My article on www.hotelexecutive.com on managing crises in the era of social media was published this month, and raises the question not so much about the accuracy of information posted on a property’s official Facebook or Twitter account, but rather on the timeliness of each update. When handling a crisis, fans and followers expect consistent and timely updates to an issue and what immediate steps are underway to resolve the problem. Case in point: the Marriott hotels in Jakarta just last month utilized Twitter in a very effective way.
Yet, some hotels - mostly independent hotels at this point - remain skeptical in using social media as proactive communications tool. At the same time, those hotels that have started up Facebook/Twitter/LinkedIn accounts and have left them idle is like ignoring their existing, and potential guests.