Last year I had a wonderful two week holiday to Mauritius where we stayed at the Westin Hotel, which is owned by Marriott.
The service was exceptional and all the staff were all amazing. It doesn’t matter what their role was, every one was polite, respectful and keen to know we were having a good holiday.
There were a few who also went the extra mile – Kevin the pool guy for one.
After only a few days he knew our room numbers, our favourite drinks and nothing was too much trouble. My daughter mentioned in passing she really liked the glass water bottles in the restaurant. 3 days later there is a knock at our door and it is Kevin with a bottle for her. Also on the last day our ‘all inclusive drinks package’ ran out at 2pm, but we were not departing until 6pm. Kevin told us not to worry and kept bringing us rum all afternoon. Right up to departure he kept asking “What more can I do for you?”.
I would like to think part of the reason he was so helpful was because we were also polite and respectful. Always smiled at the staff and said ‘please’ and ‘thank you’. (Unlike some guests who were at times downright rude!).
We also built a rapport with them. This was helped by the name badges that all staff wore, and underneath their name it said ‘My passion is……’. This is such a really simple but fantastically effective way to start up dialogue. As a people person I am fascinated by others’ stories and this allowed me to open up conversation by asking them about their passions.
Kevin’s passion was basketball and we found out he played for his national team, and trained on Sunday mornings. Through this we learnt about his family, girlfriend, and dreams for the future. Other badges showed passions including football (cue many discussion between hubby and waiters); travel; their family.
So, thank you Westin hotels for the name badges and for letting me get to know your wonderful staff. And thank you to them for their amazing customer service. I am now a passionate advocate for your brand.