“The best customer service is if the customer doesn’t need to call you, doesn’t need to talk to you. It just works.” – Jeff Bezos
Thank goodness for fast shipping! That’s the voice of someone who clearly is not excited about the opportunity to leave you blushing with great customer service.
I have worked in the hospitality industry for over fifteen years. My passion is customer service. Nothing brings me more joy in this industry than making a guests stay memorable. When we train new associates to describe the level of customer service, we aim to provide it was described as follows: When a guest gets home and they tell their friends and family about their trip, our hotel should be one of the highlights that gets mentioned. We need to make this a positive memory for every guest who chooses to stay with us!
I have been in hospitality long before social justice had a big impact on how we conducted our operations in terms of customer service. It was all word of mouth, you would have to wait for the guest to get back home, wait for their next gathering of friends and family, before everyone got to talk about the experience. By then they either forgot the great stay they had. Because it easier to remember to talk about the good times. If it was a bad experience, they had a chance to cool down a little before sharing the story.
Now (and forever moving forward) they will have a chance to share that experience before getting out of the elevator (assuming the hotel has good Wi-Fi).
Somewhere along the way things changed how people viewed their experiences, and how they felt about sharing the experience. It slowly transformed from a yelp review. Letting other travelers know what to expect. Possibly a google review, sometimes this was either a rave review or a subtle warning to be wary of a situation they experienced during their travel.
Although these are still review sites these felt like a much larger used medium in the earlier stages of online story sharing. Then Facebook really gave a more connected feeling to communicationg with your reviewed choice. You could share both with your followers and get the attention of the business. It became a more interactive medium where if needed you could have a larger exchange. Previously it was leave a review, get a response, and everyone went on their way. After that we just started tweeting, posting, sharing, snapping, etc…
Personal opinion is that we as consumers have gotten a little angrier and attention seeking in our intents of using social media as a tool for sharing experiences with businesses. Nothing gets more attention than a bad story or something gone wrong these days. While I still agree, that someone needs to share their experience. We do need to remember to have poise and control. In an event of a negative experience the organization should be using this as a teachable moment to 1st correct the experience and recognize your value as a consumer. 2nd as a teachable moment to make sure this does not negatively impact further experiences.
Now for the response teams, the customer service representatives.
Below, this response comes from the actual property GM. Posting through his personal account. This representative is posting on the behalf of the business, and he is not being very perceptive to their concerns!
Media teams and customer service professionals you are not off the hook. Here is where we need to recognize the opportunity we have now in this stage to make that great image right away. Stay with the tools your valued consumers are using. Use the feedback they give and celebrate with them the praise when they acknowledge your greatness.
Here is a backwards acknowledgement. It is saying we are sorry, but also (if I were the guest receiving this response) telling them they should be happy because they got an early check-in.
I looked around at local hotel Facebook pages in the local area. I can see the reviews are less as time passed, but more disappointing was the responses that were given to previous guests who were leaving reviews. Many went unanswered. A good customer service team has a media team that monitors this feedback. Thanks and acknowledges the guests and helps bring that feedback to the teams to correct or celebrate the experiences shared.
Below, is a simple and great start to addressing someone sharing their feedback. It can be this simple to make a traveler feel valued.
In Conclusion, we are in a state where we all have access to help each other to make all of our lives easier and brighter in the future. Perhaps my mentioned opinion regarding consumer attitudes was bred from a lack a good customer service and they are fed up!
“Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning.”
Bill Gates
This guy got it!!
Eagle Social 
Great story about your hospital experience. The ability to talk about your experience has really changed over the years. Now that the entire world can see what one person talks about, it becomes more important than ever to make sure you have good customer service to make sure you have people talking bad about your company to a minimum.
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