service

Five Ways to Protect Yourself From a Poor Luxury Experience

I'm sure you'd love to believe that your concerns are being heard. At an airport, restaurant, hotel or any other place where you're parting with your hard-earned cash, you expect a certain level of service. When you don't get it, you expect management to give a damn. Shocking, I know, but sometimes even this second part doesn't happen.

Gone are the days when even the risk of a customer complaint struck horror in the eyes of a hospitality manager. Close to a decade ago, I emailed a gripe to Kelly's Roast Beef in Massachusetts. Within 24 hours, I had a call from the manager who as horrified, embarrassed and eager to make things right. I didn't care about the free meal offer – in fact, I turned it down twice before giving in – it was the attitude that made the difference. He was genuinely upset that he was losing a single customer, and the prospect of that didn't sit well with him. Now, so many years later, this remains my go-to story about customer service perfection.

Today, that seems to be gone – or at least scarcer. For some restaurants and other hospitality companies, even in the luxury space, it's the belief that a certain amount customer churn is to be expected. Or that brand is irrelevant. Or that intermediaries (such as online booking sites) have made price the motivator, obviating the need for a commitment to customer service excellence. In a recent case for me, at The Mercer Kitchen, in the Mercer Hotel, it was clear that brand was the problem – namely that a cool, upscale spot didn't need to worry about customer satisfaction.

Using this experience, let's take a look at five things you should be wary of when expressing your concerns to a hospitality manager; they indicate that your complaint isn't being handled properly:

Tags: customer satisfaction, customer service, hotel, hotels, manhattan, mercer hotel, new york, new york city, restaurants, service, soho

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How Far Will a 5 Star Hotel Go to Keep a Guest Happy?

by Rigel Celeste (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Travel & Hotels, Services

Five star hotels don't get that rating simply by having the highest thread count sheets and gourmet room service meals, they will bend over backwards (literally if need be) to keep their guests happy. So that begs the question: how far will they actually go for a client?

It might surprise you. From sending staff to get iPhone training at a local apple store (so they can help a guest learn to work hers) to last minute damage control and orchestration of a wedding proposal involving a hot air balloon, they really will do it all. Read about more crazy stories here, and if you have any of your own please share!

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Tags: 5 star, 5Star, concierge, concierges, five star, FiveStar, hotel, hotels, service, star, stars

Merri Mail

by Nicole Weston (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Services

We really liked the idea of getting mystery, luxury gifts in the mail and Merri Mail is another service that allows you to pamper yourself this way, though their program is more cute/fun than luxurious. The program consists of a gift and a creative living newsletter/magazine, both of which ship four times per year. Each issue revolves around a central theme - Creativity, Body, Social, Exploring, Indoors and Outdoors - and provides numerous ways to actually use the gift in your home and in conjunction with the ideas. For example, the salt and pepper set come with ideas for how to, subtly, plan a dinner party around them. A four issue subscription is $88.

[via design*sponge]

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Tags: gift, gifts, mail, merri, merri mail, MerriMail, service

DirecTV Titanium

by Nicole Weston (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Gadgets, Services

Our friends at HD Beat brought this brand new service from DirecTV to our attention. DirecTV Titanium gives you access to every single thing that DirecTV offers - including all their HD channels, sporting events, movies, pay-per-views and adult programs - for a flat fee. It is $7,500 per year and includes ten HD DVR receivers as well as 24 hour on-call concierge service.

The website doesn't say what the concierge service includes, but it's safe to say that it probably doesn't extend too far beyond troubleshooting, given that DirecTV isn't likely to start a chauffeuring service anytime soon.

Titanium will be released at the end of this month, June 28th, to "a select few" subscribers. Want to be one of them? Just fill out their online form and someone will contact you.

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Tags: directv, gadget, service, television, tv

Whatever/Whenever at W Hotels

by Nicole Weston (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Travel & Hotels, Services

Beginning this week, W Hotels is relaunching its Whatever/Whenever campaign. The hotels will offer five brand new services in addition to the existing "Whatever/Whenever" button on hotel phones that would allow a guest to make a request easily. The new services are:

Text messaging, which the hotels will use to alert guests when their rooms are ready, a package has arrived, etc. Guests can also text reservations and other requests to the hotel, which will pay for all W-related texts on guests' phone bills.

Wake up call options including inspirational messages and calls to cell phones, rather than room phones

A pillow menu, with three different pillow types for optimum comfort

Door-to-door package and luggage delivery, so guests don't have to travel with their bags in airports or anywhere else

Take-along prepared meals, specifically for guests who will be flying, since so many airlines have eliminated meal service. They will also print boarding passes and supply their own small version of an in-flight magazine for entertainment.

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Tags: hotel, hotels, luxury, service, services, w, w hotel, whatever/whenever