Everyone wants to go that extra mile when it comes to customer service but staff at one Shropshire hotel seem to be getting into a habit of literally going hundreds of extra miles!
It has become a running joke that staff at The Buckatree Hall Hotel near Wellington are driving up and down the country for their customers.
The most recent trip came on Friday when one of their guests had suffered a fall whilst visiting Ironbridge and could not comfortably travel back to her home in Manchester on a coach.
Wayne Jenson, general manager of The Buckatree Hall Hotel, knew the answer and offered for one of his staff, Martin Vickers, to personally chauffeur 85-year-old Shelagh Atherton and her cousin Margaret Baxter, 87, to their doors.
It comes after staff have previously been known to deliver a wedding cake back to a bride and groom to their home in Southampton after the happy couple realised they would face difficulty in transporting their wedding presents, luggage and wedding cake back on a train as planned.
Mr Jenson also recently took a guest back to his home in Northampton after his wife had suffered a heart attack and was admitted to the Princess Royal Hospital and the coach trip they were on was due to stop at several more places before they would arrive back home.
Mr Jenson took the man home to collect his car and get the appropriate clothing so he could come back and visit his wife in hospital.
Before leaving for her home in Manchester, Mrs Atherton said: “I have never come across such amazing customer service in a hotel before and I have stayed in a few in my 80 odd years.
“Everybody has been fabulous. On the short coach trip back from Ironbridge I was in such pain I said I couldn’t travel back home on it and we would have to get a taxi which would have been very expensive.
“Martin’s offer to drive us back is unbelievable. Every member of staff has been wonderful. It is our first time visiting Shropshire and based on such wonderful hospitality and care we will definitely be back.”
Mrs Baxter said they were very lucky to be chauffeur driven back by the Buckatree Hall Hotel staff.
“The hotel is absolutely perfect – we cannot fault anything at all – the cleanliness, the location and especially the staff. I know people say you should go the extra mile when it comes to customer service but the Buckatree really have,” she said.
Mr Jenson, the hotel general manager, said: “This is getting a bit of habit now – from taking a bride and groom to Southampton so their cake survived the journey, to the gentleman who faced a day of excursions before he would have got home whilst his wife was poorly in hospital, to our latest guest with her bad back – we have done hundreds of miles.
“When people are enjoying their holiday here in Shropshire the last thing we want is for them to leave with a bad memory due to illness or a fall so we always ensure we make it as easy as possible to return home safely.
“A lot of our clientele are of the older generation visiting on coach trips so people becoming ill or suffering an injury whilst out and about can happen and I feel it is my responsibility as their host to get them home in one piece and with a smile on their face.
“It is imperative that they arrive home wanting to return to Shropshire again!”