Marriott gets it!

So, I'm stuck in the third circle of hell (also known as Dallas-Fort Worth Airport), due to weather delays, along with 10,000 of my closest sweaty angry friends.  11 pm, no flights, no cabs, no hotels. Trying to get to Austin.  Grr.

I call the Marriott service line. They do everything right.

1. They find me a hotel room in Dallas.
2. They waive the cancellation fee for my room in Austin (where I was supposed to be).  Any other chain would have stuck me with the cancellation fee and charged me for the new room.  And the new room was cheaper.

I share a cab with to the hotel with another strandee (a total stranger). We get to the Marriott Courtyard Dallas NW Hwy. at Stemmons/I-35E. It's midnight.

1. They give her a room at my corporate rate, with no reservation.
2. They give us toothpaste, etc.
3. They arrange cabs rides to the airport in the AM.
4. Then Kim, the night desk clerk -- GOES AND FINDS US COOKIES.  I'm pretty sure that they were from her personal lunch. 

Someone at Marriott, please give Kim a raise or a few days of paid vacation.   

Most hotel chains would have stuck me with the cancellation fee, made me may some ripoff last-minute rate, would have stuck my fellow traveler with a worse rate, and generally given us a hard time.

The Lesson:  Extraordinary service get extraordinary word of mouth.  But all my experience with Marriott tells me that extraordinary service is an everyday thing.