Dear readers: What do you expect from your hotel when you interact with its Twitter, Facebook, FourSquare or other social media accounts?
Do you expect your hotel to fix the excruciatingly slow Wi-Fi connection ASAP? Or hope you can get loyalty points to make up for an unwanted middle-of-the-night wake-up call? Or, most often, do simply seek some local information?
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I'm raising this question after reading a piece on HotelMarketing.com that asks hotels, "What's the problem?," which indicates that there is a problem.
It seems that some hotels don't do social media at all, while others are - gasp! - lazy about it, ignoring various accounts they'd set up to chat with guests or potential guests.
Facebook buddies weigh in
So I sought feedback yesterday from the experts - Hotel Check-In readers I communicate with regularly on Facebook.
Reader Bernard Grogan says he expects to learn about special deals and packages when interacting with hotels via social media.
Reader and technology expert Nan Palmero says he'd never considered most of the options I'd included on my Facebook post.
"It seems that people on Twitter and Facebook would know how to find all that info, so they'd just use the tools to reach out for help or to compliment when it's not able to be Googled," says Palmero, chief inspiration officer at Salesby5.
Shashi Bellamkonda, a social media expert and adjunct professor at Georgetown University, says he's most likely to rave about a positive hotel experience when he "talks" to a hotel via social media.
He'll also turn to a hotel's social media channels when encountering a real-time problem in a hotel. But when it comes to a truly bad experience, he usually tells a manager or sends an email instead of broadcasting it via social media.
Like Bellamkonda, I recently like to share good news when I find it. About a week ago, I used FourSquare to digitally check into the Holiday Inn Express at John F. Kennedy International Airport the night before we flew to Park City, Utah. As part of my check-in, I wrote that a particular front desk clerk was making our check-in easy - though, honestly, I was hoping the info might prove useful to future customers vs. corporate headquarters.
Travel writer Carol Margolis says she sometimes uses social media to ask a hotel the best way to arrive from the airport, or she'll ask a hotel brand's account if there's a location nearby that she couldn't find online.
Bottom line: Hotels that take a lazy approach to social media are missing out on chances to impress their guests - and, perhaps, potential guests.
Readers: The following will take poll form shortly, but for now...
Q: What is your priority when you interact with a hotel via its Twitter, Facebook or other social media account? (Keep in mind that we're limited to five options on the poll; if you don't see your No. 1 priority, please write it in via Facebook.)
- Get tips about the restaurant/bar, local events, hidden gems, etc...
- Learn about weather/traffic/parking/taxis near the hotel
- Have an urgent problem in the hotel fixed ASAP
- Rant or rave about your hotel experience
- See/share photos of the hotel property and/or area
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