Cvent

Last week Hotel Chatter blogged about a rather disappointing email marketing offer from The Carlton on Madison Avenue. The email was sent with a subject line, "A Gift For You From The Carlton on Madison Avenue." However, recipients who opened the email found text asking them to participate in the annual Conde Nast Travelers Readers Choice Survey.

The following text is an excerpt from the email:

"...We are pleased to inform you that The Carlton on Madison is part of this survey this year. We are kindly asking you to take a moment of your time to help us by clicking on the link below and voting for The Carlton within the Hotels category."

Though those who vote in the survey are eligible to win a few trips, this was clearly not what most people would have expected based on the subject line. I, for one, would have been thinking, "Where's my free hotel night or complimentary breakfast?"

I guess I wasn't alone in that thinking, because the company that sent the email blast, Digital Alchemy, soon followed up with an apology and an explanation:

"We changed the content of a post-stay email sent to the guest without changing the subject line to the new copy. This reflected very poorly on us and, unfortunately and more importantly, The Carlton.

We have since sent an email on behalf of The Carlton to all guests who received the erroneous email that includes a significant discount offer. We are embarrassed by our mistake and have taken steps to prevent it from ever happening again."