Tremendous P.R. Opportunity

Well if I was Marriot or Hyatt I would be telling one of my Washington DC hotels to find a place for Fran O'Brien's and then offer them a very favorable lease and offer to make any facility changes needed for the wounded vets.

Then just a simple announcement that they are honored to be able to show appreciation to the vets this way. And the only conditions on the lease is that the dinners continue and that they be allowed to help put them on.

This would pay back many many times over with the kind of good press that no amount of marketing money could buy. And at the same time they get to stick it to Hilton.

Trackbacks: Mudville Gazette

Comments

[VancouverGurl]

You really have to wonder what Hilton was thinking. It's just common sense...or least, doesn't take much thought in doing the right thing for their reputation AND the vets.

[OhioVoter]

I teach management and other business courses at a community college. I've been collecting information on Hilton's stance for my "how not to" file.

Let's say - for the sake of arguement - that everything they say about Fran O'Briens is true and they are a bad tenant.

Hilton managment claims they knew about AND participated in the dinners, but yet they made no plan BEFORE sending the eviction notice as to what their corporate commitment would be to those dinners? They made no plan to counteract the inevitable claims about lack of accessibility in their hotels?

And by plan, I mean more than "we are going to talk to some people". Job offers to the resteraunt personnel would have been something - even if it was just short-term until Fran O'Briens found a new location.

We know that there is doubt that they are telling the truth about actually participating in the dinners, but they should have known about an event so large and so consistently held on their grounds and planned accordingly. At the minimum, they could have defused much of the uproar by clearly and consisely given an eviction notice that gave time for Fran O'Briens to find a new location. If the owners did not find something in 6 months, then it would have been them, rather than the Hilton, who would have been answering questions.

The fact that they handled this so miserably indicates an incredible lack of planning and casts doubt on their true motives.

[FbL]

Brilliant!