I’m a bit of a cuff link junkie. Not sure when that addiction started but it has. Anyway, a while back I lost a container full of my favourite cufflinks, I assume I left them in a hotel room. In that period I had stayed at 14 different hotels around the country, so I started the task of contacting them all to see if they had been found. Sadly they hadn’t. But a few days back I received this package from the lovely folks at the Novotel on Collins in Melbourne, with a card that basically said “We’re sorry we didn’t have your cuff links, but here is a small gift to help you start to rebuild your collection”. Seriously?
Yes, I stay at this hotel quite a lot, and the staff there, particularly the guest relations superwoman – Franzi, are very good, but how wild is this? There are a million other things that they do all the time, but this blew me away as an extraordinary example of going above and beyond the call of duty in a very human way.
So I’m reaching out to say thank you to the Novotel team. As a business writer and presenter, this is a story I will be sharing with hundreds of thousands of people in coming years. Very few businesses do “extraordinary” well. It is always the little things that make the biggest impact. An act of kindness, a remembered name, a big smile, something little and extra – that’s extraordinary these days. Customers are won and lost on the little things.
Thank you Franzi.
Andrew
What a great story to start the day. Hope for humanity when one walks the talk. Will share.
Thanks Char. Yeah, I think it is about taking enormous pride in what you do. I so love it when I see people standing tall. Hope you are well Char – Andrew
Hi Andrew, I was working at the Novotel on Collins and wholeheartedly agree with you. Franzi is one of the kind. This lady takes pride in her job and is always positive and genuinely caring person. It was a great pleasure to work with her. Thank you for your article.
Hello Natalya – thanks for the comment – amazing how much impact one person can have on a business. I’ve staying at the Novotel on Collins for well over 20 years – and it has certainly had its ups and downs. I stopped staying there for many years, because of poor service. But over the past few years it really has turned around and whilst I think a lot of that has to come from the top down, it shows the power of key people like Franzi to influence customer satisfaction and engagement. I really do appreciate you dropping by and adding your thoughts. Cheers – Andrew