GoodandBadPR: Sexiest man is a hit, a “rotten” hotel is a miss

 20th November 2014    Good and Bad PR 

Good PR of the week

Sexiest men

Can you guess who the new Sexiest Man Alive is? Nope, not that dishy guy who served you last time you ate at Pizza Hut, or the mysterious stranger that takes the same bus route as you every day. According to People magazine, it’s Thor star Chris Hemsworth.

Last year, it was lead singer of Maroon 5 Adam Levine who took the title, but this year Chris Hemsworth beats Chris Pratt, Idris Elba and Matthew McConaughey to the top spot.

With International Men’s Day taking place on Wednesday 19 November, it was a good time to release the list of sexiest men; which also featured people like Fifty Shades of Grey star Jamie Dornan, Bradley Cooper and Matt Bomer.

The Sexiest Man Alive announcement was first made on Tuesday’s episode of Jimmy Kimmle Live, on which Hemsworth appeared via Skype with his face and voice covered whilst audience members tried to guess his identity. So, good PR all round for Chris Hemsworth, People and Jimmy Kimmle Live.

Pretty much every publication going has picked up on this, including the likes of ABC News, USA Today, Daily Mail, The Guardian, Glamour ...

It just goes to show how good genes and talent can be instrumental in the quest for positive media coverage; and hey, there’s always plastic surgery and acting classes for the unlucky ones. Relax, I’m kidding. I wonder how his younger brother Liam Hemsworth felt about all this. Maybe next year ...

Bad PR of the week

Blackpool black spot

A hotel in Blackpool is surely going to have a drop in bookings after some recent bad publicity has shown the establishment in a pretty poor light. A couple that stayed at the Broadway Hotel in Blackpool didn’t have a very good stay when they spent a night in the seaside town.

Tony and Jan Jenkinson were disgusted by the conditions and standard of the hotel, saying it was a “filthy, dirty, rotten, stinking hovel run by muppets” when they took to Trip Advisor to tell others about their stay.

The review also went on to say “The shower was filthy – my wife wouldn’t even get into it to wash her hair. The wallpaper was peeling off, the kettle didn’t work and there was no water at all in the bathroom. It was beyond a joke, and didn’t get better at breakfast time. I found the breakfast inedible – the bacon wasn’t cooked.” Sounds like a lovely place!

Hotels around the world receive bad reviews on a daily basis, but the worst part about this was that the couple were then told by the hotel they’d have to pay a £100 fine for leaving the bad review. A hotel document explains that customers will be charged £100 for every bad review received. The fact the hotel has this odd fine system in place makes me think they expect guests to hate the place and warn people off. Perhaps investing in some cosmetic improvements would be the better option?

The hotel document literally reads “Despite the fact that repeat customers and couples love our hotel, your friends and family may not. For every bad review left on any website, the group organiser will be charged a maximum £100 per review.”

My oh my. The Metro, BBC, Daily Mail, The Guardian, Mirror, ITV and even CNBC picked up on the story, complete with interviews with the couple.

As soon as I finished writing this, I saw an update that said the hotel was scrapping the fine, but it looks as though the damage has been done.

Shannon Haigh, 10 Yetis, @ShazzaYeti on Twitter