Marriott Made it Right

It is always a pleasure to receive good customer service from someone, either on the phone, or in person. But it is truly exceptional when you receive customer service that you will probably remember for the rest of your life. That is what happened to my wife and I on a recent, and unexpected stay at our local Marriott Hotel.

In Colorado Springs, CO we have had a truly rare winter season. We have had two "storms of the century" back to back in the course of two weeks. During the sudden onset of the second storm I had to pick up my wife from work, and after I picked her up decided that driving was not the best option. Snow and forty mile per hour winds left us trying to figure out where to go. Marriott Hotel was right across the street.

As we approached the front counter I expected that getting a room last minute, in a snowstorm, would cause more than a little bit of financial pain. To my surprise the very pleasant and informative front desk clerk gave us a very nice fireside suite, and for a very reasonable price. The room was furnished modestly and was very appropriate. I was surprised as well that all rooms in the Marriott were non-smoking rooms.

While we were sleeping we were woken up by fire alarms going off all over the building. We go dressed, went outside in the middle of sub zero weather and high winds while the fire department figured out what happened. It was a false alarm, but no one at the hotel was very thrilled with the idea of having to stand outside in the cold for very long. We went back to bed and had the rest of our night go off without a hitch.

The next morning we went for continental breakfast, and we found that the breakfast was not the standard carbohydrate overloaded fair. We had bacon and eggs, several types of juice, pancakes and several cereals to choose from, and that was just what I saw. I was very pleasantly surprised. We ate a nice meal and decided that it was time to do battle with the roads and go home. Unfortunately, the roads were still not passable out of the area that we were in.