not actually that far off of the grid...

[themusecalliope]

Hello LJ land.
I must now share with y'all an example of excellent customer service.
Today was koshvader's birthday. This is why I am typing this from our hotel room at Disneyland.
Tonight was supposed to be our romantic dinner at the Napa Rose (the best restaurant at Disneyland...5 stars and all of that).
I made reservations over a month age, and when we arrived on friday the reservations were on our itinerary.
We had even paid ahead for a "Romance Dinner" as part of the romance package that entitled us to dinner at one of the 3 fancy restaurants here.
Fast forward to tonight. We got all dressed up (I really need to get new heels, my current ones are mucho uncomfortable) and went across to the Grand Californian hotel.
(The Napa Rose lives on the bottom floor of this hotel.) We came around the corner and were confronted with a sign which said "private party".
*this can't be right* I thought *I have reservations*. So we went inside and up to the desk. Yep. Private party.
"But we have reservations at 6:30pm. I made them over a month ago, and they were on my itinerary when I arrived on Friday."
koshvader was *very* annoyed at this point, and when the nice lady behind the counter asked if we would like to see the manager he said yes.
So we sat and waited for the manager for about a minute. When he came out we explained our story once more.
koshvader pointed out that he doesn't like unplanned surprises and that the situation was unacceptable.
The manager explained that since the party had been arranged everyone with reservations had been called to tell them about the change.
I had never received the call...and it was koshvader's birthday to boot.
After apologizing for the snafu, the manager discussed the problem with us for a few moments. (as my blood sugar was dropping)
He got us reservations for tomorrow night at the Napa Rose for the same time. (and I'm pretty sure he said that he will pay for it...)
Then he gave us his card, offered us reservations at Granville's Steak House in 10 minutes time, and...offered to drive us over himself.
We accepted with thanks (I told him that my feet in particular thanked him...evil shoes).
He led us out to the front of the hotel and went to get the golf cart. While he was gone I asked koshvader if I might look at the manager's card, as I wanted to know his last name.
(I didn't really feel comfortable just calling him Kirk) Only to discover that Mr. Waters wasn't merely the manager of the Napa Rose, but instead the General Manager of Restaurants.
It also turned out that he is really good at driving golf carts. Talk about door to door service. We arrived at the other restaurant and we were told that we'd be seated in about ten minutes.
We thanked him again for his help and he left, into the restaurant. We were seated soon after (by the manager of that restaurant it turned out), and they took our romance dinner vouchers with a smile.
Right before our dessert course, one of the Sous Chefs even came out to wish koshvader a happy birthday, apologize again for the snafu and offer us a baked alaska for dessert.
We had a chocolate creation and a souffle instead. We had already decided at this point, you see.
Anyway, when Michael brought our copy of the bill (for our records, as it was all covered) we then inquired about how to pay his tip for excellent service.
He said not to worry about it, but we left him a small tip (read: the bit of cash we had on us) anyway.
Wow.
Yep. Disneyland is all about the food...and customer service apparently.

Comments

[greylady.livejournal.com]

I'm so glad to hear that things worked out for you... and I hope that the rest of your trip is as excellent as the service you got last night.

Oh... and Happy Birthday to your husband-person. :)