Brands using Twitter should know - It is a double edge sword. Once you are in, you can't go out.

Positive Example - Kimpton Hotel

I was very unhappy with the first night at Kimpton's:

After this incident, I asked for the hotel's manager address, and emailed him a complaint. Still angry, I looked for executives in Kimpton chain, and found Niki Leondakis, the hotel's COO. The only way I could reach out to her was through a form in their site.

I hate these forms. They are not personal, and make me feel like I am in a test or something.

Quick twitter search revealed her twitter user name. So I sent a message addressed to her (@), stating that I was very unhappy with their service. Less than an hour later she replied me, followed me and sent me her contact details using direct message. From that point onward things went smoothly with the hotel staff and we reached a resolution for the weekend incident. Only later the hotel's twitter team (yes, they have something like that) reached out.

The fact that an executive from the company was involved in resolving the situation, and that I had direct connection to her, improved my overall views on this hotel.

Another place you can't leave

Negative Example - Roger Smith Hotel

Yes, I praised them in the past, but recently they turned bad. In the last trip I tried reaching out for them several times on Twitter without success.

Conclusions

1. Twitter can save your public image and increase customer satisfaction if used right - Niki's Twitter responses turned me from an unsatisfied customer to a one writing this post.

2. Once your are in, you can't go out - Roger Smith's past twitter activity make their customer expect them to be responsive on this platform. When they stopped being responsive, they caused disappointment more than anything else, bigger than if they weren't active at all on twitter.

What are your customer related Twitter experiences?

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