourBangkokfortheircompanyretreatsormeetings, there is an ever-present tra-ditionality that melds the hard lines ofmodernitywithasofter,oldertone.

It is perhaps a good time to get intothe similarities between Bangkokand India’s major cities. I’ve alreadymentioned that the weather is likeChennai’s. But the overpowering feelof the city, its streets, the traffic, thepeople and the stray dogs (yes, theyhave them too!) is of a Mumbai-Delhihybrid. Some roads are broken andpitted,peoplecrosstheroadswherev-er they want to, even when there is azebra crossing nearby, beggars sit incorners and pickpockets loiter, everalert for an easy lift.

Finally, we come to shopping loca-tions.Unfortunately,itwasashorttrip,and so we didn’t have much time toshop. The best place to go, in that case,is the MBK mall. It has everything,from electronics to food courts andclothes stores, and little shops sellingeverything from spiders in amber toknivesandsamuraiswords!

On the last night, we did go to anadult show, I freely admit. This beinga family publication, however, I willrefrainfromgoingintothedetails.I’llletitgobysayingthatif you’reover18,and have an open mind for suchthings, do try to go for one of theseshows. If nothing else, it’s somethingyou will never, ever get to see in India.

As holiday destinations go,Bangkokprobablyplayssecondfiddleto the nearby Pattaya city and itsbeaches. But if it’s a fun couple ofdays you’re looking for, Bangkok is abetter choice than most.

MYLASTsubmissioninthisspace prompted manycomments and e-mails.

Some of the responses were so in-sightfulthatgavemeideasforfuturecolumns. So, thank you. ThoughthereisonepointIshouldclarify.Idonot suggest that brands should al-ways go local or customise every-thing.Buttheymustknowtheircus-tomers to succeed, and sometimesthat means differentiated offeringsin different markets. The key is not“local”, the key is “customer”.

Knowledge of the customer iscritical while entering the luxurymarket and there are some firmscommitted to doing it properly. Giv-en my business, I tend to focus onfine dining, wine and spirits andtravel.Theseluxuriesare,bydefini-tion, not necessities. However, my

recent experiences with the Indianhealth care system had me thinkingabout“luxurynecessities”.Ahospi-tal is a necessity. Globally, somegroups are successfully makingthem luxurious. Unfortunately, theofferings in India are lagging.

Aluxuryhospitalisnotabouthav-ing a coffee shop and staff trained inthe luxury hotel industry. Luxury isabout service and the quality of theproduct. In a hospital, the productsare doctors and the care and out-comes they provide. India has theworld’s best doctors. However, thereis a disconnect between the doctorand patient in India. This is knownbecause of my experiences concern-ing four friends and relatives. Threeare cancer patients and one suffersfrom kidney disease. Between thesecases, I have had experiences with

severalso-called“tophospitals”inIn-dia. They were all poorly managed,rushed,andfrustrating.Thedoctors’examinations were perfunctory andyet the patients were told such con-vincingnarrativesabouttheirfuture

thattheythoughttheyshouldsimplyhead to the grave. This was with topdoctors, they seemed to care moreaboutthehighprofile,reputation-en-hancing patients rather than provid-ingpropercaretotheirpatients.

One of my relatives went to threeof the best hospitals in India. All ofthem informed him that chemother-apy would not treat his cancer. Thiswas after the briefest of examina-tions!Thissamerelativewhowasgiv-ensuchabadprognosisinIndiawenttoseedoctorsinBangkokandAmeri-ca. He was treated very differentlythere. The American hospital ad-visedchemotherapyanditwasasuc-cess;hehadafullrecovery.Of course,notalloutcomesaresofortunateandmy point is not to criticise any doc-tor’sjudgment.Again,Indiandoctorsareworld-class.Theproblemisoneofprocess and approach. Due to budgetconcerns, doctors spend little timewith each guest and hope to make upwithquantitywhattheylackinqual-ity. Especially the expensive private

hospitals should realise they couldmakemoremoneywithbetteradviceandmoretimeperpatient.

The best hospitals in Asia are in-vesting in technology, patient rela-tions, and more efficient adminis-tration. The focus should be on thecustomer: patient consultationshould come first and support staffshould make sure doctors spendtime examining and treating pa-tients, not doing administrative pa-perwork. When hospitals bring in-ternationalbrandingtoIndia,alongwith the best practices, they willwin. If they get the regional adapta-tions right for different parts of In-dia, they will win big. Medicaltourism is poised to be a majorgrowth industry and India deservesa huge share of that market. I hopewe make ourselves ready to providea patient experience that matchesthe training of our physicians.

DeepakOhriisCEOof lebuaHotels&Resorts.Hecanbereachedat

deepak@lebua.com

Indian hospitals haveworld class doctors

but need to focusmore on the patientthan other services

When luxury is a necessity

Wat Arun, Bangkok

Golden Buddhastatue at WatTraimit

(Above) A traditional Thai dance being performed on stage;(left) a floating market in Bangkok

Blitzing throughBangkok

Even a quick trip tothe Thai capital istime enough toexplore the city’sdual faces oftradition andmodernity, plus itsfamed seamyunderbelly

DEEPAK OHRI

DEELUXÉ

DOTTED WITHIMPRESSIVE STEEL ANDGLASS BUILDING ANDTRADITIONAL TEMPLESALIKE, THE LANDSCAPE ISA STUNNING EXAMPLE OFEXACTLY WHAT MAKESBANGKOK SO SPECIAL

MEDICAL TOURISM ISPOISED TO BE A MAJORGROWTH INDUSTRY ANDINDIA DESERVES A HUGESHARE OF THAT MARKET.I HOPE WE MAKEOURSELVES READY TOPROVIDE A PATIENTEXPERIENCE THATMATCHES THE TRAININGOF OUR PHYSICIANS