When Crisis Response Draws More Attention Than the ‘Crisis’ Itself!

Ah, cancel culture. Love it or loathe it, it’s alive, kicking, and turbocharged by online reviews and the power of the share button. Now, sometimes the feedback floating around is a bit overblown. Other times, it’s a solid slap-in-the-face reminder for businesses to actually take a hard look at their service delivery. Recently in Malaysia, we came across a gem of a case: a so-called “resort” (and we’re being generous here) decided it didn’t like what a customer had to say about their stay. Instead of taking the criticism on the chin, doing some reflection, or - here’s a novel idea - fixing the problem, they went nuclear. Publicly. With the promise of a lawsuit. Yep. They threatened to sue the guest for leaving a bad review. Cue popcorn. Here’s the twist: the hotelier claimed the guest never complained directly. But let’s be honest - from the sounds of the reviews, the staff weren’t exactly lining up to help in the first place. And newsflash: customers don’t need to knock on your...