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Congratulations to the 2011 Service Excellence Celebration Winner for ComfortCountry: Marmora Inn Bed & Breakfast

County Warden Joanne Albert presents Marmora Inn proprietors Kathy and Rui Pereira with their service excellence award. Photo: Richard Turtle

Marmora Inn B&B lauded for service. By Richard Turtle.

Marmora – Business owners Rui and Kathy Pereira, who operate the Marmora Inn Bed and Breakfast, were honoured last week for their outstanding commitment to customer service. In a celebration of service excellence, local officials presented the couple with the customer submission contest’s grand prize after reviewing comments from those who chose to write of their experiences with area businesses.

Representatives from the awards organizing groups, including Community Futures Development Corporation, ComfortCountry and the EMC, were greeted by Marmora Inn staff and given a glimpse of the services provided there last Wednesday during presentation ceremonies. Community Futures General Manager Bob Cloes says customer service excellence is a key component to a successful business and a sometimes undervalued element that, instead, is well worth celebrating. And through the first Service Excellence Celebration and the presentation of this year’s award, he notes, the idea of making that extra effort for the customer gets some well-deserved attention and recognition.

Among those in attendance was County Warden Joanne Albert who agrees the Service Excellence Celebration provides another opportunity to promote individual businesses as well as the area and the range of services and attractions here. In presenting the award, which also comes with free advertising in one edition of the EMC newspaper and in the visitor’s guide, a Service Excellence logo and unchallenged bragging rights, Jim Bakker says it was no easy decision with submissions reflecting “some outstanding businesses” in the area of ComfortCountry and North Hastings. But, he says, the letter from customers of the Marmora Inn had the “wow factor” that tipped the balance. “There were some really great ones,” Bakker says of the customer comments and letters received, “but this one stood out.” Community Futures Chair Rob Price also praised the Pereiras and their commitment to offering an experience that ranks “with the highest class of hotel chains.”

In accepting the award, Rui Pereira says it is particularly gratifying to know that patrons are so impressed by the standards set at the Inn, which opened about two and a half years ago. Service has always been a key ingredient in the hospitality industry, explains the former Toronto area chef, and for the Pereiras, making the extra effort is simply part of business as usual. The Pereiras were also honoured this week in Bancroft where Community Futures named the Marmora Inn B&B its Business of the Year.

County Warden Joanne Albert presents Marmora Inn proprietors Kathy and Rui Pereira with their service excellence award. Photo: Richard Turtle