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| - There we were, sitting in the lobby of the Park Hyatt, drained after a late flight into Toronto. Moments ago we were told that the hotel has been fully booked up for the night and we would be banished to the Hyatt Regency across the town. I was seriously contemplating leaving a 1 star review, grumpy as I was.
The typical gestures followed: refunded points, comped night, free taxis to and back from the other hotel. For some reason though it just didn't feel right that night, as if we were engaged in a bartering transaction. I get that a mistake has been made and they are doing the best they can to rectify it, but with a fully loaded weekend schedule and severe sleep deprivation all we wanted was a bed to jump on - it was a rather big disappointment from an organization the caliber of Park Hyatt.
Thankfully my resentment hit plateau at that point and the experience swung up afterwards. We were greeted with many apologies at the Hyatt Regency and put up at the Director's Room for the night - it was a modern, clean and minimalist room that suited our needs for the night. the next day upon return to the Park Hyatt we were met with apologies and were offered an upgrade to a junior suite, with a bottle of wine and a cheese platter as well. The staff really seemed sincere in their apologies and that made a big difference: the Park Hyatt stopped being a market for bartering and became a place of hospitality in my heart again.
The bottom line for me is this: in the day and age where we have driverless cars and 3D printers, it is a bit shocking to encounter issues with overbooking at the corporate level, but the folks on the ground are really doing some great heavy-lifting to make the customer experience as good as possible in a bad situation.
I thank the staff and managers at the Park Hyatt for salvaging this experience for me, and hope this serves as a cautionary tale to Hyatt as a corporation to be more aware that the customer's experience starts from the moment they book the hotel - make sure they get what they are expecting the moment they walk through the door.
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