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The James Chicago Shows How a Foursquare Special is Done

Where: 55 East Ontario [map], Chicago, IL, United States, 60610

Last fall, during a visit to Chicago, we were walking through the River North area with our heads down, looking more at our phone than at the sidewalk in front of us. The reason was all the excellent tips and deals showing up on Foursquare, and when we walked near The James Hotel, their lobby bar deal for two cocktails for the price of one was more than enough to pull us in.

Chicago's James was one of the first hotels to embrace Foursquare, and they continue to do an excellent job with it, as evidenced by their most recent promotion. Check in and "check in" at the hotel, and you're in for this deal:

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Foursquare Hotels / Foursquare / Social Networking / Social Media / Hotel News / → All Tags

Hotels are Angling For Their Foursquare Check-In Badge

The lobby bar at JW Marriott at LA Live is not on Foursquare but their Glance lounge is.

Do you Foursquare? No, not the game you used to play on the blacktop at recess. We're talking about Foursquare, the newest darling of the social media realm that allows you to declare your exact locations via your mobile devices. That's what's called a "check-in." (Not to be confused with your hotel check-in.)

The location-based service, which can be linked to your Facebook and Twitter feeds, awards points and "badges" as sort of a game to keep users interested in playing. Indeed, accumulating (or "unlocking") badges, particularly the silly ones, seems to be part of the fun on Foursquare.

But there is valuable information sharing going on here as well. Foursquare users interact with each other by giving tips on places they've checked into (long waits, specific bartenders to ask for, etc.) And because of this tip-sharing, Foursquare is emerging as a new sort of Yelp! or TripAdvisor.

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Have You Ever Won a Free Hotel Stay on Twitter?

it's too bad that Twitter doesn't have any sound effects, because for many, it would be the cha-ching of a cash register. For individuals and companies alike, social media is the new hotspot for contests and giveaways which, in the past, belonged in supermarkets with pads of entry sheets, or with mail-in postcards after watching a TV commercial about a sweepstakes.

As one-on-one (or millions-on-millions) as Twitter is, it is an extremely easy way for hotels to attract new guests, flatter loyal ones, and generally get their name out there with the messages they approve.

Thus it comes as no surprise that hotel Twitter contests have risen in popularity over the last few months, as they dredge about for new followers and engage people to keep their brand in mind.

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Hotels That Twitter and Twitter Well

It's not just Marriott that's been busy sending out updates all over Twitter Nation. These days, a pretty sizable group of individual hotel properties have set up their own Twitter accounts to get in on the action, and many of them are doing killer jobs of utilizing the microblogging platform to tweet everything from room renovations to staff movements to rate specials (and sometimes more stuff that nobody cares about — but that's all part of the beauty of Twitter, right?)

Rob over at Resideo.com has scoured interwebs to find dozens upon dozens of worldwide hotels using Twitter, and he's put together a list of all of them — organized by location — to help you pack your follow list with your favorite spots.

Some of our favorite hotel Twitter-ers from this list, chosen because they're updated frequently with useful info for guests (like discounted rates and package options) and each one interacts with other Twitter users:

· The Iron Horse Hotel, Milwaukee
· The Charles Hotel, Cambridge, MA
· Hotel Murano, Tacoma, WA
· Post Ranch Inn, Big Sur

Of course, some of the hotels on this list have completely inactive or entirely useless accounts — it looks like some of these heard from an Internet-savvy staffer that they should set up "one of those Twitter things" but have yet to take any steps to figure out the site or the system. A couple examples: Gramercy Park Hotel and Hotel Teatro.

And, er, make sure you get with the program and follow the HotelChatter Twitter feed while you're at it.

[Photo: Influential Marketing Blog]

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Using Visual "DNA" to Select A Hotel Warrants An Audible "WTF"

UPDATE: Right now, the Visual DNA feature is available for the UK site only.

Perhaps we are just overly-skeptical of all things that link image identification to deep untapped psychological desires (or whatever) because we're the type that tend to see phallic images in every one of those ink-blotter tests, but goodness: even we had never heard of "Visual DNA" before hearing about Hotels.com's latest scheme.

NMA is reporting that the site has launched "a social network to help users personalize their search for a hotel" that utilizes Visual DNA. That is, users  are asked to select from a range of images -- like beaches, room decor and restaurant styles. From there, the site will produce hotel suggestions based on the images from Hotels.com's library.

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MySpace Hotels / Geek Hotels / Facebook Hotels / Social Media / Social Networking / → All Tags

Hotels and Social Networking :: Sketchy or Seriously Innovative?

We came across community and social media blogger Chris Brogan's discussion on social networking at hotels and we got to thinking about some of his points. Should hotels create their own online social networks? And what about hotels that carve out their own corner of social networking sites by creating MySpace or Facebook pages - what sorts of features do guests want to see from them?

First thing's first: hotels with their own social networks, a la Pod Hotel's Pod Community Blog where guests can post on a forum to find other folks to eat/drink/shop with during their stays.

What if every hotel had its own little social network like that? You know, an opt-in program for guests who are chillin' at, say, the X Hotel in Anywheretown who want to meet some other travelers? They create a profile and link up with people who share their interests or just want to grab a martini (or more, even). Cool? Or sketchy like a mom on Facebook? (No offense, Mom!)

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