All powerful TweetDeck -A very interesting situation happened to me the other day, and after the events rolled out positively the way they did, I realized that it could have had a totally different outcome. Using Twitter for “Good or Evil”.
The situation – my Mother wanted to take her two sisters visiting from The Netherlands, for a night in Toronto. Of course I suggested that they go to a very well known, historical and exclusive hotel – The Royal York. My husband and I helped them to book into a nice room, we were satisfied that we were helping them to get an “experience”. WELL let me tell you, an experience it was! Needless to say, when my Mom arrived home the next day and told me what happened, I was shocked, surprised and down right appalled. Though my Mother did speak to the front desk just before she left the hotel, and they kindly gave my aunts and Mom a complimentary breakfast. I told her – NOT ENOUGH!!!! I Tweeted my anger.
Here is the dilemma I am in – did I do this for good? – to let others know what potentially they may find at Royal York Hotel in Toronto and to help my Mom feel like her bad experience was somewhat eased? OR did I do this for evil – knowing full well the damage that this could potentially do to the hotels reputation?
Why didn’t I call the customer service line to voice my complaint and anger? Why didn’t I pen a very strong and seething email? Why did I take 10 seconds and type 140 characters of anger and then say “take that RYH”? Lazy? Easy? or Powerful?
Did I expect a response? I hoped for one, but was not sure if Royal York Hotel and The Fairmont monitored tweets – and YES they do, and within 30 minutes I received and invitation to talk to them to discuss a resolution. Within a few hours, the conversation had happened and they were more than considerate and generous with their resolution, and my Mother is very satisfied that her complaint was dealt with.
Has society (online anyway) created more than three ways to file a complaint (in person, on the phone and by email – I mean who writes a letter anymore?). We have built another communication channel to deal with customer service issues - and it worked.
What if I didn’t get a response? I am a great heroine to the world for letting them know what kind of surprises you might find in a hotel room, even a hotel like The Royal York (I will now forever check behind the window curtains the second I step into a hotel room).
I realize that the outcome of this story was a happy ending and was handled with great tactfulness by The Royal York Hotel in Toronto. But that doesn’t help me sleep any better at night asking myself – Did I Tweet for Good or for Evil?
Labels: opinion, social media