What is it about people coming to bat at the last minute?
I mean, really, what is it?
Well to be honest with you, I have no idea.
What I do have a pretty good idea about, though, is that the Granville Island Hotel (at Granville Island) seems to have a couple of staff members that have a way about stepping up to the proverbial plate and the proverbial last minute and at least, hitting a double.
After stumbling into Laurie from the Granville Island Hotel’s ‘Dockside Restaurant last summer, I sure got an appreciation for how service is sometimes best dispensed – by pointing potential customers in the direction of where to get it (even if it means excluding your current establishment)! I won’t soon forget that little nugget of good faith.
Cut to the past month or so – trying to make wedding rehearsal dinner arrangements (yes, I’m getting married in the Fall – didn’t I already tell you about cookworks and the photographer with ninja-like precision otherwise called jamie delaine?) – and I’ll paint a little picture for you. Don’t worry, I’ll to the proverbial step up to the plate analogy soon.
- Lunch bag let-down: After two encounters with us as a couple, one with my fiancee alone, and through the exchange of emails which promised a suggested dinner menu and a penthouse booking confirmation statement (both of which were never attached to the emails sent from the Granville Island Hotel), this particular Granville Island Hotel manager type/staff member did nothing to give us the impression that she remembered our unique situation, who we were, or that she was keenly interested in bringing our business in – ouch
- Try, try again: I thought that our emails, personal encounters, and perhaps the odd phone call explaining the fact that: 1) we were getting married nearby; and 2) we’d like to host our rehearsal dinner and house our out-of-town guests nearby (read: the Granville Island Hotel) would jog her memory – scratch that
And the true test when we popped in not too long ago – it honestly took about 30 seconds or more to explain who we were (and I’m talking ‘Hi…my name is Darren…you were supposed to be pulling together a quote for us…we met a week or so ago…you’ve been chatting with my fiancee…) – nothing then, nothing since, nothing now
Disappointed doesn’t even begin to explain it…
While it may be a day late and a dollar short (ish), and like Laurie’s last minute approach last summer, Joe, the Granville Island Hotel’s food and beverage manager (? – sorry Joe, didn’t get your title), stepped up after I lodged a complaint via email.
After getting a call back from the staff member we had an issue with in the first place (awkward), Joe personally called me and did a great job listening to why our business walked out on the Granville Island Hotel. Joe assured me that if we decide to re-consider he’d do everything in his power to make sure our stay/dinner was exceptional.
While the gesture is appreciated Joe, like Laurie’s was back in June, I have a feeling that our guests wouldn’t want to be treated in this way. And if they were, I don’t think I’d hear the end of it.
Still waiting on our penthouse room booking confirmation,
darren
