Luxury Link package at which the property STAFF were the reason that you had an exceptional holiday.

[obrienkf]

Okay Community, for those of you who have been to a few of the properties offered on Luxury Link, and have purchased that vacation through Luxury Link, perhaps it would be a valuable feedback for those properties to know that it was the 'staff' that made the difference. Perhaps our friends in Luxury Link can make sure that hotels who have wonderful staff are given this feedback....



Its difficult for me to limit my list to just one, so I'll start with three....



1. Hotel Bellevue in Cogne Italy. A Relais and Chateau property, in Northern Italy, family owned and operated, and has been in the family forever. The staff (almost all family) were kind and generous with their time, helpful in every regard, and I was treated like a VIP. I have been there twice, and it was like I was returning to visit family the second time. That made the vacation.



2. Chateau Yering in Australia. Again, just wonderful staff. If I could have moved in, and stayed forever, I would have.



3. Hotel Diamant in Sydney. The front desk manager, Adrian, was a charm. I was so frustrated by driving in rainy Sydneyby the time I got there(oh, a few wrong turns on one way streets didn't help) that he just looked at me, and said "I'll park your car, and we'll send the bottle of bubbles up right away." That's exactly what I needed to hear. I will be returning there in October, and again in November. Staff made the difference. There are wonderful hotels inSydney, but that was a kindness that I really appreciated.



so, any thots from the rest of you( and if you can resist the temptation to describe the hotels where the staff made a negative impression --- someone else can start a thread on that .... )



kind regards

[LL_Travelfan]

Hi obrienkf,

Sounds like a great idea for LL to let hotels who have wonderful staff give that feedback to them. However, I think there is such a thing as "write a review" tap on the auction page for the property. At times, LL uses such reviews in the accolades page on the property. I usually make it a habit of writing a quick thank you note (via e-mail these days...) to the property telling them how much I have enjoyed my stay and single out employees that have been particularly helpful to us. It never fails to get a nice note of appreciation back from them.

One of my favorite LL properties is the the Hotel Bellevue which you list as your Number 1. We have been there on 4 different packages and have added extra days on to our packages as well. Mme Laura and Mme Paola (the owners) are absolutely charming and see to everybody's wish personally. It is, as you said, almost like coming home to family. Mme Laura and her husband were there or came down specially for us to greet us like old friends and direct us on the various hikes we enjoyed in this lovely area of Italy's Grand Paradisio National Park. When I had a little problem with the bed being somewhat to hard, she saw to it immediately that it was changed to make me feel more comfortable. And when we checked out, Mme Paola showered us with little gifts of candies and home made pasta to take home, and Mme Laura came down personally to say goodbye to us.

The Grand Hotel Continental in Siena, Italy was another lovely place where the staff was exceptionally attentive. When we were taking our dinner at the hotel, the dining room was totally empty but the more informal bar was busy. We were given a choice to dine in the dining room or at the bar. We opted for the dining room away from the crowd. The dining room was opened up just for us and we had a maitre-d, a waiter, and a wine steward all to our selves. The service was outstanding and we enjoyed the history lesson of the former palace we got from the maitre-d, as well as the lovely formal dinner the chef prepared just for us along with the fine wine the sommelier selected for us. At the end, the wine steward took us down stairs to show us their wine cellar and offered us a taste of brandy down there. Needless to say, this was a lovely experience, and we wrote to the hotel to tell them of our wonderful experience and gave praise to their excellent staff. We got a nice letter of appreciation back from them.

I could name others, but I like to leave room here for other contributors to respond.



Message Edited by LL_Travelfan on 09-01-2008 05:59 PM