I came across a post from @Marie Forleo that asked: “Have you ever had such a mind-blowing customer experience with a company that you couldn’t help but tell everyone about it?” The timing of this couldn’t have been more perfect because I had one of those, as Marie says “OH HELL YES”, kind of moments at a luxury hotel in DC recently. I left feeling so moved by a small act of kindness that I had to share it with you guys.

Meet Zelekash and Isaac. These two were part of the reason my experience was EVERYTHING! If this is any indication of what 30 is going to be like, I’m here for all of it.

 

This year for my 30th, I decided to celebrate my birthday in two cities: NYC and DC. I rang in my birthday with some friends in NYC and ended it with a few friends in DC on Sunday evening. Before I left DC on Monday, I was CRAVING breakfast food. I wanted it so bad. I spotted this place called the Westend Bistro which was across the street from the hotel I was staying in and decided to check it out. I had never been there but from the window, it looked like a cool place.

 

So I left my hotel and ran across the street. When I arrived, I noticed the breakfast hours on the door and it said they were still serving breakfast. Obviously, this made me very happy! I go in and it looked like breakfast was over.

The woman at the front desk, Zelekash, greets me at the door and hands me a lunch a menu. I was so confused so I asked her, “are you guys still serving breakfast?” She said, “No, breakfast ended about an hour ago.” Then I said, “The hours on the door indicate it’s still breakfast.” And she informed me “breakfast is later on the weekends, but during the week it’s over earlier.”

That’s when I realized I must have been still on high from the weekend because I thought it was still the weekend and clearly it wasn’t.  

With the look of devastation all over my face, I asked her if she knew of another place nearby because at this point I needed to be leaving soon to head back home. And she said wait maybe we can do something.

She tells me to follow her and proceeds to walk me through a corridor to an adjoining lounge, which I later find out is the Quadrant Bar & Lounge in the Ritz Carlton. I came into the restaurant from the street entrance so I had no idea it was part of the Ritz Carlton nor did I realize the Ritz Carlton was on the same block as my hotel.

She sits me down in the lounge and hands me the breakfast menu and a glass of water with lime and says “I’m going to double check with my manager to see if it’s possible to do breakfast.” She also reiterated that she wasn’t sure that it was possible since they had switched everything over to lunch, but she would double check and someone would be over soon to help me.

A few minutes later this tall nice man, Isaac, comes over and says “how can I help you?” I mentioned to him that I was wanting breakfast but I didn’t realize they were no longer serving breakfast. He says “yeah, breakfast was over a while ago and we’re only serving lunch now. But let me go check and see if they will do it.” I told him what I wanted just in case it all worked out.

Several minutes later he comes back and says “they’ll do it!” Guys, my face must have lit up like a Christmas tree because he started laughing and I did too when I heard the good news. I ended up ordering scrambled eggs with roasted potatoes, veggies, and toast. It was the best breakfast I’d had in a while. I’m picky about my eggs, but they were cooked to perfection and the potatoes were good too.

I walked away yesterday feeling so moved by that small act of kindness. I wasn’t even a guest at the hotel but yet they were handling the situation like they were preparing my last meal. I love sharing good customer service stories like this.

Marie Forleo mentioned in her post, “no matter what business you’re in, caring is the most powerful #marketing strategy there is.” It’s so true! I do my best to provide the same level of service/value for you guys with my blog. I hope that you walk away feeling the way I did after reading/engaging with my posts.

Yesterday, I re-posted a video on my Instagram stories that said ‘the key to success in life is people.” That statement could not be truer.

Have you ever had an amazing customer service experience? I’d love to hear about it in the comments below.

-Ebonee xo