Hotel Blog Watch:: Marriott Hotels
Earlier this week, Marriott launched a hotel blog called Marriott on the Move written by Bill Marriott himself.
The intro post which went up on Tuesday spends some time on the changes that Marriott has gone through since Bill's parents opened their first hotel 80 years ago. The rest of the post goes on to say what this blog will hope to accomplish--communicating with the customer (obviously), keeping them informed about new services and new properties and maybe even talking some politics:
Occasionally, I'll blog about current events -- even touch on controversial topics. Every American and everyone who wants to be an American deserves a chance to pursue the American dream of financial independence. That's why I'm passionate about immigration reform and offering people a path to citizenship.
Already, Bill's first, and only post thus far, has generated an impressive 75 comments--some, not surprisingly from sycophants, a few mentioning Flyer Talk, and a bunch of really smart, hotel specific reader comments. Our favorite comment thus far:
I too travel a lot, and love the idea of this blog. Of course, for me to read this blog at one of his hotels, it will cost me an extra $14 a day for a cable connection (not even wireless -- what's up with that???)
More on Marriott's foray into blogging after the jump.
No response from Mr. Marriott on that one. Though, the blog did respond quickly to questions like "Are you going to move towards HDTV" (answer: yes, which is very cool), and "How do you get feedback from your guests with regard to the negative details they find in a room?" (answer: among other things, emailing random guests comment forms).
Oh, and one more thing, the date stamp says Mr. Marriott posted his first entry at 12:01 AM? Is he a night owl or did his flacks want this to go up right after midnight in an attempt to make the morning news?
We have been part of this embarrassingly named "blogosphere" thing for more years than we care to mention, so we feel comfortable giving Bill Marriott and crew a bit of unsolicited advice:
1. Read Jason Calacanis's blog from start to finish. It is a blueprint for how to effectively blog from both a start up and a big company point of view.
2. If you are going to blog, do so often and as transparently as you can. Always remember this is a two way conversation, or no one will add your blog to their daily reading list.
End of unnecessary righteous rant.
That said, we look forward to watching where all this goes.
Related Stories:
· Marriott Hotels [HotelChatter]
· Smoking BanMarriott Smoking Ban Open Thread [HotelChatter]
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