Welcome Letter

As any frequent traveler, I am signed up to virtually every hotel points program on the planet.  While I generally try to remain loyal to 2 main hotels chains, there are times when you need to stay at a chain I don't normally bed down with.

However, certain benefits accrue while remaining loyal to one or two programs.  Free room upgrades, local benefits from the local franchisee, and other types of benefits.  In the next several posts, I will share some of my favorite benefits, and odd twists I have seen on those benefits.

One of my favorite benefits is a personalized letter in my room upon arrival, and other personalized touches in the room.  The guest programs track the tendencies and preferences of their most loyal customers, and that information is available to individual hotels - but it is up to them to use that information to improve your stay.  So when I see a personalized letter, I know that someone took a few extra minutes to look that information up and I am much more likely to return to that hotel on future stays.

However, in most cases, you receive either a generic welcoming letter, or no letter at all.  While that's doesn't automatically translate to a bad stay, a personalized letter almost certain guarantees good customer service and a good experience.

Within the past couple of weeks I ran across the welcoming letter when I checked into a hotel I had not visited before:

While this message was laminated and therefore technically, a "generic" letter, I found it at least as gratifying as any personalized letter I'd ever received.  I have never seen anything like this in my years on the road, and I doubt I will again.  At least at a chain hotel.  Unfortunately.