Originally Posted by
Flying Lawyer
If you were correct you would believe that there is one global harmonized economy.
But it isn't.
American automakers built their factories in Detroit to have parts manufactured in cheaper Canada. This does not work too well nowadays, now they moved plenty of it to Mtexico. My (global) law firm has shifted typing and accounting services to economies with cheaper labour than the US, US tourists go to Mexico not because they fancy Spanish so much but because you get more for the buck.
The workers in the US do not work three times harder than the workers in Thailand, because the workers in Thailand might get 10 percent of the US wages, but their (local) cost of living is a fraction of the cost of living in the US. A snack on the road in Bangkok costs me two THB, close to nothing in my world. For a Thai worker this is money.
My opinions still disagree with your point of view. Your argument is that
"It is easy to provide great service in countries where wages in hotel industry are a fraction (even) of North American standards" and then you qualify this by saying it could be because of their respective cost of living is a fraction of what it is in the US.
I understand companies send work to other countries where labour or the cost of producing a good can be financially advantageous than that of their own country, but have you considered maybe a bigger factor comes down to their own culture, attitude, enthusiasm, values & work ethic. Thailand for example, is all about hospitality and they know the tourism dollar is vital for their economy. So thus, alot of them realise its importance and focus on the service side. You can also mirror this with Japan, where their culture and attitude is all about providing good service. I have never experienced poor service anywhere in Japan.
Contrast this with the US, where some workers think as if
I owe them something, or if
I should be thankful for staying there, or dining in their restaurant. Just because some in this hospitality field get paid peanuts (comparable to cost of living), doesn't mean they should treat their guests with lack of service etc.