I love to travel. That’s not a secret. I also like to travel like a brat. Also, not a secret.
Recently I surprised one of my dearest friends Lesley with a trip to New York City. She’s a professor at Elon University and previously taught students to read. Her love of books made it easy for me to choose the hotel, the stunning Library Hotel.
If you haven’t ever heard of it, click here. Located in midtown New York, The Library Hotel is in a prime spot! Just a 10-minute walk from Times Square and Broadway, and one block from Grand Central Station. With more than 6,000 books in their collection and each of the 10 floors themed after one of the designations of the Dewey Decimal System – it’s a book lover’s dream. We stayed in 1206, the mythology room with a gorgeous view of the NYC Public Library. The second-floor guests are provided with snacks all day and a lovely breakfast each morning which was a treat. The rooftop bar was the perfect way to end a day with cocktails and a fabulous fun and funky buzz.
From the moment we made the reservation online until we checked out, this hotel did an exceptional job of paying attention online and in person.
Their online registration is easy and allows guests to share special occasions or add-ons they’d like in the room on arrival. So, of course, I added a few nice touches to our stay.
When you arrive (even if the room isn’t ready), they instantly make you feel at home, using names, opening doors, and offering guests an opportunity to get ‘refreshed’ in their special area on the second floor. This was absolutely one of my favorite spaces in the hotel with constant snacks, great coffee, delish breakfast, and afternoon cocktails.
As we arrived early, we took advantage of refreshments, a quick outfit change, stored our luggage, and then off for some fabulous shopping in SoHo, and lunch at my favorite NYC restaurant, Balthazar.
When we got back to check in and head up to our room, I was SUPER impressed… they had birthday card and gift for Lesley, a bottle of my favorite champagne (they must have been on my Instagram account) and then, wait for it… a note and a BOOK from Balthazar! The note and gift blew me away. I am hard to impress. Just so you know. But that was fantastic! 
This simple act of seeing my social media post, writing a note, sharing a book from a local place is the level of detail that has guests returning over and over again! Did I tweet about it? You bet I did! Did I post on Instagram? Of course! Would I highly recommend them? To everyone? Absolutely!
As a keynote speaker who specializing on helping people pay ATTENTION – and the value that attention can bring – to their businesses and lives — I travel the world sharing stories of how to be more intentional with our attention. I truly believe we need to give attention to get attention.
What can you do in your business to make your clients, customers, members, or patients feel like we did during our Library Hotel experience?
Use names – whenever possible, use people’s names. Dale Carnegie once said, “A person’s name is the sweetest sound”. This attention-grabbing technique costs nothing, but the return is incredible!
Leverage social media – invest a few minutes and notice what your clients are saying and doing online. Can you do something to personalize their experience that will allow them to KNOW you paid attention? That doesn’t have to cost you anything except a few minutes to write a note.
Handwritten notes – I am a huge fan of this old-fashioned technique. In a digital world, it is analogue systems that get attention. Can you write a note to thank someone for their business? Write a thank you note to a team member for a job well done? Write a note to a patient and wish them a speedy recover?
Make it special – it was Lesley’s birthday. They knew it when I checked in and made sure to make it a memorable. What systems can you create to systemize thoughtfulness? Notes in your system? Post-it notes on a file? Fields in a database?
Here’s what I know… Because of the remarkable and thoughtful way the staff at the Library Hotel paid ATTENTION to me and my dear friend, I will most definitely return for another stay. I will share this story in my new book Attention Pays™. I will speak of this experience in keynotes around the world and I will be forever delighted by this fantastic experience.
What can you do to create a Library Hotel experience within your organization today? Attention pays. It really does. Want to learn more about getting YOUR team to deliver in memorable ways just as the staff at the Library Hotel does? Contact me today. I’ve got the answers you need!
