My Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter connections know that, when it comes to customer experience, my twin bete noirs are United Airlines and New Jersey Transit, respectively. The former still has the unfriendliest skies in the nation and the latter is a daily excursion to hell and back. 

So it’s rare when I stumble across a truly superior customer experience. And, it’s rarer still when I give a shout out to an organization. But I’m doing so in this case because the institution in question scored a perfect 10 in every aspect of my customer experience. And that institution is (drum roll please) the Ace Shoreditch Hotel (www.acehotel.com).  They truly aced my stay in London last week.

Here’s why:

• The front desk clerk greeted me by name as I strolled up to registration (I’m guessing the car service arranged for that? Or my London employees? The ghost of great customer experiences past?).
• The room was reasonably priced, within a five-minute walk of our London office and chock full of every conceivable amenity one might desire in the middle of a jet-lagged night.
• The overnight manager was an angel in disguise. I won’t bore you with the details, but I had to be at the Ace’s front door at 4:40am one morning to meet a car service that would whisk me away to the EuroStar and a trip to Paris. As I anxiously paced back-and-forth waiting for the tardy car and checking my watch, Sam, the night manager, walked right alongside me. He calmed me down, told me about shuttle flights from Heathrow, etc., that could still get me to my appointed rounds on time and, well, talked me off the ledge. Caring hotel employees can be an oxymoron nowadays. But not at the Ace Shoreditch. And definitely not Sam.
• Last, and not least, the Ace was chock full of branded merchandise. I felt like a kid in a candy store (since I am absolutely obsessed with branded merchandise). Ask any client, prospect or trade group to which I belong for verification. I kill for SWAG.

So, if your travel plans should call for a jaunt across the pond and a visit to London Town in the near future, I cannot more highly recommend the Ace Shoreditch.

After Word: I will be sending hotel management a link to this blog and they bloody well better upgrade me to a luxury suite when I’m next in town. 😊

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