James SpillaneI work in social media every day so I get to see all the examples of what works and what doesn’t all the time but yesterday I had first hand experience of what a truly social organisation is all about. I’ve just spent two days at the IQPC CMO Exchange conference in London. Yesterday I took part in a panel discussion with Rebecca Jones, Head of Marketing Planning at BBC Worldwide, and Yann Gourvennec, Director of Web Digital Media & Social Media at Orange Group. The whole conference took place in the Hilton Tower Bridge hotel which is a really stylish venue should you be looking for a place to stay in London.
That said, their wi-fi policy needs some work. They charge you once for wi-fi in your room using iBahn as the operator and then again if you want to use it downstairs in the conference facilities where they have another supplier BT OpenZone. As a guest, I thought this was pretty crazy. I don’t want to pay twice to use the wi-fi in one location! It should work across the hotel.
I approached reception to complain. They apologised and offered me a 90 minute voucher as compensation. I needed access for the whole day and I had already paid for it! I don’t blame the receptionist. She wasn’t empowered to do anything more.
So what would any social nut with something to say do? Turn to Twitter.
At 11:38 UK time I tweeted that I was unimpressed with the service.
Hilton’s social media team picked this up and within 1 hour I had a support ticket number and an email from Terence in the US telling me that they’ve contacted the local management team to address this immediately.
By 14:00 in the afternoon when I went to check-out the wi-fi charge had been removed from my bill and I had an email from both the Hilton Tower Bridge management apologising for the disappointment and another from Terence checking if everything had been resolved to my satisfaction.
How cool is that? Now it doesn’t resolve the issue (so I hope they take the feedback and sort it out because it still is a little crazy asking guests to pay twice) but I’m left super impressed at the response rate at which Hilton ‘heard’ me and responded. Well done Hilton Hotels!
Tribal Tip: Listen to what’s being said about your brand on Twitter and respond accordingly. Don’t ignore it.
As an aside, Grecotel Resorts (@GrecotelResorts) obviously didn’t hear my tweet about having a bath tub without taps at the Sounio resort in Greece…most bizarre considering their supposed to be a luxury spa brand!
This article was written for Business 2 Community by James Spillane.
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Yes – WiFi charges is a major bug bearer for hotel visitors and delegates. Trust me it is not just restricted to Hilton. We book hotels and venues worldwide for clients’ conferences and events and even with an upfront booking brief there can be lots of hidden charges re internet connections. Completely unnecessary as it can really cause delegate and organiser dissatisfaction for what is a relatively small income stream to the venue. At Hotel Desk we have to work in our clients’ interests and we request info about such charges upfront, negotiate and include in the venue booking contract. However well done to @HiltonOnline!