As a jaded technophile who has been carrying a blackberry since the original “blueberry” days, it takes a lot to surprise me when it comes to the purported world-altering power of Web 2.0 and Social Media constructs.  But today, I became a parishioner at the Church of Twitter and I now believe (Can I get a “Believe!” brothers?!) that social media has changed the way (smart) companies do business.

Allow me to explain.

Three weeks ago I made the classic Judeo-Canadian pilgrimage along the 401 from Toronto to Montreal for passover. My sister and brother-in-law, with their 2-yr old son in tow, chose a more dignified form of travel — they flew. Upon meeting up in Montreal, with my kids happily tucked away at my aunt’s house, I happily loaned my sister our van to make it easier for them to travel back and forth from their room at Montreal’s downtown Westin hotel to our family’s home in suburban Cote St. Luc.

On the second day of this simple arrangement, my brother-in-law called me in a mix of rage and embarrassment. The valet at the Westin, to whom he had entrusted my van the night before, had somehow managed to smash the car into a concrete pillar in an empty parking lot. We’re not talking nicks and scrapes here. The bumper was mangled. The rear tail-light was shattered. The power tail-gate no longer locked. And, two of the rear motion sensors — yes, the very sensors that, in combination with my rear-view camera, are supposed to make this kind of accident impossible — were busted.

A few words about my brother-in-law. He’s not exactly a shrinking violet when it comes to hard-nosed negotiation. He’s an accountant by training but a pit-bull by nature. It just so happens, his current job basically boils down to managing bankrupt luxury hotels that have gone into receivership so he knows a thing or two about hotel customer service. He was not amused. He quickly received the assurance of the Westin that the repair costs would be covered (this turned out to be a considerable $3000+ figure). His two-night stay was immediately comped. He wasn’t satisfied. Mortified by the inconvenience he had inadvertently contributed to, he demanded compensation for my trouble. That’s when he hit a roadblock.

Over the course of numerous e-mails and telephone calls, my tough-as-nails brother-in-law unleashed a flurry of fury upon the Westin’s management earning a promise of a measly 5000 points in the hotel’s  parent affinity program: Starwood Preferred Guest. To put it into perspective, that’s worth roughly half a night at a mid-level Starwood hotel. I resigned myself to being left unsatisfied and did what comes naturally to a travel writer – I bitched about it on twitter.

Within 20 minutes I received a notification: “StarwoodBuzz is following you on twitter.” 30 minutes after that I received a Direct Message over twitter asking me to contact them to discuss my dissatisfaction. Within the hour I’m taking a call from Starwood’s corporate executive office in White Plains, New York. We chat about how I’m planning to be in Israel this summer and will be spending some time by the Dead Sea. Five minutes after that, I have a promise for 14,000 Starwood points — enough for a two night stay at Le Meridien Dead Sea.

The corporate lesson to be learned here should be taught at every business school around the world: a company that is able to communicate with its customers has a massive competitive advantage. Starwood’s investment in social media would be impressive in its own right but what really leverages the power of that investment is the company’s commitment to customer satisfaction. Listening to what your clients have to say on twitter is undoubtedly valuable but being able to respond in a timely fashion to concerns in the twitterverse is what will separate those companies who are simply jumping on the social media bandwagon from the companies that really “get it.”

Kudos to Starwood. Long live twitter.