On Wednesday I ranted about the small towels at my New York hotel. On Thursday, the Director of Public Relations for the Affinia Hotels responded by leaving a comment on my blog.
My name is Brooke Jennings Roe, and I am the Director of Public Relations with Affinia Hotels. I recently came across your blog and wanted to respond immediately to your concerns. We appreciate this type of feedback so much and take it very seriously. I have reached out to our hotels and based on your comments, we are re-looking at our linen supply company (specifically to help upgrade the towels). In addition, and I couldn't agree with you more, since one of the many guilty pleasures in life is to enjoy time in a hotel in a comfy bathrobe, we will be adding this to our My Affinia program and can be requested at any time. Hopefully this will allow you to more fully enjoy the other unique amenities in the My Affinia customization program while meeting your immediate needs first. Look for the evolved program in the next month or so and we hope that you will come back and visit soon! If you would like to reach me directly, my e-mail address is [email protected]. Thanks again for bringing your experience to our attention.
While I am delighted that the next time I check into an Affinia Hotel I will know that I will have a lovely bathrobe hanging up in the closet, the bathrobe is besides the point. Prior to blogs I probably would have shared my towel rant with friends over a glass of wine when the topics of hotels came up and the hotel would have had little power or ability to respond to my disappointment because I would not have shared it with them. It would have been a lose lose for both of us.
In the old days, I rarely completed comment cards. Like many consumers, pre-social media, I had been conditioned to believe that comment cards hold little or no influence with policy making because rarely heard back from companies and if in the off chance I did, it was the customary form response," Thank you for your comments, we will share it with management." And then, of course, you never heard another word about the situation.
Social media changes all that. Having public conversations about service, quality, or an experience in a hotel is very different than having a customer send in a comment card.
I like to think that the Affinia Hotels responded in such a positive manner to my mini rant because my basic suggestion does have merit.It fits in with their brand and they do have the My Affinia program designed to customize a guest's stay.
A part of me did the mini rant because I was curious whether or not Affinia Hotels is paying attention to what customers are saying about them online. While it might seem like an obvious, there are still many, many companies that don't understand the importance of listening to online conversations. I'm glad Affinia is not one of them, and I'm doubly glad that by listening I'm get a comfy cozy bathrobe the next time I stay there.
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