I am writing to share a positive experience I had with one of your staff members, Mark Sawdon. Upon departure from the hotel on August 4th, I mistakenly left behind a bag of clothes. When I called the hotel, I spoke with Mark and advised I may have left it in the room. Late that afternoon, Mark called me back to let me know that he checked the room but did not find it. I asked him to check the other rooms we had reserved as well, and the bag was not in either of the other rooms. Mark mentioned housekeeping sometimes takes left items and leaves them on their carts, returning them to lost and found the next day. Mark did not wait for the team to arrive in the morning, he went and checked each cart, and called me back again advising the bag was not there. There was a terrible rainstorm the night of our stay. It continued to rain hard as we were leaving the hotel the next morning. We had to move the car from where we started to load our luggage because there was a considerable amount of mud between the sidewalk and our parking spot, due to the construction. Spit balling, I called Mark back to let him know it was possible we left the bag outside on the sidewalk. He advised it had continued to rain and agreed to walk the perimeter of the property to look for it. He also said in a final effort he would check the dumpster; in the event someone had thrown it away. Mark called me back about an hour later to tell me that he found my bag on the sidewalk. It was full of water, so my clothes were soaking wet and dirty. There was a shirt in the bag that has significant sentimental value. Its almost 50 years old and is one of my favorite party shirts. I live out of state and was not planning to be back in Auburn Hills anytime soon, so I offered to give him my credit card info, hoping he could ship it to me. Mark said he would wash and dry my dirty wet clothes and then reach out to discuss shipping. He said that if he could not use the hotel facilities to wash them, he would take them home to do it. He went as far as to inquire about washing instructions, which was key because the sentimental shirt is rayon and can’t be dried. Within a few days, I received a Fedex box with all my clean and dry clothes and shoes. Most people would have given up or blown me off after checking the room. Most people would have avoided my calls. Most people would have never agreed to check outside the hotel and the dumpster. Most people would not have been timely in calling/emailing me with updates. Mark Sawdon is a special soul. I can only believe the universe wanted me to have my shirt back and connected me with Mark to make it happen. I am grateful my path has crossed with his. It is people like Mark who possess dedication to service, empathy and kindness that differentiate themselves from others in the service industry. You cannot train people to become Mark Sawdon’s. The next time I am within 100 miles of Auburn Hills, I will make a point of meeting him in person.
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