While the good experiences greatly outweigh the bad, it’s also good to learn from the latter. Experiences such as renting a privately owned condo in a stunning art deco building in South Beach, Miami.
It was only after arriving at this building, which is directly across the street from Miami Beach, that I learned it was under substantial and noisy renovations.
We’ve stayed in busy places before: right on Las Ramblas in Barcelona, by Waikiki Beach, off Russell Square in London, around the corner from Paris’ Palais Garnier, and on Avinguda de Gabriel Roca in Palma. We’ve stayed in gorgeous hotels overlooking avenidas and squares where literally thousands of people were gathered for major festivals. We can handle all that with no issue; those are noise levels a traveller should reasonably anticipate. This experience, though, was different; think of a dentist’s drill and amp it up a dozen or so times in volume.
Ah, well. The concierge Lillian was lovely, and I didn’t trip once over the drop cloth outside the third floor elevator. Make the best of a situation, right?
Or at least I thought that was good, until Day Two, when I rolled out the yoga mat at 8:30 a.m. … and found that my view through the side window included a construction crew outside this third floor window. Using the area to sip their drinks as they worked on the building’s exterior, and staring at me just as I stared at them. I don’t fault the crew, who may have been as surprised as I was; they were doing their job.
Follow the drop-down menus under Travel Bumps to read about other interesting travels, and keep your fingers crossed that this section of my site remains compact!
Perspective
As I said, we’re fortunate to travel; others would be thrilled if such issues were the extent of their frustrations or bumps in life.
Credit where credit’s due
Acknowledgement of problems, and steps to rectify them, go a long way in inspiring customer confidence and loyalty. In the last year alone, my luggage was delayed three times. Four different airlines were involved, and such things happen. The thing is, Alaska Airlines’ communications on the delay, and the actions they took – both of which stood head and shoulders above the other three airlines’ – wound up increasing the already high level of respect I had for their customer service and for their people. Ultimately, they enhanced my loyalty to their brand.
After being overcharged by a keener at Enterprise, the approach taken by Enterprise Rent-A-Car Area Manager Jose Feliu restored my confidence in that company – to the extent that I chose his company again for another car rental less than a week later.
What travel providers have inspired your loyalty by making the best of a bad situation?
How have some of the travel bumps you’ve experienced unfold?
Have any hotels, airlines or other travel providers impressed you with the way they resolved a sticky situation? What did they do to restore your confidence?