We took the Whistler Mountaineer this morning from Vancouver to Whistler. The trip takes something like two hours by car, but three and a half by train. I thought it was odd that the train took longer, until I realized that they go slow (sometimes stopping) so that you can enjoy the often-spectacular scenery. More on the wonderful train ride another day.

Arriving in Whistler, our “room” at the Four Seasons Whistler was a bit more than we bargained for, having gotten bumped up to a multi-room, aptly-named “Deluxe Executive Suite”.

The room is amazing. At 800 sq. ft., it's almost as big as the two-bedroom apartment I rented in California before I got married. It is certainly the nicest hotel room I will ever step foot in.

Two bathrooms, two showers, one bath, two bedrooms (the living room converting with a hide-a-bed), wonderful mountain views from all windows, tons of storage, and exquisite and impeccable styling and detail everywhere. There's nothing the least bit wrong with this room. It's amazing. It's such a contrast to the utter dump that is the Sheraton Suites Hotel in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio that we had the unfortunate experience to stay at two years ago.

I do feel a bit iffy about how we ended up with this room. As I'd mentioned, we'd come on the Whistler Mountaineer train, which arrives at noon every day. Every customer that arrives by train arrives to the hotel at about 12:30. There's just one train, at the same time. Every day. It didn't even cross my mind that hotels doing business in this little resort town wouldn't accommodate that very specific schedule, so I was shocked when the train's shuttle dropped us off at 12:30 to check in, and we were told that our room wouldn't be ready until the 3:00 check-in time.

Now, I should state here that it's my own fault for not paying attention to the check-in time, but really, it's a remarkably stupid business decision. The train arrives at the same time every day.

So, we had two and a half hours to kill, so we wandered to the restaurant to eat. While waiting for the food, I stole away to have a chat with a manager, to ask whether they knew about the really famous train that arrives at noon every day. Wouldn't it be smarter for business to accommodate that schedule? A 3pm check-in time says “don't stay here if you take the train.”

He suggested that if we'd asked for an early check-in, they would have tried to accommodate it, and indeed, it's my own fault for not even thinking about it. Still, the concierge at the Four Seasons in Vancouver helped us with our arrangements to arrive up here, and didn't warn us that the schedule would result in two and a half hours of dead time.

Anyway, I learned my lesson to be sure to check the check-in time, even when it seems like it should obviously be okay.

In looking to see when our room would be ready, he noticed that our reservation was for a room with two small twin beds, which is all Fumie could get when she booked it. He suggested that we'd be more comfortable in a room with a king, and I immediately interjected that I didn't come to talk to him because I was trying to get something. I came because a business had made a poor decision that I was affected by, and I wanted them to know. I was pleasant, but informative; if no one tells them, how would they know?

He said that the thought of moving to a bigger room was unrelated – he wanted his customers to be comfortable – so he'd look into it while we ate. I don't believe for a moment that it's unrelated, so half of me wants to pay for it to preserve some kind of standard of conduct for myself, but there's no way I could afford this amazing suite of rooms.

As Seth Godin says, good marketing is all about delight, and in this case, wow, we're delighted.