Why I won't be staying at Tigmi Marrakech anytime soon...

I love to travel. I've been lucky enough to visit lots of different places. And I'm constantly planning trips. Consequently I'm always on the look out for interesting places to visit, hotels to stay in and restaurants to eat in. After visiting Morocco for the first time last year I am keen to visit again at some point soon. So when I came across Tigmi, a beautiful hotel in a rural area outside of Marrakech, it went straight on the "must-stay-here-at-some-point-soon" list. I've been on the look out for somewhere I could spend a week and just recharge, rest and relax. Cabo Verde, Malta and Morocco are all on the agenda.

When I noticed that Tigmi had a competition to win a stay for two for valentine's day this year, despite rarely bothering to enter competitions, I decided to give it a go. All it required was a re-tweet...

The competition lasted for one week. On Wednesday the 26th of January, the winner should have been announced. A week later, with valentine's day drawing close and no winners having been announced I sent Tigmi an e-mail:

Mon, Jan 31, 2011 at 4:29 PM Valentine's day competition

Dear Sir/Madam,

I was wondering if you could inform me as to when you are intending to announce the winner of your Twitter Valentine's competition (http://www.bit.ly/lovetigmi)?

Many thanks.

--
Best Wishes,

Christopher Patrick Fitzsimons BA (Hons), MA, ACIL
www.bespoketranslations.org
Time Zone: WET

To which I received a polite reply:

Tue, Feb 1, 2011 at 12:26 PM Tigmi Comp

Dear Chris,

We will be announcing the winner today. But unfortunately you did not win this time.

Kind regards

James

Great, I thought. All I wanted was a reply and to know that someone would be enjoying the prize. So I forgot all about it until a week later when I thought I'd have a look and see who had won. Still, no winner had been announced. So a week later I sent James another e-mail:

Mon, Feb 7, 2011 at 12:01 PM Re: Tigmi Comp

Hello again James,

I couldn't help but notice that a winner of this competition still has not been announced; as far as I can see no further details have been posted about it on Tigmi's website, nor via the twitter or facebook profiles... Was the competition cancelled or is it just that the winner hasn't been announced yet? As the date of the prize is the 12th-15th and there were plenty of entries to the competition I would have thought that the winner would have been announced by now. Apologies for bothering you about this; I'm genuinely curious as to who the lucky couple are...?

--
Best Wishes,

Christopher Patrick Fitzsimons BA (Hons), MA, ACIL
www.bespoketranslations.org
Time Zone: WET

To which I have, to date, not received a reply...

I realise that something may have gone wrong. I understand that perhaps some sort of unforeseen event may have prevented the hotel from announcing and/or awarding the prize BUT when they have benefitted from the exposure created by using a competition like this for marketing purposes, in a very public and open way via a social network like twitter, it would at least be courteous and professional to let those who have entered know who, if anyone, was awarded the prize.

I hope that there have been some administrative delays and that the prize was actually awarded but there has simply been a lapse in communication. However, if my worst fears are confirmed and the hotel actually had no intention of awarding the prize then I am afraid I am left feeling very disappointed. It would be highly unprofessional and unethical to exploit those who entered the competition in that way. Perhaps I will receive a reply from Tigmi now that I have published this... It would have been polite to have replied to my e-mail from February 7th.... The fact that they didn't makes me feel suspicious of the whole thing. I'm afraid they have lost a potential customer and, by extension, the potential trade that my positive reviews on websites like Tripadvisor could have brought them. I feel that this raises important questions about the ethical and legal issues surrounding the use of social media by businesses for promotional and marketing purposes.

The last tweet from Tigmi:

Tigmi_Marrakech Tigmi - Spa & Hotel

Our Valentine's comp closes tomorrow. Have you entered?http://www.bit.ly/lovetigmi #competition #holiday

25 Jan