Hats Off to the Seattle Westin!
Friday, June 27th, 2008
It was nearly a year ago that I first stayed at the Seattle Westin Downtown. While the room itself was lovely my overall stay was disappointing. As we exited the hotel elevator we were greeted by what appeared to be a large pile of dog poo and a big extraction fan. Fortunately it turned out to be a large pile of chocolate covered raisins but nonetheless the pile remained in front of our hotel room for two days before I complained and it was finally removed. We weren’t so lucky with the big extraction fan. That sat outside our door until the day we left.
When I returned home I wrote about my experience and forwarded my entry to the management at the Westin. In return I received a very nice email from the Hotel Manager, Andrea Norton. She wrote:
Ms. Myers
Thank you for sending me the link to your review of our hotel. I was disappointed and embarrassed that we failed you in so many ways.
Please accept my sincere apologies. I have shared all your comments (positive and negative) with the appropriate departments.
I hope you will afford us an opportunity to regain your confidence and patronage. Should your travels bring you back to the Seattle area, please do not hesitate to call me directly so I may personally attend to your reservation and stay.
Be well,
Andrea Norton
Hotel Manager, The Westin Seattle
In a day when customer service seems at an all time low and few companies bother to acknowledge customer complaints, it was refreshing to receive acknowledgment and an apology. Common courtesy goes a very long way in my book.
It was for that very reason that I took Andrea up on her offer and gave the Westin a second chance. Sadly our return to Seattle was due to a death in the family. We decided to end our trip on a happy note by staying downtown and spending a week enjoying our favorite city. In other words, I was entrusting a very important trip to Ms Norton and the staff of the Westin.
Thankfully, our trust was well placed. From the moment of our arrival the staff did their very best to make our stay comfortable and enjoyable. We had a great view the last time we stayed at the Westin but this time the view was magnificent. We opened our curtains to find the Space Needle right in the center of our window with the Olympic peninsula spread out before us. It was breathtaking. Why am I telling you when I can show you?
Our luggage followed quickly behind us along with a cart carrying chocolate covered strawberries, cheese, sliced pears and nuts. We’d mentioned to the desk manager who checked us in that we’d brought a case and a half of wine with us from the Yakima Valley. He thoughtfully sent the tray up to go with our wine.
I was somewhat embarrassed to learn that nearly every staff member I encountered had actually read my last review. One told me, “We’ve made a lot of changes. Your review was a good wake-up call. It’s our goal to have you leave feeling better than when you arrived.”
A couple of days into our stay I received a note from Andrea asking how our stay was going. I told her everything was going great and if I were to complain about anything, and this would be a minor issue, it was that I was unable to make a decent cup of tea in my room. You see, I grew up in England and I drink a good 10 cups of tea a day. In the old days you used to get a small coffee pot that you could run water through and get an ok cup of tea. Not great, mind you, but tolerable. Nowadays they tend to have pod pots. I ran water through the pod at least a dozen times and still bits of coffee were floating in my cup. I gave up.
Andrea kindly had a proper tea kettle delivered to my room. Unfortunately, it didn’t quite work correctly but I greatly appreciated the effort. The next morning I rang downstairs and asked if they could send me another one. When I returned to the room at the end of the day there was a new tea kettle and my message light was blinking. It seems that the hotel didn’t have another tea kettle, so they bought me one.
They bought me a new tea kettle!
I felt rather bad about that so I emailed Andrea and apologized for being such a pain in the tookus. Her reply, “That is how great service should be.”
In fact, that is exactly how great the service was at the Westin.
So, to Andrea, Cameron and the rest of the wonderful staff I’d like to take this opportunity to say Thank You! for exceeding our expectations. Thank You! for caring about the experience of two people all the way from Austin, Tx. We very much look forward to our next stay at the Westin.
When: Saturday, 28/06/08 - All Day
