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2005-09-17 - 6:17 a.m.

This entry is for everyone, but specifically for the one, true loyal fan I have out there. You know who you are! *wink*

Ok, so here's the letter I wrote to the hotel we stayed in during Hurricane Katrina---when she hit Ft. Lauderdale and Miami prior to ravaging New Orleans and so forth:

First, I must start by saying that your hotel is a very nice hotel. When we first arrived, we were impressed with the layout of the foyer leading into the dining area. We liked the decor as well. The front desk staff was very polite, courteous, and had a good attitude.

We checked in to the hotel sometime after 3pm on Thursday, August 25th, 2005. We had made our reservation for the sole purpose of escaping from the wrath of Hurricane Katrina. My husband and I live full-time in our RV fifth-wheel and did not feel it was safe to remain there to ride out the storm.

We dropped our bags off at the room and left to eat dinner. We came back around 5:45pm. We sat down on the couch and started to watch TV. At around 6pm we watched Rachel Ray's 30 Minute Meals on the Food Network. After two episodes, we began to watch Good Eats with Alton Brown. At approximately 7:15pm, the power went out.

Obviously, the food and water we had stored in the fridge now was without electricity. We couldn't watch television. The air conditioning did not work. We were unable to take advantage of the coffee maker, toaster, or microwave oven. In fact, we couldn't use the stove top or the dishwasher not to mention the high-speed internet. Then an hour later, the phones stopped working.

I had to turn my cell phone off to conserve the battery so it wouldn't die as I had no way of charging it with my plug-in charger.

We had brought along a flashlight and the hotel staff placed one outside our door to use as well. There was emergency lighting in the hallway, but not for long. Before we knew it, it was pitch-black inside the room and slowly getting hotter and hotter.

The next morning, because of the loss of power, the breakfast offered was limited to coffee, donuts, and dry cereal. There was a tub of juice boxes sitting on ice, but the guy who was setting out the tub wouldn't let me have one because the juices were supposed to be for the children only. My husband and I are extremely health conscious (we're actually vegetarian) so we did not help ourselves to the donuts or sugary cereals.

The power still had not been restored at the time of our checkout around 10:30am. I had hoped that because of your 100% Guarantee---whereby if any part of our stay we're unable to use any amenity, we won't have to pay for that portion of our stay---we wouldn't be charged full price for the room.

I was dead wrong.

I don't expect to get the room completely free, however it was an uncomfortable night without electricity (especially the a/c) and the entire reason we went to the hotel was to remain comfortable during the storm.

I believe it would be fair for the hotel to split the cost of the room with us. The room was priced at $86 before tax. With tax, it comes to $95.46. Split in half would total $47.73. I think this is very fair given our circumstances.

I really hope that your company will sympathize with us and agree to my proposal. We shouldn't have to pay for services we did not use.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Sincerely,
Michele Wood

It took a few days, but here is the email I received back. Notice it wasn't a "form" letter!! (much to my suprise as well as delight):

I think that's pretty darned cool. Now, just for the record, I also write praise letters. I've written one each for 2 separate employees at Sprint and 1 employee of DirecTv. I'm actually more generous with praise than I am with critism or complaint. However, I also am firm in my belief that if something isn't right (a product or service, etc.) then it should either be corrected or compensated.

I mean, don't you agree?!?

Until next time...peace,love, & HEALTH!!!









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