Boston hotelier explains how IHG turned to social media for crisis management

Since 2002, there have been 18 major terrorist attacks against hotels worldwide, according to a report by the New York State Intelligence Center.

In the wake of the [Boston] bombings, guests were panicking, frantically trying to find relatives or friends who were at the race. Cell phones went down and systems froze. Intensity levels were running high.

.... “Up to that point four years ago, we had never factored in communicating via Facebook and Twitter during emergencies,” Kirwan said. “The public and guests were way ahead of us in that regard, and that was a big lesson that we learned. You need to have someone on the social networking team or public relations team factored into the safety response package that would go immediately and update people. We did it on a personal level so everyone knew we were OK and on a hotel level.”