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Hotel Social Media / Social Media / Facebook Hotels / Twitter / Hotel Deals / → All Tags

7 Hotel Deals You Can Snag on Social Media Day

Happy early Social Media Day! Yep, there's now a day honoring our Facebook, Twitter and other electronic habits as well as our computer-addicted social media community. Hotels are getting into the holiday spirit by offering a slew of social media specials to celebrate the June 30 festivities.

Check out seven ways to score hotel perks on Social Media Day.

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Marriott Hotels / Facebook Hotels / Hotel Fun / My Marriott Hotel / → All Tags

What One Hospitality Junkie Learned from Playing My Marriott Hotel for 36 Hours Straight

Just yesterday, we posted about Marriott Hotels' new Facebook game and already the game is creating a new set of addicts. Self-confessed hospitality junkie Susan Deluzain Barry reports from the underbelly of her new online gaming addiction with a set of lessons learned that could very well be applied IRL.

If you haven’t seen it yet, Marriott rolled out an impressive new Facebook game on June 7 called My Marriott Hotel. Billed as a Farmville-style game, players open and run a hotel kitchen, hiring staff, purchasing equipment, and getting angry looks from the General Manager. From the looks of it, the company is developing five other areas of the hotel for gaming.

Yes, this is Marriott. I was as surprised as you are! I usually expect one of the hipper companies to come out with this stuff first, so when I read about it on HotelChatter I rushed right over to Facebook to check it out. Boy, was I impressed! The graphics are great, and game play is pretty intuitive. There are some things I wish were easier, like placing associates behind their stoves in the kitchen.

I’m not a regular gamer (see: Personality, Addictive), so I won’t pretend to offer a comprehensive review from that perspective, but I will say one thing – I can’t stop playing this game.

I also dreamed about it.

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Marriott Hotels / Facebook Hotels / Hotel Fun / → All Tags

My Marriott Hotel Could Be the Latest Facebook App Addiction

The Marriott is using a new way to recruit employees, by giving them a video game. The hotel chain created My Marriott Hotel, a new Facebook app that allows you to run a hotel kitchen.

Officials are hoping that you video game addicts will have so much fun playing My Marriott Hotel that you'll want to apply to work at a real-life hotel and fill one of the company's 50,000 openings.

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Hotel Openings / Facebook Hotels / Toronto Hotels / Hotel Technology / Ritz-Carlton Hotels / → All Tags

The Ritz-Carlton Toronto Is Livestreaming Its Opening Right Now

Where: 181 Wellington Street West, Toronto, ON, Canada, M5V 3G7

UPDATE 12.05pm: It's all over. No room tour - saddies! But it was fun nevertheless. UPDATE 2.20pm: They did a video! The restaurant, the spa, a luxury corner suite, presented by adorzable GM Tim. See here.

You know how sometimes you can wish you were at a hotel opening stalking David Gandy and Emma Watson? Well, The Ritz-Carlton Toronto is helping you out today, with a livestream of its opening ceremony on the main RC Facebook page. (Yes, it’s opening today after all – seems the hotel was playing it safe when they told us they weren’t taking rezzies till February 23.)

The stream was due to start a minute ago (at 11.30am EST) and it's just started! There's a lady called Heather Hiscox from CBC who's currently calling it "magnificent" and she just said hi to all of us watching on Facebook!

And if you want to geek out with others watching, there’s a “check in and chat” feature (at the time of writing, there are 193 of us on there). It’s like being a teenager all over again!

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Miami Hotel Mambo / Facebook Hotels / Hotel Contests / → All Tags

The Sagamore is Totally Ok With Giving Away a Week-Long Stay On Facebook

Where: 1671 Collins Ave [map], Miami Beach, FL, United States, 33139

While we haven't heard any rumblings about the rumored sale of Miami Beach's Sagamore lately, we have heard encouraging things about the hotel's bookings. Apparently, business has been good--and to celebrate, the hotel is going to give away a week-long stay on its new Facebook page.

Art Basel in December certainly helped fill rooms--Sagamore is nicknamed 'The Art Hotel', and hosts an annual exhibition from the Cricket Taplin Collection during the art fair. But the rest of 2010 was healthy, too--the hotel says recent bookings have exceeded the numbers of its 2001 reopening period.

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Room Rate Gimmicks / Facebook Hotels / Twitter / Pod Hotels / Manhattan Hotels / → All Tags

How To Get A Hotel Room In NYC For $111.11 A Night

Where: 230 East 51st Street [map], New York, NY, United States, 10022

One week into the New Year, we think it's fair to say that the "Happy" has already rubbed off. It's cold, the headlines are full of depressing news, and we hear that hotel room rates will go up this year (good for hotel biz, not so much for our wallets).

