Discount Travel Site Poaches Fan for Some Excellent Customer Service

So, people in the US might not recognize it, but Thomas Cook is a discount travel website based out of the UK. Think the British version of Travelocity. It is also the name of a man who, apparently, has received quite a bit of ridicule in his life for having the same name as the company. Thomas decided to go on the Thomas Cook UK Facebook page and write a humorous request for a free vacation as compensation for his pain and suffering.

Thomas Cook UK responded very appropriately. I think most community managers would agree. However, lowcostholidays.com decided to one-up them and sent Thomas this private message.

And here is a picture Thomas posted of him and his friend in, you guessed it, Paris.

So, what can we learn from lowcostholidays.com? Not only should you monitor your own social channels, you should also monitor those of your competitors. You might be able to gain a new loyal fan, and in this case, gain some publicity as well, as it got a ridiculous amount of traffic on Reddit.

Also, it’s important to note the message was initially private, giving it a much more natural feel. Lowcostholidays.com reached out to Thomas in a personable way, hoping to create a new brand advocate, not generate publicity. It just happened to be an inherently publicity-worthy comment. And because it was the fan who made it public, not the brand, it’s much more effective.



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