The Personal Touch
Today is Mardi Gras in New Orleans or as they say everywhere else, “Fat Tuesday.” In honor of the creole holiday, I’m giving away “What’s Your Purple Goldfish?” Click here to pick up your copy of the eBook. Don’t worry if you don’t have a Kindle. Download the Kindle Cloud Reader and view on your computer, smart phone or tablet.
Now, let’s travel to the Great White North:
Purple Goldfish #1059 – Westin Ottawa
This story was submitted by a friend in Raleigh, NC:
Many years ago, I worked on contract with an international company headquartered in Ottawa, Ontario. As I was providing leadership development training, I had many opportunities to travel there on business. My favorite hotel in Ottawa is the Westin. Not only is the service great, but it is also attached to a shopping mall, so during very cold months I could go there without ever going outside! One of the things I love about the Westin in Ottawa is their wake up call service. I have stayed in many hotels and when I ask for a wakeup call, I have gotten recordings as well as dead air on the line when you pick up the receiver. Not at the Westin! The wakeup call is given by an actual person who addresses you by name. A typical wakeup call would sound like this… “Good morning, Mrs. Smith. This is your wakeup call. The current time is 6:00am and the temperature is 25 degrees Celsius. Have a nice day!” I have always loved this very personal wakeup call… except for one thing. I am from the US, so I don’t “speak” Celsius and I was never quite sure if it was warm or cold! Where I come from, 25 degrees sounds pretty cold!
One day when I returned to my room after a long day of work, I noticed that they had slipped a customer survey under my door. The cover letter stated that they were seeking my sincere feedback. They realized that the survey was quite long, but if I was willing to complete it and bring it down to the front desk, they would pay me $5.00. So I called room service and settled down with my survey and a pen! I diligently answered their questions to the best of my ability. The service was always good, so it was not hard for me to find things to compliment. Then, on one of the questions, they asked if there was anything they could improve and I wrote – “I love your wakeup calls, but I am from the US and don’t understand the Celsius thermometer. It would be great if you could tell me the temperature in Fahrenheit!” Then I took the survey down to the desk and collected my $5.00. I was not surprised the next morning when they had not implemented my request, as I felt sure they had not had time to read all of the surveys. I checked out that morning.
It was about 3 months before I had the opportunity to return to the Westin in Ottawa and, truthfully, I had forgotten my request at that point. The next morning I received my usual wakeup call. He said – “”Good morning, Mrs. Smith. This is your wakeup call. The current time is 6:00am and the temperature is 23 degrees Celsius, which is 76 degrees Fahrenheit. Have a nice day!” I was so surprised that I sat bolt upright in the bed. Over the years, I have had many opportunities to travel to the Westin. Each and every time I do, they remember to translate the temperature into something this US visitor can understand!”
Today’s Lagniappe (a little something extra thrown in for good measure) – Having lived in both Australia and Holland, I learned shorthand for converting Celsius to Fahrenheit. Here it is:
Celsius x 2 + 30 = Fahrenheit
Don’t forget to download your free eBook. Only available on 2/19 and 2/20, get your copy of WYPG? by clicking here.