So, here's a nugget of goodness for 2011: The Pod Hotel in New York is running one of those wacky date-driven promotions tomorrow, 1.11.11, letting folks snag a room for $111.11--and not a teensy-tiny pod with bunk beds, either. This rate is for a Queen room.

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Free WiFi / Affinia Hotels / Facebook / Facebook Hotels / → All Tags

You Have 'The Social Network' to Thank for Free WiFi at Affinia Hotels

Free WiFi thanks to Jesse Eisenberg!

Before we and countless other social media wonks break outta this joint to see The Social Network this weekend, we've got to become a fan of Affinia Hotels on the real social network, Facebook.

That's because once you become a fan of Affinia, you will receive a special password that will give you complimentary internet access throughout your stay in October at any Affinia Hotel in Chicago, New York and DC. You'll find the secret password on a recent Affinia status update and when you check into your room, "whisper" this password to the front desk to get your free internet hookup.

We'd tell you the password here but we're trying not to ruin it for Affinia. So become a fan and get your free WiFi here!

Hotel Contests / Embassy Suites Hotels / Facebook / Facebook Hotels / → All Tags

Embassy Suites is Giving One Crazy 'Uber Fan' $10,000 and 20 Free Nights

Are you a die-hard uber fan? Whether you are a super fan of da Bears, a Twihard, a Trekkie or you have a serious case of Bieber fever, you can cash in on your fanaticism. Embassy Suites Hotel will feed your fixation by giving you $10,000, 20 free hotel stays and an iPhone 4 to hit the road and follow your obsession.

Throughout September, the hotels group is scouting for the ultimate uber fan. No matter what your chosen fan affliction is, Embassy wants you to apply.

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Facebook Hotels / Beach Hotels / Marriott Hotels / Resort Credits / → All Tags

Marco Island Marriott Gives $20 Credit to Its Facebook Fans

Where: 400 South Collier Blvd. [map], Marco Island, FL, United States, 34145

We love us some hotel discounts and the Marco Island Florida Marriott Beach Resort, Golf Club & Spa is offering a nice one: a $20 resort credit to its Facebook fans.

The Florida resort is giving out the credit to celebrate hitting 2,000 fans on Facebook. But you have to hurry to "like" the hotel and claim your gift, since the offer expires September 8.

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Facebook Hotels / Hotel Hype / W Hotels / London Hotels / → All Tags

'Mr. W' at the W London is Keeping Us Entertained...For Now

Where: 10 Wardour Street, London, United Kingdom, W1D 6QF

Mr W takes his show on the road to Wireless

Seeing as a) the W Leicester Square has pushed back its opening date to February and b) we’re impatient types, we’ve been getting our W fixes from its Facebook page, and found ourselves getting more and more fixated on the mysterious “Mr W” who runs it.

Sod the titillating pictures of the hotel under construction – as well as that, he’s carving out an entire personality for himself and the hotel along the lines of @standarde or Stan D’Arde, the Standard hotel group’s imaginary but still dapper Twitter persona.

In recent weeks, we’ve heard about Mr W getting his moustache shaved off at Glastonbury, hitting the Wireless Festival in Hyde Park and developing an unsightly “farmer’s tan”. All good images.

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Hotel Contests / Facebook Hotels / Dorchester Collection / Paris Hotels / Luxury Hotels / → All Tags

How Stalking On Facebook Can Win You a Stay At Le Meurice

Where: 228 Rue de Rivoli, Paris, France, 75001

Paris in Le Spring Time

We’re not normally fans of cryptic stuff here, but when the cryptic stuff could lead to a stay at Le Meurice in Paris, that’s when we’ll give it a go.

We’ve been studying the hotel’s Facebook page for a while now, but our ears (metaphorically) pricked up last week when they posted a notice telling us to follow their page to:

Discover in the coming days the question and the link to enter the Dorchester Collection contest to win a magical two night stay at the exceptional Le Meurice this spring!!!

Next we heard of it was on Friday, when they told us to study the Dorchester Collection’s Facebook page. They say:

The answer to the question that will be revealed in 5 days to win the contest is there

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Hotel Toiletries / Hotel Openings / Facebook Hotels / InterContinental Hotels / → All Tags

And The Award For Intercontinental Times Square's Toiletries Goes To....

Where: W 44th Street [map], New York, NY, United States, 10036

The envelope, please! As we prepare for the Oscars this Sunday, another race is underway in hotel land. That for the coveted spot as the chosen bath amenity brand for the new InterContinental New York Times Square. Earlier this week, we noticed that the hotel had turned to the public to help decide the winner—via a poll on its Facebook page.

This was their shortlist:

What type of bathroom amenities do you prefer?

option 1:GILCHRIST & SOAMES
option 2:Molton Brown
option 3:Aroma Therapy
option 4:Essentiel Elements

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