So my new friends in the hotel business...
 

On my last trip to Jersey City, staying at a national chain, the Food and Beverage manager overheard me stating to the bar tender that I would likely be staying on their property every other week for the next year. He made an introduction and gave me his business card and said if there is anything we can do...

Fast forward to today, I reached out to him and indicated the client had green-lighted the travel expenses and that I would be there again this Sunday. Manager taking some days off for his birthday, but we will be able to reconnect while I'm there. I mentioned that I eat there nearly every night, but the choice of New York Strip as the only steak item would get old. I inquired about the possibility of ordering off-menu cuts of steak and other items, and not only has he indicated that this would be possible, he has included the head chef in the email chain and instructed "Jim" to take care of me.

I LOVE quid pro quo. The client I work for will be spending about $5,000 a month for my travel budget, and this hotel will receive a large chunk of that. For them to be flexible and willing to accommodate my "needs" is quite nice.

I purposely kept brands out of the thread. Just nice to see a property that truly knows how to go the extra mile for customer service. Oh....and it's quite likely I will be buying 2 large format monitors that I can connect to my notebook when I'm there, only to be stored by the hotel when I'm gone. :hurray:

Not all service providers understand that a little extra "bending" can greatly benefit all involved. They keep you as a customer and they get a nice chunk of the travel allotment. If they do their job well ( which I would expect ), you will be telling other folks who do similar stays that "brand X" took good care of you.

An added bonus is the chef gets to use you as a "guinea pig" for different possible menu items too.

I understand that money talks....but when dealing with national chains, that doesn't always mean anything. This property embraces that. I even felt it when I was there all last week. Just that extra notch above every other hotel I stay at. They landed a whale because they did everything right. :yesnod: Good for them and great for me.

Something I've learned a long time ago is if the grocery store doesn't stock an item or brand that I prefer, I ask them to. They almost always do it. It surprised me at first, but if you talk to the person responsible for the ordering in that department, they are usually very cooperative. Big or small stores.

I'm still trying to score a regular source for a 12-pack case of Heineken 24 oz cans. That's the only way it's sold (to the stores) and it's only sold to the consumers as a single. I pay a premium for these large cans cuz I like beer and it's my favorite beer, and I'm and extremely large individual. I like having "Datawiz-sized" beers when I drink beer. Would be nice to get it at a discount, or go directly to the source. :datawiz:

I would imagine that's a shelf-space issue. I know a Budweiser merchandiser and he says it's a constant battle for shelf space. Twelve packs of big cans are going to take up a lot of space. Try and find out when the merchandiser is there and talk to him about it. See what he says. They (the distributor) may have some reason they don't want it sold that way, or maybe he could tell you where there is a store that will.

Heh heh, he said whale....

The US financial industry is now based in Jersey City, the top banks in the US are now based there in some shape or form, each have conference centers in their buildings, and each one spend your monthly travel budget in 1 night just on the bar bill at those major hotels :) Also, the NFL visiting teams stay in JC when playing the Giants and Jets.

You're far from a whale in any of those hotels, he was just being nice. Which I think is a lot more telling of a story than the $. Good guys with good customer service skills are hard to find.

There's a BJ's in JC, south of the mall, a Target north of the mall, and there's a "drive through" liquor/beer distributor just north of the mall Finding alcohol in JC is a breeze. http://www.hbso.com/

Also, Hoboken is 1 town north and NYC is across the river 2 quick stops on the PATH ($2.50 each way), there's no reason to eat dinner in the hotel every night, you've got the best restaurants in the world in NYC and Hoboken.

Good to hear Craig.:cert:

We gotta catch up for a few cold ones sometime soon. JC is a fat hour from my house and I used to work in the next town over. (Secaucus)
Scott