When the Shortest Getaway is the Most Meaningful…A Humble Brag
The Urban Dictionary defines it as “When you, usually consciously, try to get away with bragging about yourself by couching it in a phony show of humility.” Like “Oh, I just hate being so tall and so thin,” or something like that.
On twitter, it’s usually listed as a #humblebrag. And that’s what I’m about to do. But I just had the coolest interactions with a client and I want to share it.
Sometimes it’s the shortest getaway that is the most meaningful.
A few days ago, I received a text from a long-time client asking for help with a hotel reservation. He needed just two nights in San Francisco for a very special occasion, but he had a price range that he wanted to stick to and he just wasn’t finding what he needed. All the hotels he found on-line that met his price range looked sub-par, and the properties that he liked were more than he wanted to spend.
A few nights in San Francisco....
So he sent me a facebook message. Because this needed to be special. Because he was planning on proposing to his girlfriend.
With a ring in his pocket...
We’ve done business together before, I know a little about the kinds of hotels he likes, and I knew within a few minutes what hotel I was going to suggest. It’s a little boutique hotel that I’ve stayed in before that is in a great location. The rooms are charming and clean and well appointed, they have a lovely little bar in the back of the lobby for a nightcap, and it’s within walking distance to some great little restaurants and bars.
So I called the property manager personally and found that they had the room I was thinking of available at a price that was within my clients’ budget. And, even more important, the rate included parking, which can run up to $45 per night at downtown San Francisco hotels.
I reserved the hotel for him and sent him off for the two-hour drive to San Francisco, with his girlfriend in the passenger seat of his car and an engagement ring in his pocket. And I even arranged with the hotel to have some chocolate-dipped strawberries sent to the room, just to up the romance quotient a bit.
And the facebook message I got today?
“OMG THANK YOU CHRISTY. WE GOT THE PACKAGE. THANK YOU SO MUCH. SHE SAID YES !!!!! What an awesome day. And we LOVE this hotel. You’re so awesome!”
How great is that?
The simple part is this: he told me what he wanted, and I found it for him. But, the deeper meaning is that relationships in this business still pay off. I have a relationship with this client, and I was able to match him up with one of the hundreds of hotels that we have relationships with around the world.
Find a travel agent you love and build that relationship. It can be one of the most important business relationships you have.
And that’s no humble brag. That’s just a fact.