Twitter, Cornbread, & a Powerful Customer Experience May 11th, 2009 by Lauren McKay

Tweet

I’m officially impressed.

About four months back, while staying at the Gaylord National for a conference, I was Twittering back and forth with a coworker about craving cornbread. I can’t remember the context exactly, but I said something to the degree of “Too bad there’s probably no cornbread to be found in this resort in Maryland.”

Spoke too soon…

Within minutes of that post, @GaylordPalms responded with an @ message, telling me where in the hotel I could find cornbread. The Twitterer even told me they could have it wrapped up so I could take it to the airport. Unfortunately, I didn’t get the message in time and had already left for the airport. No cornbread for me, but I was wowed by the quick response by whomever was tweeting on behalf of Gaylord. I, of course, shared the anecdote on Twitter.

Today I arrived at the Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center in Nashville. A few hours after my check-in, there’s a knock on my door. In walks a hotel employee with a “gift for me.” What to my wondering eyes should appear? A tray with three different kinds of cornbread, butters, and dipping sauces, and a note reading, “Just in case you still have a craving for cornbread. We hope you enjoy your stay. From all your friends at Gaylord Hotels, Opryland, Palms.”

Oh and by the way, the cornbread is simply delicious.

Cornbread courtesy of Gaylord Hotels

Thank you Gaylord!

Tags: cornbread, Gaylord Hotels, Gaylord Opryland, Gaylord Palms, Twitter

13 Comments »

[...] Check out this. [...] Pingback by CRM Outsiders » Blog Archive » You Want an Example of GREAT CRM in Action? — — May 12, 2009 @ 12:59 pm

So, how did they know you wanted cornbread? Were they following you? Did the co-worker you were tweeting retweet? Comment by Dina Meek — — May 13, 2009 @ 11:31 am

Dina, What’s interesting is that Gaylord Hotels was not following me on Twitter prior to my post. What I assume is that the person who Tweets for Gaylord actively searches Twitter for mentions of the hotel and resort. Because I wasn’t following Gaylord at the time, they couldn’t send me a direct message. I didn’t get my “@ message” until I checked my replies later on. -Lauren Comment by Lauren McKay — Twitter: @laurenmizzou — May 13, 2009 @ 2:03 pm

That is a great example of both the power of Twitter and Over the Top customer service. To send the initial offer for corn bread was great… to remember the next time you came back was Superior Customer service! Kudos to Gaylord Hotels for doing such a fantastic job! Comment by Dallas Web Design — — May 13, 2009 @ 4:23 pm

[...] Click Here to read another real world example of a large hotel chain that went over the top to provide a WOW experience for one of their guest by using Twitter. This is not a fad.  Social Media will not go away.  If anything, it will evolve into something more social and more interactive.  Look at EBay and Amazon; the reason why they are so successful is because at the core they are driven by user created content (information and reviews about the products). [...] Pingback by Customer Service Managers using Social Media « Tallahassee Digital Biz — — May 14, 2009 @ 10:41 am

[...] By Randy McCabe A colleague sent me this article from CRM Outsiders blog which references a great Destination CRM Blog article about some innovative customer service from my former company, Gaylord Entertainment (that’s [...] Pingback by Twitter, Cornbread, and a Powerful Customer Experience « Rise and Shine — — May 14, 2009 @ 12:31 pm

Like this story since we at NetDocuments are attending Gaylord National with the legal IT conference (ILTA) in August. It’s good to see traditional organizations/industries using the latest innovative technologies. Comment by leonard — — May 14, 2009 @ 1:28 pm

Wow Lauren, great story. I heard of a similar story with biscuit and Popeye’s. It’s great to see companies using such a “simple” tool like Twitter to reach out and provide a better customer experience. Comment by Anh — — May 15, 2009 @ 5:12 pm

[...] Click Here to read another real world example of a large hotel chain that went over the top to provide a WOW experience for one of their guests by using Twitter. This is not a fad.  Social Media will not go away.  If anything, it will evolve into something more social and more interactive.  Look at EBay and Amazon; the reason why they are so successful is because at the core they are driven by user created content (information and reviews about the products). [...] Pingback by Twitter and Customer Service - Part 2 | Social Media and Digital Business — — May 24, 2009 @ 7:05 pm

[...] It’s the little things that matter, after all. Dominos was able to turn a usually ordinary experience (ordering a pizza) into something personalized and special. Leary said he wasn’t particularly fond or loyal to Dominos before his encounter with Jessica, but now he respects the brand. It’s amazing how just a little personalization can do that for a consumer. Read about Leary’s other socially empowered food experience with Popeyes Chicken here. And that story reminds me of my “cornbread experience” which you can read here. [...] Pingback by The Socially Empowered Customer Wants You | CRM Magazine Blog — — August 25, 2009 @ 8:30 pm

[...] most people complain onto the World Wide Web aren’t expecting anyone to hear them (But, we at CRM certainly do now!). Spataro performed a dramatic (ok, not really dramatic) reenactment of the customer’s shocked [...] Pingback by CRM Magazine Blog » Before You Tweet #cbsm — — October 16, 2009 @ 11:57 am

[...] i told you I’d bring this all full circle). I recall CRM magazine editor Lauren McKay having tweeted about wanting cornbread while at a conference at the resort. The resort was following the hashtags [...] Pingback by CRM Outsiders » Blog Archive » Is “Social” the Glue that Can Fix B2C CRM? — — January 18, 2010 @ 3:09 pm

[...] (see, i told you I’d bring this all full circle). I recall CRM magazine editor Lauren McKay having tweeted about wanting cornbread while at a conference at the resort. The resort was following the hashtags [...] Pingback by Is 'Social' The Glue That Can Fix B2C CRM? | Business Computing World — — January 19, 2010 @ 6:52 am

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