Seeing as that I started my career in the customer service industry as a seasonal GAP sales associate, I think I have a pretty good handle on excellent customer service, and what that should look like. I can still remember to this day what GAP looked at as an excellent service provider; they were friendly, helpful, knowledgeable, and quick. The fact that I remember this further proves that GAP Inc. really does have its own sub-culture. Anyways, this past May, I experienced my first Hilton Garden Inn. The HGI is definitely the GAP of the hotel industry... Or so I thought.
The first HGI that we stayed at was in Milpitas, CA. I was impressed. Good room size, excellent restaurant, great location, and wonderful front desk people. The next HGI that we stayed at was in Napa, CA. First of all, it's in beautiful wine country, so it already gets one gold star. When it came to accommodations, it was practically identical to that of the Milpitas location. I loved that. In between, we had stayed at what we thought was going to be an "Old Navy" type of hotel, but ended up being more like a "Value Village." So, the consistency of the HGI provided me with a great sense of comfort.
Fast forwarding to October... We had been staying at multiple Extended Stay locations. The first one was awesome. The second one, not so much. Since we were staying up in the Sacramento area for a second night, Aaron decided to book ourselves and J, a room at the HGI in Elk Grove, Ca. Mind you, this is the same one that thought I was a crazy girl. However, I love the consistency of the HGI, and therefore, would admit that I may have seemed a little crazy the night prior, and appreciate that the front desk person was merely taking precautions for the guests. After two nights with a lack of, or interrupted sleep, I now blame the front desk person for not knowing how to execute his job properly.
I know that for most people, 11:00pm really isn't all that late. But when you get up for work at 3:30am most mornings, and just got done working a 16 hour day, 11:00pm is quite late. In fact, 11:00pm is a time in which I had already been sleeping for almost two hours, and was in my REM cycle.
Since we weren't originally staying at the Elk Grove HGI for two consecutive nights, the night shift person whom we had dealt with the night previously, thought it important to call our room at 11:00pm to make sure that we were actually staying there. Once we didn't answer the phone, they sent up the bus boy to make sure that we were in our room. Seriously? All I could think, was that something must be super important if they wanted to get a hold of us that badly, so I had Aaron call back down to the front desk. The front desk person's reason for trying so hard to get a hold of us was that he wanted to make sure no one was abusing our credit card, and booking a night on it that wasn't actually us. This was a very kind gesture on his part, but couldn't it have waited until the morning!?! I was thinking this out of my grumpy, sleep deprived mind. But really.
I still love the consistency of the Hilton Garden Inn. I love that they have sleep number mattresses you can adjust on either side. I love that they make some pretty yummy breakfast crepes. I love that they have decent sized flat screen TVs, and Neutrogena bathroom products. But when it comes to customer service, sometimes the best people to hire are not the ones with the hotel management degree, but they are the ones with a good head on their shoulders, and a little common sense. I'm just saying.
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