Holiday from Hell - opportunity lost to protect your reputation

Flying home from a "Holiday From Hell" gave me time to reflect on how proactive communication could have protected the reputations of the travel company and hotel involved.

For many families the October half term heralded a much-longed for week of sunshine on the island of Lanzerote - and my family was one of them.

Returning to a favourite hotel we looked forward to a week of fun, however what we got was days spent indoors as we were hit by a stomach bug that quickly spread throughout the hotel's guests.

It won't be the first hotel in a warm climate to have such an outbreak, and it certainly won't be the first such incident the travel company has had to deal with - but they clearly haven't learned lessons from previous experiences.

Choosing to deal with complaints on an individual basis and not taking proactive action to inform and reassure holiday makers was the wrong response. As a result frustration among the guests spread almost as quickly as the stomach bug, and they bombarded Trip Advisor with negative comments about the hotel and travel company's management of the situation.

But it all could have been so different.

Leaflets delivered to each room giving information on the situation and health advice on what to do if guests contracted the bug, posters explaining what was being done to improve cleaning, information on the nearest pharmacy and doctor, and even anti-bacterial gel available throughout the hotel (although no substitute for hand washing). These simple and visible actions would have gone a long way to reassuring holiday markers that the travel company and hotel cared about their welfare and were taking action to address the problem.

It may even have reduced the number of negative comments on Trip Advisor that will undoubtedly persuade many would-be holidays makers not to choose the hotel for their 2017 break.

Lack of proactive communication can have severe financial and reputational consequences for businesses. So if Thomas Cook or the HD Hotel Group would like some advice or training on how to better handle such a situation in the future I'd be happy to help.

For professional strategic communication advice and support contact Sentry PR on 0780 7671728 or check out our website www.sentrypr.co.uk