We spill plenty of pixels here about crappy customer service so it pleases us to know that somebody, somewhere, is getting it right, even if you have to travel all the way to the Pacific Inn in Bellevue, Washington.

Not too surprising that we find the last bastion of customer care in the hotel industry.

Guess they don’t call it accommodations for nothing…

Nick J. writes:

“The company I contract for wanted me in Bellevue for 3 weeks training. They booked me in to the Pacific Inn, a nice set of managed-apartments. The people were friendly, and the room was nice. Everything was fine. Because the Pacific Inn rented month-by-month, I was booked in for a little over a week longer than my expected 3-week stay.

At the end of my 3 weeks, I packed up, checked out, and left for Vancouver. Due to some unexpected complications, I found myself back in Bellevue that same night. Figuring my room at the Pacific Inn was still good for another week or so, I attempted to check back in. No such luck – my room had been stripped and cleaned, and was waiting for a new resident. Trundling my bags, I headed for another place, suggested by the person at the desk. This time, on my own Credit Card.

The next morning, however, I received a phone-call from someone at the Pacific Inn. Terribly sorry, they said – your room shouldn’t have been checked out and re-hired until the end of the period on the rental agreement. The person on yesterday made a mistake. Would I like to come back and stay for the remainder of my period?

I would. And not only that, but when I arrived, they took my receipt from the hotel I stayed in overnight, and promised to re-imburse me.

One might conclude that this is no more than they should have done to fix a mistake. And you might be right. But, when was the last time you got this level of service in an effort to fix a mistake – without having to push and bully for it? They could have simply quietly forgotten about it, but they went to the effort to locate me again, and make up for their mistake. This puts them head-and-shoulders above the rest, in my opinion.

-Nick Johnson”

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