Reading My Mail

If you, like me, enjoy stories told by correspondence, I think you will like this one.  Let me know if you do?

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From: m b
Sent: Thursday, July 26, 2012 4:03 PM
To: Juli Lederhaus
Subject: Thank you for a wonderful stay at the Hawthorne!

 

Dear Juli,

 

My husband and I had the pleasure of staying at the Hawthorne, July 22-25 this week and I wanted to tell you what a fantastic experience it was. We had stayed there several times about 15 years ago and what a difference! (we also used to live in Marblehead).

 

We had recently lost three pets in a row, 1 cat and our beloved senior dogs two weeks apart and we needed a much needed getaway with our remaining pooch. We felt so welcome as soon as we arrived with Sailor, our Golden Retriever, with her special toy, etc.

 

Your front desk staff especially Sarah and Leah were fabulous as well as every other member of your team that we encountered. I was in the hotel business for 20 years and I can see when management takes huge pride in their property!

 

Many thanks again for making our 18th wedding anniversary as well as "relief from our grief" a reality.

 

Here's some pics of Sailor, who by the way I posted on my Facebook page too!! Though you might enjoy them! We already booked for a weekend in December!

 

Sincerely,

 

Lorraine, Jack and Sailor M.

"Sailor" loves his HH dog toy!

 

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-----Original Message-----
From: Juli Lederhaus 
To: mb
Sent: Thu, Jul 26, 2012 4:23 pm
Subject: RE: Thank you for a wonderful stay at the Hawthorne!

Dear Mr. and Mrs. Meaney and Sailor:

 

Wow, what a wonderful way to make my day!  I love getting letters like this one, but in particular your email brought a small tear to my eye, and here is why.  My husband, Walt, and I have always had several dogs at a time.  About 18 years ago we lost three of the four little long-haired mini-dachshunds that we had, all right in a row, one week apart, all from different causes.  It was one of the saddest times of our lives. Having at least one dog left was important to us, and we showered her with love, but she became lethargic and unhappy without other dogs to be in her pack, so we got her two new buddies, which we recently lost over the past several years.

 

I fully understand what you are going through, and am so happy that you chose our hotel as a getaway place, and that you and Sailor were all treated so well.  I would never manage hotel that wasn’t pet-friendly!  I know that our canine and feline and other “friends” are so important in our lives, and I like making a safe haven for all here at the Hawthorne Hotel.

 

I wonder if you would be okay with my reprinting your letter and Sailor’s photos in our daily “blog” that I write for the Hawthorne Hotel?  I completely understand if you are shy about that kind of thing, but we would be very happy if you let me share this story.  May I?

 

Not to leave requests to just one, I also wonder if you would be as kind as to write a TripAdvisor review for us?  We know that sometimes people use forums like TripAdvisor only when they are upset about something, but not so easily when they are happy, which can tend to skew the results.  Since many people use on-line research in order to determine where to stay, getting the reviews to properly reflect the experience of all guests means we need to reach out to the satisfied guests this way.

 

Thank you again for making my day.  I will be sure to share your story with the rest of our Hawthorne Hotel team, and we will also make sure that Leah and Sarah receive a little bonus for making your stay such a special one.

Juli

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Dear Juli,

First and foremost, please call us Jack and Lorraine as I feel like we are friends. 

Now you have brought a tear to my eye, as losing dogs so close together like that is so very hard to take you almost end up saying "what the hell happened and why didn't I see this?" But we go on and get other dogs, not to replace them, but to lift our hearts again. Now if you can only convince Jack to let me get another for Sailor... Still working on that one! LOL I volunteer for Golden Retriever Rescue and it's so hard seeing these precious souls being given up for one reason or another.

I digress.... I would be honored for you to put our letter in your blog with Sailors pictures. Very nice of you to do that. Leah also gave me the trip advisor card when we were checking out and I plan on going online today to do that (if we don't lose power! lots of storms heading here!) I will make sure it's done though as you're right, when someone has a complaint, they are in such a hurry to tell the world, well I am in a hurry to tell the world what a fantastic hotel the Hawthorne is!

As we speak, Sailor is running around the house with her Hawthorne Hotel "Woobie" squeaking away!

Best to you Juli, if you need me to write anything about our stay please let me know. I hope to meet you on Nov 30th when we come again!!

Lorraine

PS We had many guests come up to us (as Leah and Sarah will attest) and loved seeing Sailor, but about every other person asked if this was a dog friendly hotel and they didn't know it and left their dogs home to other caretakers. I wonder why as you room service menu etc.. But I assured them it was. 

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I hope to see you here,

Juli