Marriott plans new online travel community
Published: 26 Aug 2008
Marriott is gearing up for a new online travel community, Marriott Rewards Insiders, where Marriott Rewards members can exchange travel advice and share their personal tips.
According to the company, Marriott Rewards Insiders is a lightly moderated online community, and is built specifically for members.
Powered by social media marketing agency LiveWorld, the site is open to the programme's 3.5 million Elite members and will open to all members later in the year.
"Our members told us they wanted a place where they could talk to each other without interference from sponsors trying to sell them something," said Ed French, senior vice president, Marriott Rewards. "We designed an innovative digital lobby to give them a place to share their stories and get authentic, honest information from other frequent travelers just like them."
Members can either use the site to just read information or set up their profile and post questions, comments or responses. They can also sign-up for alerts, which are sent when a post is created in a forum the member wants to follow. They can be emailed or posted in the member's profile.
The community offers "expressive profiles" that allow members to personalise their online identification by uploading pictures, providing travel preferences and personal interests and identifying their home town.
Comments
Pitkin said on 26 Aug 08:
This could be a brave move. Out of a thousand guests, there will be at least one who thinks he has received bad service, and the negative is more likely to be the cause for commenting than the positive.
While it adds credibility to have some negative comments, it would be proper and a good strategy for Marriott to answer the complaint online -- and maybe that's what Marriott means by "lightly moderated".
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