A family received a sweet gesture from hotel staff after the passing of an elderly loved one, something one of the family's members called "so kind."
Frank Anthony Bombaci, who is from Connecticut but lives in Louisiana, recently lost his grandmother Frances. Before her passing, Bombaci's father had been staying quite often at the Courtyard Hartford Farmington, a Marriott hotel in Farmington, Connecticut.
After Frances' death, Bombaci's father received a card expressing sympathy from the staff at the hotel, saying that it has been their "privilege" to support him during his stays there.
"My first reaction was appreciation because I saw how much it meant to my dad," Bombaci told Newsweek. "Even though my grandma was 100 and it was expected, he's had a really stressful time with it all."
Bombaci shared a photo of the card on Reddit in a post that received over 10,000 upvotes. The photo shows the message written in the card.
It reads: "We are deeply sorry for the loss of your beloved mother. Reaching the remarkable age of 100 is a reflection of a life filled with wisdom, love and countless memories cherished. We hope those memories bring you peace and comfort in the days ahead."
Newsweek has contacted the hotel for further comment via email.
"I thought it could resonate with strangers all over the world," Bombaci told Newsweek, speaking of his reasons for sharing the card's message.
In the comments section of the post, he added: "I'd never seen or heard of a hotel doing something so kind. It could be seen like a small gesture but it goes a very long way."
One hundred is an age that not many people live long enough to see. The number of citizens in the U.S. over 100 as recently as 2021 was about 0.027 percent of the population, according to the United States Employment Security Commission.
The Reddit post received quite a response from users, with people sharing their reactions to the gesture from the thoughtful hotel staff.
"I was staying in a hotel two weeks ago to attend my grandfather's funeral. After the funeral I grabbed a quiet drink by myself at the hotel bar. The usual chit chat occurred between me and the bartender and I told him I was in town for the funeral. He gave me a free drink. That was super nice," u/blazinazn007 wrote.
User u/Sadutote commented: "Your dad must've been a pleasant person for those people as well."
"That's really kind of them. Sometimes when we're grieving, even the smallest of gestures mean multitudes," said user u/WomanOfEld.
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