Checking in at New York, and what closed mouths miss out on

Monday 21st August, 2023. I have landed in New York for a work trip. It’s 6.30pm, and I’m at the Hotel Chelsea on W 23rd Street. I had stayed there on my previous work trip here, on the recommendation of a colleague, and had loved it.

“Is this your first time here Sir?” says the young man, perhaps in his early 20s, as he’s looking me up on the system.

“No, I stayed here in March and loved it so much that I’m going to stay here every time.”

“Oh that’s wonderful to hear Sir!”

“Haha, thank you, unless you give me a terrible room today of course!” I say, in jest.

Pause.

He looks at me. His expression has changed. “You do realise Sir that they have booked you a smaller room than the one you stayed in the last time?”

My turn. The expression changes. “Oh! Well, okay, I guess, nothing I can do about it.”

Once again, pause. “Sir… could you give me five minutes, I just need to go talk with my manager?”

These five minutes leave me thinking – they’ve probably booked me in a very different room from last time, he’s going to bring his manager to apologise….. let’s see.

…and he’s back. He says, “Sir, we can offer you the same room as last time for 20 dollars more … the only problem is that since this room is disability friendly, the door is wider, and there is no bath, only a walk-in shower.”

I’m confused – both these things are fine, I much prefer showers anyway. I ask, “um, what’s the catch?”

“There is no catch Sir, would you like the room?”

The increased price is WELL within the allowed limit, so I say yes, of course!

He disappears for a second time. Wait, he’s back. “Sir, I’ve spoken with my manager again, we’re getting you the room at no extra cost, plus we’ve got you a room with a balcony.”

!!

And so starts a happy week at my favourite New York hotel. That little joke, I now realise, made the difference between me loving this hotel even more, versus being grumpy the whole week about how they let me down with a small room.

That evening I’m having dinner with a dear friend, Chester Lau, and tell him this story. His reaction? “Well, closed mouths don’t get fed.”

What a beautiful line. Closed mouths don’t get fed.

While this is true, of course, it’s also true that customer service, or customer orientation, whatever you call it – matters more in the USA than anywhere else I’ve seen. There is simply no place like the USA to be treated wonderfully as a customer. Just a smile and a silly joke, and even a very young executive has the mindset to turn a potentially bad situation into a memorable one.

Wait, I haven’t finished.

The week is nearly over. My return flight is at 10pm. I have two hours to kill. As per the plan, I visit the Apple Store at the Grand Central Station, to buy my mother-in-law a new iPhone (surprise for her birthday, shhh!)

Buying an iPhone is as magical as the iPhone itself. You just tap your phone on the sales person’s iPhone, and voila, the payment has gone through. Enter, the silly joke.

“I know our companies don’t really get on much, but boy is this fantastic, how easy was that!”

“Sorry, what do you mean Sir, which company do you work for?”

“Why don’t you guess”, I say cheekily.

“Samsung? Google?”

“Close but not quite, Meta!”

“Ah! Ha, I’m sure the business relationship is strong Sir. But now that you mention it, could you give me one minute?”

(I wait for a minute.)

“Sir I’ve applied a Meta discount, some companies get a discount so I’ve given you this much off.”

Now – the discount isn’t much, probably good enough for a couple of coffees at Starbucks, but still – a pleasant surprise.

This was the last thing I was doing in New York, before heading off to the airport. The bookends of my trip were both wonderful consequences of chatting with strangers, when there was no real need for it.

What a week. Long hours on work, but super productive offsites, walks and meals with colleagues and friends, meeting one of my favourite batchmates, Prabhat Awasthi, after 25 odd years, and learning such a valuable thing.

Closed mouths don’t get fed.

Thank you Chester.