Now and then, I invite other respected industry professionals to share their frontline experiences with my readers. Recently, a recount of a Ritz Carlton snafu and recovery by consultant and coach to corporate executives, professionals, and independent business owners, Liz Bywater, PhD, caught my attention. Here’s a snippet of her story:

Several weeks ago, I attended a charity event at the Ritz-Carlton in Philadelphia. I drove up to the hotel, handed my car keys to the valet and stepped inside. The event was lovely. I met some new people, caught up with old acquaintances, sampled the hors d’ouevres, paid the valet and drove home.Fast forward to last week. I was sorting my mail when I spied an official looking envelope from the City of Philadelphia. With some curiosity and a bit of trepidation, I opened the envelope only to find a parking ticket in the amount of $101. The date and time of the violation just happened to correspond to my recent visit to the Ritz-Carlton. Naturally, I called the hotel to figure out how this had happened. I explained my situation to the front desk clerk, who then transferred me to the valet, who referred me to his manager, Louis - who happens to reside somewhere in Southern California. I left Louis a voice mail, relaying my story for the third time. In truth, I wasn’t entirely hopeful that he would return my call. I braced myself to start all over again with the hotel and, if necessary, fight this out with the City of Philadelphia.  Much to my surprise, Louis called back. In fact, he called just minutes after I’d left my chagrined voice mail. He was pleasant, respectful, responsive and apologetic. He explained that I never should have received that parking ticket, that indeed I never should have been aware of the problem at all. (As it turns out, the Ritz-Carlton gets these tickets all the time. They simply can’t move the cars off the street fast enough and they end up paying literally thousands of parking tickets, usually without the guests ever being the wiser. Every now and then, however, a ticket - like mine - slips through the cracks.) Louis immediately investigated the problem, ascertained that the ticket had, in fact, been paid, and got back to me within 30 minutes to assure me that all had been taken care of. His phone call literally put a smile on my face.

Here was a clear example of a company representative accepting responsibility, providing excellent customer service and working quickly to correct a problem. I thank Dr. Bywater for sharing her experience. For the full story, visit her ezine article. To learn more about her visit her website.