I have not been as active online as I usually am for the past few days for the following two reasons I am very grateful for
1. Lots of New Opportunities
2. And I took two relaxing days at the @sanjuanmarriott.
A few days ago I wrote a post on how I really think our Puerto Rico Tourism industry (How does Puerto Rico Grade in Customer Service?).
Last year during December the @sanjuanmarriott ran a contest via twitter which via my @twitpuerto (Spanish based blog on how to use twitter ) account I won a 3 night and 2 day stay.
On my last post I decided to use my stay as an experiment to gauge how well is Puerto Rico doing in Customer Service from a tourism perspective as an insider acting as a tourist for a weekend.
I have had terrible experiences at the Ponce Hilton in Ponce and other tourism related business which I will mention in other posts.
We arrived at the @sanjuanmarriott and our check in was pretty hassle free. A few tourists who where trying to BS the check-in counter representative where making ruckus to get an ocean view (First Picture). I really admired how the person at the counter acted at the ridiculous requests these Frugal guests (I will call them frugal so I don’t have to use other words i would prefer) decided they did not want to pay for an upgrade but acting nasty with the person at the counter they where going to get one for free.
Once we got into our room to my surprise we got a room with an ocean view. Which made the stay even more Amazing (who doesn’t like looking out to the Ocean).
We went for dinner at our favorite Indian & Thai Restaurant (on the island) a few steps away from the @sanjuanmarriott.
We returned from having a great Indian dinner and when I am about to hit the shower we got a knock at the door from room service. I had not ordered Room Service but the hotel Management very kindly had sent us a very special gift including some wine, delicious crackers, awesome cheese, fresh fruit, and a some other Swag like post it notes.
The hotel staff member who brought the gift quickly realized that @lucymfel is expecting so he offered us other non-alcoholic refreshments ( a very thoughtful gesture by him and even a quicker response on his behalf).
The next day I went to a very unattractive conference at the Local ISACA Chapter which I have decided not to return again. I will leave that for a future post (just as a preview it was such a waste of money and time I could not even recover the money spent on @starbucks coffee to stay awake “NO Return on Investment”).
We also visited the hotel bar near the pool side where the staff greeted and treated us like family. Our last visit and stay at the @sanjuanmarriott was in August 2010 but the bartenders Leo and Carlos quickly recognized us. We had great service at the pool bar by them and another female bartender which her name I can’t recall.
After this experience I really understood this post “The Social and the Media” by @thebrandbuilder published September regarding a similar experience.
In conclusion I have to give the @sanjuanmarriott an A+ plus at being social.
Disclosure: We had one room at the San Juan Marriott @sanjuanmarriott. Our room was free as part of a winning a competition that the San Juan Marriott Resort held last. Even though our room was free (based on winning a contest open to the general public), we don’t feel that this influenced the writing of this article in any way.
I also want you to read @coqui2008’s post on his stay at the @sanjuanmarriott his blog is also a great resource for discovering Puerto Rico (he also helped me out with writing the previous disclosure). Fun in the Sun at the San Juan Marriott
What other hotels, restaurants, or other entities get an A+ in being social on your list?
For those of you who feel like giving a little during the Holiday Season I highly recommend you to donate to the @serpuertorico charity by visiting http://bit.ly/serDePR.
If you need more details on the cause visit my previous blog post.