So, I’m stuck in the third circle of hell (also known as Dallas-Fort Worth Airport), due to weather delays, along with 10,000 of my closest sweaty angry friends. 11 pm, no flights, no cabs, no hotels. Trying to get to Austin. Grr.
I call the Marriott service line. They do everything right.
- They find me a hotel room in Dallas.
- They waive the cancellation fee for my room in Austin (where I was supposed to be). Any other chain would have stuck me with the cancellation fee and charged me for the new room. And the new room was cheaper.
I share a cab with to the hotel with another strandee (a total stranger). We get to the Marriott Courtyard Dallas NW Hwy. at Stemmons/I-35E. It’s midnight.
- They give her a room at my corporate rate, with no reservation.
- They give us toothpaste, etc.
- They arrange cabs rides to the airport in the AM.
- Then Kim, the night desk clerk — GOES AND FINDS US COOKIES. I’m pretty sure that they were from her personal lunch.
Someone at Marriott, please give Kim a raise or a few days of paid vacation.
Most hotel chains would have stuck me with the cancellation fee, made me may some ripoff last-minute rate, would have stuck my fellow traveler with a worse rate, and generally given us a hard time.
The Lesson: Extraordinary service get extraordinary word of mouth. But all my experience with Marriott tells me that extraordinary service is an everyday thing.