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February 21, 2010

Whistle while you tweet!

For the first time in my life, I have wielded the power of Twitter.

I have summoned the forces of the twittersphere and unleashed them on a corporate behemoth.

And obtained nothing.

Sunday, after checking into the hotel where Mr. A's conference is located, the Union Square Hilton, I noticed the room had no wifi. Only cable internet. This is a hotel that caters to a business crowd. No wifi? Even the $58/night hotel down the street had free wifi.

It was raining Sunday, and I had to do some research (preparing a proposal for a new project I'm hoping to start working on soon, and finding out what cafes to go to this week.)

Since I've been more active on Twitter lately, I decided to play the part. This was my tweet:

It's not my style to complain publicly as a first recourse, but if all the cool kids are doing it, well then...

The next day (today, that is) I got a response:

I wrote back something friendly. Would they meet nice with nice or just walk away, relieved?

The lackluster response:

Not the answer I was hoping for. More like: "No wifi? Of course we do! There's a network we don't advertise. Connect to Superfast343." or "Sorry your experience wasn't outstanding. Here's a coupon for a free coffee downstairs, where we do have wifi." I dunno.

If I really wanted to make a fuss and get my way, I would ask for a different room or seek some kind of compensation. But right now I'm not in the mood to do that. I'm not gung ho about having in-room wifi, mainly because I didn't come to SF to surf the net from my hotel room.

I guess there's some comfort in knowing that, as a consumer, I can at least convey my displeasure and be heard. Even if there's no resolution now, the potential is there, next time I'm in a real bind.

Seller beware.

Speaking of twitter, now you know I tweet! If you want to connect, add me and I'll add you too! I'm @dailyasker.
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