I love beautiful hotels. I did a prosperity course a few years ago where one of the homework assignments was to go to the lobby of a 5 Star hotel and just sit there and feeeeeeeel abundant.
I couldn’t do it. I had to have a meal there. And linger.
If you ever find yourself with nothing to do on a weekend afternoon, go to your closest 5 star hotel and have a coffee or a tea. You don’t have to spend a lot of money to experience luxury service and the feel-good feeling that comes with it. And it’s usually a lot of fun to observe, people watch, and step into another world for couple of hours.
One of my favorites is any Ritz Carlton, anytime, anywhere – although I also lust for the St. Regis in Bora Bora where the movie “Couples Retreat” was filmed.
Someday. St. Regis. A Suite, the Hubs, me, and a hot tub. Some day.
Where was I?
Oh yes, I love beautiful hotels, mostly because I love seeing beauty around me and feeling well taken care of by the staff. You know that feeling when you have the best server, and they come by your table just the right number of times and they refill your cup, but not too much and they smile and they mean it? I love that feeling!
Well for years I thought that warm and fuzzy feeling happens sometimes and not others due to random interactions of the space time continuum and what side of the bed I woke up that morning.
But I recently read a fabulous book called, “Exceptional Service, Exceptional Profit – The Secrets of Building a Five-Star Customer Service Organization.” And in that book they discuss in significant detail exactly how that magical feeling I have whenever I think of the Ritz is engineered.
It is planned, rigged, organized, analyzed and recreated on a daily basis methodically, intentionally and masterfully all over the world.
This reminded me of a wonderful comment Mary Lou Green made after reading the “How to Re-Define Marriage” post.
She said: “My husband Dennis and I use a customer metaphor to keep from getting complacent. We are customers of each other. We know that customers shop elsewhere if they aren’t treated well.”
Mary Lou Green, you brilliant woman!
So between my love of hotels and my wise readers I started thinking…
Warning. MaggieThink. Danger looms.
(Well not danger exactly, perhaps more like “zany adventure” than danger.)
I started thinking about what the Ritz, a company that has methodically researched and tested how to make people happy could teach us about marriage. As it turns out – quite a lot, more than one blog post could cover even.
First of all, in the Exceptional Service book, the authors say:
“A business needs to think like a customer. It needs to put in place processes that will mercilessly search and destroy anything that might inconvenience or disgruntle a customer.”
Okay seriously, can you imagine if your hubby came home and said, “Hello Beautiful! I will search and destroy anything that annoys you today.” And then you reply, “Thanks Snuggle Pants. Today I am going to find out what you want and need and then I am going to do everything in my power to provide it.”
The Ritz does this for their customers every day. Can we do this for the person we love most in this world?
What would your relationship look like if you treated your relationship as an experiment in excellence?
Would it be hip and cool like the W Hotels? Would it be Zen like a Spa in Bali? Would it be classic and timeless like the Ritz? Would it be sexy like a St. Regis?
Can you do one thing for your spouse this week that you would expect from a luxury hotel if you stayed there?
What would it be?
This is the beginning of a series. There will be sequels. Stay tuned. “The Five Layers of Why” is coming next week…
