This guest blog was authored by former Peppercommer, Isaac Farbowitz, who now makes a living selling medical supplies.
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All too often, brands fail to live up to their names and promises as loyal RepMan readers know. However, this past weekend I had an amazing experience where a brand lived up to every bit of its name and I wanted to share it as an example of a company “getting it right.”
When it became clear on Thursday of last week that Irene was going to poke her ugly head into the Tri-State area over the weekend, my wife and I decided to pack up our six kids and head west to the Great Wolf Lodge in the Poconos. We weren’t taking any chances with falling trees, flooded streets and heavy rain, not to mention six kids with no TV, computer or Wii!
The weather wasn’t that bad in the Poconos through Sunday around noon and we assumed we escaped the worst of it. But around noon, the winds really kicked up and within minutes the power was out in the hotel. And with no power comes a closed water park, no arcades and not much to do in a hotel for kids- at least not in any hotel not named Great Wolf Lodge!
Within minutes of the power going out, there were announcements that there was a power outage and that the hotel was working with the power company to restore it and get an estimated time it would be back. They then announced that there were backup generators for the lobby and hallways and that there would be a movie for kids showing in the lobby ASAP.
While the movie was playing, they handed out bottled water, chips, cookies and many snacks to all the kids and literally had every staff member handing out beer, wine and soda to all the adults. Once the movie was over, they put on Wii dancing and had hundreds of people dancing with staff members in the lobby. (The picture in this blog is a photo I took of the dancing- four of the kids are mine). The site of adults and kids dancing in a lobby during a hurricane was surreal but no one was complaining about the lack of power or the weather.
After dancing, the hotel announced that power should be restored in the next two hours and they had a whole dinner buffet set up (free of charge) for all guests including hamburgers, hot dogs, chicken, salads and drinks for all to enjoy. Once dinner ended, another movie was put on for kids and shortly thereafter the power was restored.
Great Wolf Lodge clearly had a plan in place to deal with a potential power outage and they executed it to perfection! Not one guest was complaining and many were seen thanking the hotel staff for doing their best to make it the best day possible given the conditions. Every staff member had a smile on their face as they fielded questions and they did everything they could to make it a GREAT day for guests in spite of the hand they were dealt.
And the kicker to show just how well Great Wolf Lodge handled the storm- when we were checking out we were talking to a staff member who asked our kids “what was the best part of the trip” and the kids response: “movies and dancing in the lobby when there was no power.” Great Wolf lived up to its name in a great way!
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