The Tweet heard round the Hilton.

Back in March, about to sleep in a concave bed for the third night in a row at the Hilton Milwaukee City Center, I Tweeted, “Pricing iPhone level aps to gauge how sunken in my mattress is at the Hilton Milwaukee City Center. Historic hotel = historic mattress.”

The next morning, my wife, who’s name the room was under, received a call from a manager at the hotel. He understood there was a problem with our mattress and wondered if we’d like a replacement. Shortly thereafter, I dispatched another Tweet: “Well played Hilton Milwaukee City Center! New mattress brought to our room after I tweeted about the poor state of the old one. Thanks!”

Some of my travel writing buddies got me thinking though: Was it excellent customer service or excellent PR? Would someone who doesn’t write about travel for a living have gotten the replacement mattress? Also, my wife is a Hilton Diamond VIP member. How much did that status weigh in?

In the end, I’m thinking it doesn’t matter if it’s good customer service or good PR as long as it gets you a good night’s sleep.

Photo: Zach Everson