Hotels Can Create Uncommon Experiences
When it comes to thinking about the best hotels the names that typically come to mind are "The Mandarin Oriental"; "The Ritz-Carlton", "The Four Seasons" – just to name a few. But, we would now like to add one to the list. Which one? The Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood Florida. Yes, we did say the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood Florida – and believe me the experience was quite extraordinary.
The experience started with loud music and the glare of neon lights and rather obnoxious casino chrome and glass. Not your average experience or conference venue, but after the initial few minutes everything changed. How? I was “wowed” by service.
As I got settled in my room – I noticed that there wasn’t an obvious Internet connection. So, I called the front desk to find out how to get connected. Within two minutes, someone knocked on my door with an Internet cable. He didn’t just hand it to me – he stayed to make sure that it was working before he left. Two minutes later – the phone rang. It was Natalie, from the front desk, just making sure I had received the Internet cable and that it was working to my satisfaction. Wow!
After sitting with my laptop for a while I started to find the chair uncomfortable. I decided to see, if the front desk could find me a chair that was a “little more comfortable”. Within, minutes there was a knock on my door and a new chair arrived. Great! I then received another “check-in” call from the front desk to make sure that I was happy with the chair. They also let me know that they had other chairs, if this one wasn’t quite right. At this point I was looking to see what else was possible. I had bought a tall bottle of water that didn’t fit in my mini-bar, so figuring this would be outlandish called the front desk to ask for a fridge that would accommodate my favorite water. It appeared in no time again, and then the front desk called to see if I had been taken care of.This was all pretty impressive on its own –responsiveness is a common stumbling block for many businesses – but a few more things sealed the deal for me.- Every employee greeted me, smiled at me – with a genuine “I like to work here” smile – every time.
- Attention to details - when I ordered dinner to my room on the last night the gentlemen who came to the door took his time to set up a lovely table for me – taking time to place the table cloth, my cutlery and napkin beautifully and a small flower just perfectly.Making it personal – I was offered extra chocolates, by the chambermaid who noticed I was working and suggested that “I might need the extra boost”!
While these are all little things – they all contributed to an extraordinary experience!