an email heard round the world

the 20,296 mile route traveled by this email chain

The internet is an amazing resource when working with clients and vendors to make hotel arrangements.

True story that happened last night and this morning— One of our clients (he lives in Berlin, Germany) was planning a three-day trip to Singapore with his wife. He wanted to stay in a suite at the Andaz, but high occupancy levels the first night of his stay complicated matters. We had to book a Deluxe guestroom the first night, and he would move into the suite on his second and third nights.

I made the reservations, then immediately emailed my World of Hyatt rep in Singapore. It was, of course, the middle of the night — Singapore time — when I sent that email. But when morning came and she read my email, things were resolved very quickly!

11:55 a.m., Singapore time — My sales rep at Andaz Singapore responded. Though a full Suite was not available for all three nights, there was one Studio Suite available that she could assign to my clients. It wasn't the room he asked for, but would that be OK? Only thing: she needed a quick reply, as there was only one remaining Studio Suite.

8:57 p.m., California time (two minutes later) — While watching the election returns, I immediately forwarded the email to my client in Germany, asking him to "reply to all." 

6:48 a.m., central European time (51 minutes later) — After waking up and looking at his email, my client replied to all, confirming the revision. 

12:52 p.m., Singapore time (4 minutes later) — My sales rep confirmed the Studio Suite for three nights.

The magic of Virtuoso, married to the instantaneous communication of the internet, makes it so easy to provide great service. It does not matter where in the world any of us might be. A hotelier in Singapore, a travel advisor in California, and a client in Germany can communicate with the click of a mouse. Time zones even cooperated here! A hotel in Asia was able to offer a solution just before I went to sleep. A client in Europe was able to reply just after he woke up. And everything could be resolved, while I was asleep!

copyright (c) 2018 by Ourisman Travel LLC. All rights reserved. We provide Virtuoso and other Preferred Partner amenities as an affiliate of Brownell, a Virtuoso® Member. If you have comments on this column, or questions about booking travel, email me or visit my website.