Starwood debuts a blog
Starwood and its Preferred Guest program just started up a blog called TheLobby.com, which is hyped in the press release this way:
- “By creating an experience outside of the corporate box, we believe TheLobby.com will establish more personal relationships with members in a new and non-traditional way,” said Robin Korman, Vice President of Loyalty Marketing for Starwood. “It’s all about fostering a sense of community for our members where we can showcase and celebrate their experiences and passion for travel and provide access to great ‘insider’ editorial content.”
Nice concept, but where are the comments? It’s not a relationship if it only goes one-way. Like in this post about Boston’s theater district, where I really wanted to add some comments about seeing Spamalot this past weekend (oh man, it was fabulous. I laughed so hard my stomach hurt. But if you or your attendees are tall or have bad knees, the Colonial Theater is not for you—the seats were built back when people were shorter). They’re missing an opportunity to really connect and have conversations with their readers, and let readers have conversations among each other, by not allowing comments. That said, so far, the content is pretty interesting, if slightly hype-y on Starwood properties. I added it to my ever-growing list of RSS feeds.
Related Topics: Hospitality news
April 12th, 2006 at 3:57 pm
Hi Sue,
I’m a Preferred Guest member at Starwood. I tend to stay in Sheratons out of habit more than preference. And I took at look at theLobby.com when I first heard about it.
I love the look of the site. And the content is better than I would have expected.
But you’re right — what a wasted opportunity to “engage” the customers. I almost always have something to say about a hotel stay. It’s often positive, but sometimes not. But it’s clear from this site that the Sheraton would prefer not to discuss my thoughts.
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