I’ve been in marketing and communications for the past ten years and I must admit that marketing mistakes have been made. For example, there was the time I left the “L” out of the word “Public” on that full page ad. In a similar (yet more automated) fail, Doubletree Hotel (Hilton) just showed up as the Promoted Tweet on Twitter for the new trending topic, “#WorstHotelEver.”
Minutes after @TheBloggess started live tweeting her dismal hotel experience, her loyal fans started sharing their bad hotel experiences using the “#WorstHotelEver” hashtag. Mix 240,000 loyal blogger fans with a lazy Sunday afternoon and you end up with a global trending topic.
If you were Hilton Hotels, what would you do next after finding out about this automated blunder?
A) Ignore and deflect
B) Acknowledge and laugh it off with others
C) Start a “tell us your ‘worst hotel ever’ story” promotion for a chance at a 5 night’s stay in one of the lovely DoubleTree hotels.
Here’s The Bloggess’s post on the oopsie:
With great power…comes insanely funny chaos.