We have all experienced problems at hotels.  Recently, Larry Jones had problems with his television, his bed and the air conditioning in his room at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in New York.  Most of us would have called the front desk to complain.  Larry Jones isn’t the average person, though.

Larry is better known as Chipper Jones, future Hall of Fame third baseman for the Atlanta Braves, who were in town to play the Mets.  Jones decided to vent his complaints on Twitter.

Apparently someone at the Grand Hyatt saw the tweet and addressed the problems.  Within the hour, a repairman was in his room.  Jones did not even have to call the front desk.  Kudos to the Grand Hyatt staff.

The public reaction to this story has been interesting.  I have seen too many people upset that Chipper Jones received special treatment.

I am certain the hotel would have corrected the problems if Jones had called the front desk, but I also think a top hotel would correct the problem if anyone called the front desk. The real difference was his method of communicating his complaints.

Some critics say that if the average person tweeted the complaint, it would have gone unanswered.  This is probably so, but mostly because hotel staffers are probably not following the average person on Twitter.  No hotel can be blamed for that.

A celebrity getting preferential treatment is not really news, but in this case, I think Jones was treated like any guest in a top hotel.  I like Chipper Jones, but had he just called the front desk with his complaints, chances are this wouldn’t have even been a story.

— John Wroblewski, online contributor