Working in a service oriented industry means that a guests experience is all they get in exchange for the money they’ve spent. They don’t pay to sleep in a hotel and get to keep the bed, or the towels or the painting on the wall when they leave. They walk out with the same belongings they walked in with (hopefully), except their wallet is a little lighter and the money has been replaced with the memory of the experience they had.

This means that sometimes in our roles we need to wear different hats to ensure our guests have a memorable experience for the right reasons. It’s our opportunity to go above and beyond to show the kind of people we are isn’t limited to the work we do.

One of our team members at Atura Blacktown, NSW got a special mention for the difference they made to a guest stay over the Easter weekend…

“Over the Easter weekend my partner and our 2 children stayed at your hotel. From the moment we walked through the doors we were not disappointed. We were greeted by a super professional staff member who explained the hotel and what you had to offer.

Our room was lovely, the sofa bed was made up and it had everything we needed. It was spotlessly clean. And the toiletries smelt lovely too.

Obviously with 2 children the first stop was the pool, a bit cold for adults, but they had a ball. Then they spotted the table tennis, then the pool table, the giant connect 4, the arcade game, the painting & drawing set up, the computers and the video room playing Disney moves all weekend. It was a child's dream.

Included in our package was breakfast, not exactly what I was expecting. Keeping in mind we got a super deal, $121 a night. So I thought breakfast would have been, cereal, a loaf of bread and some jams and stuff. Not a full buffet breakfast with everything we could have asked or wished for. The staff continued to be lovely, always chatting to the kids and making us feel most welcome.

Easter Sunday rolled around, the Easter Bunny visited our room and the kids were super excited, nearly as excited as I was as we walked out our room to find 2 little baskets of chocolates at our door. What a lovey touch.

I would also like to add, my son lost a front tooth while we were there, we put it on the bench, for the tooth fairy, but the cleaner was so thorough that it disappeared. Anyway the tooth fairy left a note for my son to catch up with the cleaner, the cleaner was lovely and horrified they had taken the tooth, but played along and said the tooth fairy had visited and left this note and money for him. He was thrilled and tells everyone the story of how the cleaner took his tooth to give to the tooth fairy.

I will be staying at your hotel again, we all had a ball, it was just fantastic! The pub up the road and the drive-in next door, what a location. Obviously with two 6 year olds, we visited both the pub, who had free kids meals on Good Friday, and we spent Sunday night at the drive-in. It was a special get away...”

This is a wonderful reminder for all of us that it doesn’t take a big, grand gesture to make a good experience a great one. We should put ourselves in our guests shoes (not literally, please!) and remember to treat others the way we’d like to be treated. Whilst we may be an outsourced provider, this example is a great reminder that we’re all on the same team and every one of us have the power to make a difference.