Forced Breakfast in Bed
One of the advantages in traveling from the central or eastern coast to the west coast is the time zone. You can wake up at 6am and your body thinks it is 8am! Traveling eastward presents an altogether different challenge however and this morning was no exception. Normally, I start class at 9am. Fortunately this week, I’m literally staying across the street from my office so I can sleep until 8am and still be all bright eyed for my class at 9. My body still thinks it is only 7am when I wake up, but that's still better than 5 or 6, right?
Not today.
This morning around 7am, I was awakened by a knock on my door. I opened one eye, scanned the room for the source of the noise, and then closed it again. Another knock (more insistent this time) got my brain working, “did I order room service? What day is it? Do I *WANT* room service? What time is it?” Then a voice… “ROOM SERVICE, SIR!” I thought, “I better get that before she wakes the neighbors.” Donning the Marriott robe, I went to the door and let her in. “What’s this?” I asked, sleepily. “It’s a fruit plate with Fresh Watermelon, sir.”
No… it… was… not… Not really….
Oh, but it was. (If you're not familiar with "The Great Watermelon Saga of 2008" then you need to read my last blog entry. You'll enjoy it, I promise!) The room service gal said, “With our compliments” and she abruptly left. I think she was scared that I might start throwing things… at her! Truthfully, I almost did. I called downstairs to speak with Jaime, the food service director. “Jaime, did you really wake me up this morning to give me some watermelon? You realize that as a Platinum guest I can walk 50 feet down the hall to the lounge and eat all of the watermelon I want…” He actually said to me, “I thought it would be nice for you to have breakfast in bed.”
Forced Breakfast in bed… another advantage of being Platinum, I suppose!
The lesson here is, of course, to use your "Do Not Disturb" sign. Hotel staff are so well trained regarding that little ticket that if you leave it out on your check-out day, they will heed the warning and fail to clean and toss the room until a manager is notified and your check-out is completely verified. You may not think you ordered room service, but the DND card is the only way to be SURE you aren't woken up too early.
EXTRA: If you have questions for Ken regarding business travel, hotels, airplanes, etc, please call 1-877-49-EXPERT. Your questions will be recorded and Ken will answer the best ones in his Ask the Expert podcast show.
