Comments on: Starwood blog misses the point http://www.nevillehobson.com/2006/04/13/starwood-blog-misses-the-point/ Fri, 25 Jul 2008 10:23:18 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 By: Nicole http://www.nevillehobson.com/2006/04/13/starwood-blog-misses-the-point/#comment-790 Nicole Wed, 19 Apr 2006 11:45:37 +0000 http://www.nevillehobson.com/2006/04/13/starwood-blog-misses-the-point/#comment-790 That is an absolute timewaster. Don't start using it. *gg* Yes, they are listing. Starwood has the Starwood Lurker, Hilton has just let somebody called Cyntha post that she is kind of the liason to Hilton and there are know cases of Lurkers for example from Airlines. For the BA board for example, there are several flight attendents and also some people working in BA which means that they are sometimes able to shed light on some transactions. As far as I know, chains / airlines are away about this and do take hints from here. Some of the more influential sites of travelling do read post here regulary. While there are a lot of complaints, there are also a lot of information. It is a very active community and a lot of help if you want to go through the joys of several hotel / flying programs. I can give impromtu speeches of how some of those work and compare. Isn't that sad? ;) That is an absolute timewaster. Don’t start using it. *gg*

Yes, they are listing. Starwood has the Starwood Lurker, Hilton has just let somebody called Cyntha post that she is kind of the liason to Hilton and there are know cases of Lurkers for example from Airlines.

For the BA board for example, there are several flight attendents and also some people working in BA which means that they are sometimes able to shed light on some transactions.

As far as I know, chains / airlines are away about this and do take hints from here. Some of the more influential sites of travelling do read post here regulary.

While there are a lot of complaints, there are also a lot of information. It is a very active community and a lot of help if you want to go through the joys of several hotel / flying programs.

I can give impromtu speeches of how some of those work and compare. Isn’t that sad? ;)

]]> By: neville http://www.nevillehobson.com/2006/04/13/starwood-blog-misses-the-point/#comment-781 neville Tue, 18 Apr 2006 20:58:51 +0000 http://www.nevillehobson.com/2006/04/13/starwood-blog-misses-the-point/#comment-781 That's an interesting forum, Nicole. I found the one about Starwood along with other hotel chains. Lots of complaints and I wonder if anyone there actually tells those chains directly about any of the issues they have. Or is it just a place where people go to talk among themselves? That’s an interesting forum, Nicole. I found the one about Starwood along with other hotel chains. Lots of complaints and I wonder if anyone there actually tells those chains directly about any of the issues they have. Or is it just a place where people go to talk among themselves?

]]> By: Nicole Simon http://www.nevillehobson.com/2006/04/13/starwood-blog-misses-the-point/#comment-779 Nicole Simon Tue, 18 Apr 2006 18:44:23 +0000 http://www.nevillehobson.com/2006/04/13/starwood-blog-misses-the-point/#comment-779 One should know that Starwood has a dedicated person and one of the most successful Frequent Traveller forums, flyertalk. Everybody loves William. ;) One should know that Starwood has a dedicated person and one of the most successful Frequent Traveller forums, flyertalk.

Everybody loves William. ;)

]]> By: The Hobson & Holtz Report - Podcast #129: April 17, 2006 at NevilleHobson.com http://www.nevillehobson.com/2006/04/13/starwood-blog-misses-the-point/#comment-776 The Hobson & Holtz Report - Podcast #129: April 17, 2006 at NevilleHobson.com Tue, 18 Apr 2006 15:54:39 +0000 http://www.nevillehobson.com/2006/04/13/starwood-blog-misses-the-point/#comment-776 [...] 18:42 Using blogs to build engagement with customers - Starwood Hotels launches TheLobby.com and misses the mark with commenting (in particular); Anil Dash suggests a staged commenting structure; some commenting changes on the blog today but what else should they do? [...] [...] 18:42 Using blogs to build engagement with customers - Starwood Hotels launches TheLobby.com and misses the mark with commenting (in particular); Anil Dash suggests a staged commenting structure; some commenting changes on the blog today but what else should they do? [...]

