Babe Ruth
I come to DC fairly regularly but mostly stay in the Reston area where my office is. It used to be the case that the office was in Arlington and because of business reasons, I had to come every week. 143 nights in 2011, I slept at the Marriott Keybridge.
After nearly two years, I spent last night at the same hotel since I had a customer meeting in Alexandria.
After finishing the early morning run by the Potomac river (it is one of my most favorite running trail), took a quick shower and was almost stepping out of the hotel (I was running late) when I started to wonder if Ruth was still working there. Turned around, went to the Concierge Lounge on the 12th floor – and sure enough she was there!! Age has started to take its toll but her spirits were high still!
Every single day, this grandmother would greet me and make me fresh pot of coffee. She did the same today! I pushed my office meeting and decided to spend ten minutes with her to catch up on her life.
She has completed 35 years with Marriott!! 20 years at the same hotel!!! Born in Danville (near here) she has spent most of her life here. She has heard a lot of stories about other places from the hotel guests but never has traveled anywhere!
She makes friends with transient guests like me (or even employees) who come regularly for some time and then go away for ever. She had amazing memories of a lot of her guests that she has not seen for aeons and aeons. Just like we form relationships in our life. Except her movie of life always runs on fast forward.
After ten minutes of coffee together, we got a guest to take a picture of us and I promised to see her at least one more time before she decided to call it quits.
What a great story ….
Cool!!
Rajib, what a similar story I have of the concierge lounge at Marriott in Troy, Michigan.
The lady at Troy Marriott has spent the last 22 years at Marriott and retiring next year
I have to conclude – albeit on two data points – that Marriott is a good employer!!
@rajib – are marriot points shareable with friends and families?
Let me answer the question in a slightly different way, Pratyush. You are not a friend of mine 🙂
Rajib Roy YOu are the nicest guy ever.
Thank you much, Malika!!
ok got it
🙂 in reality I have no idea. I have booked for myself only and they do check the id when I check in… But I do not know their policies…
every dollar you spent you get 5 points, and every 7500 points gets you 1 free night in Marriot residence
I did not know all the math but most of our family vacations are on points…
That’s a wonderful story. However, Danville is not really near DC physically or culturally … I grew up just a few miles from Danville … it’s just a bit north of the NC line in Southern VA. Granted Danville is closer than Georgia 🙂
I thought your friend Dan was from Danville 🙂
Wow… So nice of you!!!
Amazing….
So nice of you Rajib.
Rajib you always have made everyone around you better. Nice to read a sweet story, but it is a very consistent statement about you, and how to appreciate all. Nice work!
well done rajiv
Not many execs even know their indirect reports, much less service employees on the road. You’re one in a million.
You made her day!!!
Rajib, I have been following your posts for last couple of days..
I love each n every post of urs..ur stories have so much affection n care..it just pushes/motivates me all the time to be a better person…
Eagerly waiting for the next inspiring story…
Hi Rajib, you are such a genuine human being. I salute you for your humility! Thank You Lord for having YOU as my dear friend.
Marriott does allow you to book for others with your points. The person staying in the room will have to provide an id and credit card for any extra charges.