Customer Service in Brunei: Why We Should Start Teaching It in Schools

2 days ago

4 min read

Year 2027 is Visit Brunei Year. Visitors will come, and what they remember most won’t be the buildings. It will be how our people made them feel.

That puts customer service in the spotlight. Are our front-liners ready? Can they deliver the kind of customer service that leaves a lasting impression, like their counterparts in Malaysia, the Philippines, and Indonesia?

Smiling woman in white hijab hands a pen at a reception desk to a man in a navy suit in a bright hotel lobby

What I noticed in the classroom

I spoke to Hospitality & Tourism students at a college in Brunei. Almost all wanted to work in the kitchen, become baristas, or start their own F&B businesses after graduation. Hardly anyone wanted to work in service.

I saw something similar when I was General Manager of a local eco-resort. My team was fully local, many preferred to stay behind the scenes rather than interact with guests.

I've also seen it in my training classes. Some participants were timid about handling guests, and the idea of going the extra mile felt like a tall order.

I don't believe this is simply a lack of willingness. Confidence comes from knowing what to do, having the chance to practise and receiving guidance along the way. We need to give people more opportunities to develop these skills. And this is where the schools come in.

Why customer service training matters for businesses

Look around, and you'll see new cafés and restaurants opening all the time. But running a successful business takes more than good food, attractive surroundings or efficient operations. It also takes people who can make customers feel welcome.

When frontline employees lack confidence, service can become inconsistent. When they feel unprepared or unsupported, they may struggle to enjoy the work or see a future in it. Businesses then face the challenge of recruiting and retaining people who are willing and able to deliver good service consistently.

This is why customer service skills deserve greater attention, both before people enter the workforce and throughout their working lives.

The gap in how service skills are taught

Theory matters, but service and sales skills also need to be learned through practice. Some lecturers are asked to teach these subjects without having worked in the industry themselves.

One lecturer honestly told me that they sometimes "make it up as they go". I respected that honesty. To me, it highlighted a gap in the system, not a failure on the part of the teacher.

Our lecturers play an important role in educating students. But could we strengthen that foundation by bringing in industry professionals to share practical experience, demonstrate real workplace situations and help students practise what they learn?

This is not about replacing lecturers. It is about bringing academic knowledge and industry experience together to better prepare students for the workplace.

Visit Brunei Year 2027: A reminder, not the starting point

Visit Brunei Year 2027 gives us a timely reason to pay closer attention to the quality of service we deliver. Efforts to prepare frontline staff are important, but the development of service skills cannot begin and end with a tourism campaign.

Confidence, communication and good service habits take time to develop. They need to be introduced early, practised regularly and reinforced in the workplace.

Rather than treating customer service training as a one-off activity when visitors are expected, we should see it as a long-term investment in our people.

What can we do?

Colleges: Collaborate with industry professionals to complement classroom teaching with practical service experience, role-play and real workplace scenarios.
Employers: Provide ongoing coaching and opportunities to practise, rather than relying on one-off training sessions.
Young people: Build communication skills, confidence and an understanding of workplace expectations before their first job.

These efforts need to work together. Education provides the foundation, industry brings the experience, and the workplace reinforces what has been learned.

How I can help

If you run a hospitality, tourism or business programme, I’d welcome the opportunity to work alongside your lecturers, not in place of them.

My background is in industry, not formal teacher training. I spent more than 25 years in hospitality across Asia Pacific, working in sales, marketing and training with Sheraton, Starwood, Marriott and Shangri-La.

I also served as General Manager of an eco-resort here in Brunei. I know first-hand what it takes to lead a local team through busy days, difficult guests and the nervous first weeks on the job.

Having trained teams in 36 cities across Asia Pacific, I now also help graduates and young professionals prepare for the workforce. I bring real workplace situations into the classroom, helping students connect what they learn with what they will face on the job.

If this is something your institution would like to explore, please get in touch for a conversation about how I can support your programme.

Great service isn't something people are simply born with. It is learned through guidance, practice and experience.

If we want Brunei to deliver service that visitors remember for the right reasons, we need to start building those skills long before young people step into their first jobs.

The work starts with how we prepare our people, and we have an opportunity to start now.