Recent reports have publicised how Camilla Luddington, star of US TV series Grey’s Anatomy, has expressed and shared her ‘disgust’ over a problem experienced with service at the luxury Coworth Park Hotel in Ascot.
Setting aside the specifics of the problem, the ‘Twitter storm’ that rapidly enveloped Coworth Park demonstrates yet again that social media has to be handled with care and attention at all times. Some points that arise:
- SOS – speed of storm: customers can express their feelings almost instantly. Within seconds of a problem arising, they can share it with friends and contacts, who then pass it on. ‘SOS’ expresses how it can feel if you or your organisation is on the ‘wrong’ end of this process.
- SOR – speed of reaction: it’s essential to be monitoring social media at all times, so that you can respond fast – very fast! If you don’t react fast, the storm is left to grow at great pace.
- QOR – quality of reaction: once the storm is out there, you have to be seen to be quickly, fully and satisfactorily resolving the problem – even if the customer is not entirely ‘in the right’. Remember: you want all those followers and retweeters to see a positive outcome that does not leave the story out there growing.
- Remember – it’s not just about public personalities attracting attention: Twitter has many users that have hundreds or even thousands of Followers, who can very rapidly generate a ‘storm’.
Prevention the priority
Whether you call it ‘guest experience’ or ‘customer satisfaction’, it’s top priority. It is now necessary always to be aware that any hospitality service or establishment can find itself the subject of social media feedback, comment and – in the worst cases – ‘storm’.
The days of the ‘reticent’ British customer are over: they may not complain to you directly, but social media means they can complain with even greater and more adverse effect.
The Twitter Trail
The Camilla Luddington Twitter trail began on Monday 25 November when she shared her feelings over service received at the Coworth Park Hotel, Ascot – with her 121,937 followers.
Luddington tweeted at 11:30am: “Dear @CoworthParkUK I booked my single mum sis in for a massage she had to cancel because her son was in the HOSPITAL!now you are refusing… To let her rebook. I will NEVER book @CoworthParkUK again.Absolutely terrible.I will let everyone know how little u care about ur clientele”
In turn, her fans shared her outrage at the hotel – which itself has 3951 Twitter followers – with more than 500 retweets plus messages of support.
“Please can every1 RT my last 2 tweets. I want that hotel to know how disgusted I am. A gift card that was supposed2be a treat for her ruined,” ran a later tweet.
It took Coworth Park over two hours to respond – @Coworth Park replied: “We’re very sorry to read this & are looking into it. Please DM us your contact details so we can be in touch. Thank you”
The following day, Luddington Tweeted that the hotel had sorted out the problem: “Contacted my sis&apologized. She has been reimbursed her gift”.
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