Customer Service

Well, this has been a busy week. Calgary at the beginning, where we stayed at a beautiful hotel in downtown Calgary with a really nice room and all the amenities. We had a fire alarm in the middle of the night (ironically it was a Fire Chiefs Conference) and the hotel was professional and sent a letter of apology the next morning to every guest. Good customer service.

Then on Wednesday and Thursday I attended another conference in Toronto. This time as a delegate for the Board I serve on. A little strange not to be the one on the podium. Great perspective though as I saw the presentations through the eyes of the audience.

Again this was a four star hotel with many fine facilities. In fact, when you arrive they greet you with a warm chocolate chip cookie. Who would not feel welcome with a warm, gooey, chocolate chip cookie? Check in was fast and efficient, truly a great experience. My thoughts were, "Wow, these folks are good!"

Then I got to my room.

At the end of the long hall, furthest from the elevators, and in the corner of the building. When I tried to enter the room there was no light switch and it being late at night, I was confused as to how I would keep one hand on the door and reach to the desk several feet away to flip on the light. So ever resourceful, I jammed my bag against the door and flipped on the light. That should have been a clue...

When I looked around the room I noticed the bed was VERY low. Hmmm, I will check out the bathroom, not bad, but boy that bed is really low... Now I am 6'2" and 255 pounds, not a small man, and I am thinking, I will die trying to get into and out of that bed.

That's when I noticed, HEY THAT'S A MURPHY BED!!!!

$200 bucks a night for a Murphy bed? I don't think so. My "S" style quickly vanished and out came the "D" in me.  On the phone to the front desk to explain the situation, transferred to another person who tells me the hotel is  fully booked. Not my problem, I politely tell her ("S" starting to creep back), my association paid for a for a full room not a closet. After some further "discussion", I was directed to come back to the lobby to pick up the key to my new room.

The new room was much better and exactly what I had requested.

The welcome cookie was now cold....

The point of all this is, what value did the cookie have? When a staff member lies about the hotel being full and then "finds" a room? How do you feel about the cookie now?

Companies spend millions on gimmicks to welcome guests in the hotel industry, perhaps some additional training on customer service would be in order.

We know of a great company that can help with that!