]]> By: neville http://www.nevillehobson.com/2006/04/13/starwood-blog-misses-the-point/#comment-760 neville Mon, 17 Apr 2006 15:40:21 +0000 http://www.nevillehobson.com/2006/04/13/starwood-blog-misses-the-point/#comment-760 That's very good news, Marc. Thanks for stopping by to leave your comment. I'm sure you will find that enabling direct commenting will influence what visitors do at TheLobby.com, ie, make it more likely that someone will want to make a comment to a post. The only thing I would gently suggest is re the formal terms and conditions statement. Pretty onerous! I realize you want to have such a statement, but would it not be better to have a link to it accessible somewhere and instead include a different text in the comment area that is a lot friendlier? Maybe such as <a href="http://fastlane.gmblogs.com/about.html" rel="nofollow">the one GM has</a>? In any event, congrats on your decision to enable commenting. And thanks for listening to criticism. Looking forward to seeing how TheLobby.com develops. That’s very good news, Marc. Thanks for stopping by to leave your comment.

I’m sure you will find that enabling direct commenting will influence what visitors do at TheLobby.com, ie, make it more likely that someone will want to make a comment to a post.

The only thing I would gently suggest is re the formal terms and conditions statement. Pretty onerous! I realize you want to have such a statement, but would it not be better to have a link to it accessible somewhere and instead include a different text in the comment area that is a lot friendlier? Maybe such as the one GM has?

In any event, congrats on your decision to enable commenting. And thanks for listening to criticism.

Looking forward to seeing how TheLobby.com develops.

]]> By: Marc Schiller http://www.nevillehobson.com/2006/04/13/starwood-blog-misses-the-point/#comment-759 Marc Schiller Mon, 17 Apr 2006 15:10:39 +0000 http://www.nevillehobson.com/2006/04/13/starwood-blog-misses-the-point/#comment-759 My colleages and I read your comments about thelobby.com not having comments enabled for our launch last week and wanted you to know that today we made an adjustment to the site so that there are now moderated comments on the site. Over the next few weeks we’ll continue to address the ability for Starwood customers to participate in a dialogue on the site and we’ll continue to make adjustments like we did today. We hope you track our progress Marc Schiller ElectricArtists My colleages and I read your comments about thelobby.com not having comments enabled for our launch last week and wanted you to know that today we made an adjustment to the site so that there are now moderated comments on the site.

Over the next few weeks we’ll continue to address the ability for Starwood customers to participate in a dialogue on the site and we’ll continue to make adjustments like we did today.

We hope you track our progress

Marc Schiller
ElectricArtists

]]> By: Chris http://www.nevillehobson.com/2006/04/13/starwood-blog-misses-the-point/#comment-721 Chris Fri, 14 Apr 2006 07:20:09 +0000 http://www.nevillehobson.com/2006/04/13/starwood-blog-misses-the-point/#comment-721 That is a very good article - thanks for the tip. That is a very good article - thanks for the tip.

]]> By: neville http://www.nevillehobson.com/2006/04/13/starwood-blog-misses-the-point/#comment-720 neville Fri, 14 Apr 2006 07:01:26 +0000 http://www.nevillehobson.com/2006/04/13/starwood-blog-misses-the-point/#comment-720 They have missed the mark, Chris, and it's such a waste of a great opportunity for them. I read an interesting <a href="http://www.hospitalitynet.org/news/4026867.html" rel="nofollow">assessment on Hospitality.net about hotels and blogs</a>. While it mentions TheLobby.com as an example of what a hotel could do (it's not a good example!), the article overall is a pretty good one if you want to get a sense of what you could do with blogs. They have missed the mark, Chris, and it’s such a waste of a great opportunity for them.

I read an interesting assessment on Hospitality.net about hotels and blogs. While it mentions TheLobby.com as an example of what a hotel could do (it’s not a good example!), the article overall is a pretty good one if you want to get a sense of what you could do with blogs.

]]> By: Chris C. http://www.nevillehobson.com/2006/04/13/starwood-blog-misses-the-point/#comment-717 Chris C. Thu, 13 Apr 2006 22:48:25 +0000 http://www.nevillehobson.com/2006/04/13/starwood-blog-misses-the-point/#comment-717 Neville tackles this topic with absolute clarity and acuracy....nice job. Starwood's "The Lobby" is a very slick looking platform, but true-to-form Starwood missed the mark completely. Neville tackles this topic with absolute clarity and acuracy….nice job. Starwood’s “The Lobby” is a very slick looking platform, but true-to-form Starwood missed the mark completely.

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