I stayed at the Marriott Fairfield Inn in Hazelton, PA recently. About 5 days after returning from my trip, I received a hand-addressed Thank You card in the mail from the hotel. A $0.44 gift that certainly made a real impression on me.
The hotel had already won me over with a really good lobby/check-in experience, very clean premises, really nice decor in the hallway leading to the room and a very nice room. All this had already set up the likelihood that I would stay there on a future trip. But, the human touch was an over-the-top gesture that amplified the strong experience and struck a loyalty nerve. I am used to getting robo Thank You e-mail with an attached survey, but the interjection of a human touch made this very different.
Companies are always searching for ways to gain competitive advantage. Here is a good example of a simple service action that did just that.