Hotel wins top service award

Courtyard Newark-University of Delaware hotel staff members (from left): Norma Fajardo, Grisary Frias, Horace Fox, Tracy Holmes, Melvin Land and Rebecca Streets

4:18 p.m., Sept. 19, 2005--When a guest forgot his toothbrush and didn’t want to use a standard hotel cello-wrapped substitute, a housekeeper at the Courtyard Newark-University of Delaware hotel drove to a store on her lunch hour, bought a toothbrush and put it in the guest’s room without saying a word about it.

The guest did talk--on Marriott Corp.’s customer satisfaction survey. His report and others led to the hotel winning Marriott Corp.’s Gold Award for customer satisfaction in its first year.

Guests lauded the hotel for its service, and one dubbed it “the best Marriott I have ever stayed at.”

The UD hotel, which opened last fall, consistently ranked high in Marriott’s customer surveys between January and June. At the end of August, the Courtyard Newark was ranked third out of 618 Courtyard properties.

“It is great recognition of our staff because the thousands of interactions that they have with the customers are really what make us winners of the award,’’ Bill Sullivan, managing director of the hotel, said.

Photo by Kathy F. Atkinson

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