Posted 9:39 p.m. by Jim Courtney

Alec Saunders tonight has written about his experience while checking into the Toronto Sheraton Centre Hotel for his attendance at the upcoming Voice over Net Canada conference. With an allergy to smoke, I guess I will not be using Sheraton (or any of the Starwood) hotels as a preferred choice.

Simon Cooper, a senior executive at Marriott, and a graduate of the same Executive MBA program I took twenty-one years ago, said his biggest fear as a hospitality industry executive was that his lowest paid employees were the ones in constant contact with the customer. I can say I have seen several instances, in hotel chains he managed (Delta and later Marriott) where these employees were empowered to do spontaneously whatever it took (within reason) to satifsy the customer. The most recent example is outlined in my post about the vandalisim inflicted on my new Volvo S60 three weeks ago where the staff at a nearby Courtyard Marriott assisted me in several ways with no questions asked. There is a reason Courtyard Marriott tends to be my preferred hotel chain.