Saturday, March 28, 2009

Kudos to the Disney Swan Dolphin Resort

My view of judging a company's customer service is not how they do things right - but how do they respond when something does go wrong. We ship packages on a daily basis to the many Disney resorts in Lake Buena Vista Florida at Walt Disney World. In the six years of doing business with Disney I can't remember ever having a problem or a lost package. So I was very surprised when last Sunday night our JetSetBabies phone rang and it was a customer who had just arrived at the Disney Swan Dolphin Resort and had been told they could not find her JetSetBabies package.



I first looked through our notes on the package and we had called the hotel a few days prior and spoken with an employee at the Concierge Desk and he confirmed that he had the package and it would be held there until the guest arrived Sunday. I called the concierge desk immediately and talked to the person working that night. The employee we spoke with had already left for the day, the package was not there, and it had not been logged in their book. He stated that he had put in a call to security to look for the package.



I then called my employee who had spoken with the hotel earlier in the week. He stated that he still had the number for the Receiving Dept at Swan Dolphin and he had originally spoken with the department manager - he would call again and see if he could reach anyone.



Well, this is where I think Disney really shined. My employee dialed the number. The Receiving Department was closed but the phones forwarded to Department Manager's cell phone who answered our call at 8:30 p.m. on a Sunday night. He said he remembered everything clearly - he knew exactly where the package was, and if the security guard was unable to find it, please call him back and he would drive into work and get it for the guest!! Now that isn't just good service - that is what I consider great service.



By the time I called the concierge back with this information, they had already found the package, and had delivered it to the guests room. I called our customer as she was unpacking the box. She was thrilled and I was thrilled. So hats off to Disney Swan Dolphin for an opportunity for both of us to show our great customer service skills!

Thursday, March 26, 2009

Trekaroo - kids, trips and tips.

Trekaroo is a trip planning website that is designed specifically to help parents overcome the stress of traveling with kids. Trekaroo takes intuitive tools and combines them with the power of a fast-growing, grassroots community of moms and dads. The website is designed to connect users to a community of families who have traveled to popular destinations all over the world. Parents can use search tools that allow them to discover tips and ideas based on their budget or their children’s ages.

Trekaroo is a fast-growing, grassroots community of parents who are passionate about exploring the world with their kids. It’s a guide filled with thousands of activities and places to stay ranked by the reviews of moms and dads and also a place to get your travel questions answered by knowledgeable parents who’ve already been there.

Next time you are ready to plan a trip, find tips or have travel questions please visit http://www.trekaroo.com/ to see how is works.

P.S. - keep watching for a chance to win some great prices from Trekaroo and JetSetBabies!

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Sunday, March 15, 2009

Travel Deals

Two weeks ago I purchased airline tickets for my family to travel to Washington DC this summer. The Northwest Airline tickets from Minneapolis to Washington DC were a great bargain at $250 each! However, ever since them I have been hearing stories of airline ticket discounts and worried - did I pay too much? I just finished checking on Expedia and discovered the tickets are actually higher today by $48 than when I bought them. That's good new for me...but made me wonder about other travel deals.

Here are a couple of great items I found in about 15 minutes of research. Expedia currently has a "No Booking Fee" special going on for a limited time. This is worth looking into further.

And of course my favorite travel site Travel + Leisure has some fabulous bargains on hotel specials right now. The one that I liked the best was Caribbean Beach Resorts from $125! That's a great deal and we have alot JetSetBabies customers traveling to places like Aruba, St. Croix, St. Maarten, and other islands right now. In addition, to great airline discounts, and great hotel rates, international shipping prices are down slightly also. So shipping your JetSetBabies packages are also a bargain compared to six months ago.

For more great travel bargains, including airline tickets from NYC to Spain for $150!! check out Travel + Leisure Hot Deals.