When Ritz-Carlton made lifelong friends.

It’s the story of how Ritz-Carlton treated a boy’s favourite toy with the same level of attention as an honoured guest.

On his first night back from holiday, Chris Hurn’s son would not go to sleep. He had accidentally left behind Joshie, his beloved stuffed giraffe, at the Florida Ritz-Carlton hotel where they were vacationing. “Joshie is fine,” he told his son. “He’s just taking an extra-long vacation at the resort.” To Hurn’s great relief, a Ritz-Carlton staffer called to report that Joshie had been found.

A few days later, Joshie arrived—along with a binder full of pictures. One showed Joshie lounging by the pool, another showed Joshie driving a golf cart. Others captured him hanging with the hotel parrot, getting a massage in the spa (with cucumber slices covering his eyes), and even monitoring the security cameras in the control room. They even issued a “Ritz-Carlton Loss Prevention Team” for Joshie.

Someone at the Ritz spent a bit of time zipping around the resort with a stuffed giraffe, snapping absurd pics so they could please some guests who had already checked out and gone home. It was a strange and magical thing to do. Hurn and his wife were delighted, and their son was ecstatic.

The Ritz-Carlton created the Joshie photo album because it wants to be known for its extraordinary service. It wasn’t simply a random act of kindness. And it paid off. Hurn wrote a blog post about the experience, which went viral and received a lot of media attention.

The effect is not isolated to this single event. A study of hotel reviews on TripAdvisor found that, when guests reported experiencing a “delightful surprise,” an astonishing 94% of them expressed an unconditional willingness to recommend the hotel.

We’re inspired creatively, but more than that - it’s unequivocally commercially the right thing to do.

That’s why it’s what we do.

🎁 To learn more about kids & teens hospitality: The Global Kids & Teens Hospitality Report >

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🔍 The original article by Chris can be found here >