Southern Hospitality

Evening y'all,

During the past year I have had the opportunity to visit both Dallas and Nashville. For some folks, that's not south but for me here in the northeast....it's south! What both of these places have in common is that they both have Gaylord Hotels. Before I went on that first trip, I had never heard of a Gaylord hotel. After my Texas trip last summer, I had thought the Gaylord Texan in Dallas was huge, until last week when I stayed at the Gaylord Opryland Hotel.

The Gaylord Texan and Gaylord Opryland Hotels....Very, Very Impressive.

What impressed me more than the actual physical appearance of the hotels were the staff's attention to detail. Last week at the Opryland Hotel, it started at the front desk when I checked in. I was given 2 room keys - why...just in case 1 didn't work! It was a hike from the front desk back to the section of the hotel where my room was. (If I had 1 key, and it didn't work - which does happen, I guarantee after traveling for 7 hours and at 11:00 pm at night I would have been very, very cranky!) When I arrived at my room, the temperature was perfect, and there was soft music playing. On my way to my room, I was approached by no less than 3 hotel employees (at 11:00 at night!) offering assistance and was engaged in conversation by an employee on the elevator who welcomed me to the hotel, knew of the conference I was attending and offered some tips on getting the most of my stay.

I was only at the hotel for 2 nights but the experience definately exceeded my expectations. From one staff member who personally walked me from the lobby to the courtesy shuttle to a bar tender who asked the chef to make me a dinner to go at 10:30 in the evening (the kitchen closed at 10 but the chef was still there) - everyone took a personal interest in the experience of the hotel guest - in this case...me!

I had similar experiences at the Gaylord Texan in Dallas.

It's the little things and the folks at Gaylord get it...

G2

Getting Started!

Welcome...

I'm new to blogging.... but I am passionate, (no, I'm a fanatic) about customer experience - both as a customer as well as a business professional. So why am I doing this?? Hopefully to share my experiences, ideas, and who knows, it just might be interesting!

There are things that piss me off, some may be petty, but I feel like the little things often make the difference. But there are also alot of folks who do it right, and when that happens, it is really, really cool.

Feel free to comment.

G2