I'm currently enjoying a special experience courtesy of a company that recognizes and supports its enthusiastic customers. They provide a service and are about to launch a new offering. Instead of just dropping the new thing into the market, they emailed me (and a number of other highly-engaged customers who tweet about them and otherwise get involved) and gave me a free weekend of the new thing. It's freaking amazing and I'm looking forward to being able to tell everyone I know about it once the launch happens.<p>It's also much easier to forgive faults and lapses when a company has engaged you in the past. I certainly don't expect every interaction with a business to be perfect, but when they have good service recovery and make me feel appreciated, I'm not going to get bent out of shape if something is amiss. For example, Starwood has done a great job of making sure I enjoy the many nights I spend in hotels. It's not always perfect, but their expert handling of the times it has been imperfect are actually what make me loyal to them when I have options on where to stay.