Should the mainstream media see Twitter as competition?

Twitter unveiled an interesting partnership with the NASCAR auto-racing circuit on Thursday, in which the real-time information network has created a kind of portal for the Pocono 400 race this weekend. The site looks like a fairly normal Twitter feed, with one important difference: in addition to highlighting tweets using an algorithm, an editor hired by Twitter will also be selecting or “curating” the stream. If that sounds like the kind of thing a media company might do, it’s probably because it is the kind of thing a media company would do — the NASCAR deal takes Twitter even further into the realm of being a media entity. Should traditional media players be concerned?

Twitter CEO Dick Costolo has repeatedly protested that Twitter doesn’t see itself as a media entity and doesn’t want to be one, and there are some obvious reasons why the company wouldn’t want to be seen that way, including the fact that it has been spending a lot of time negotiating partnerships with existing media players such as ESPN. It would likely be a lot harder to make the case that media companies should see the service as a partner if Twitter was promoting itself as a media company (Costolo may also be concerned that media companies don’t typically get nosebleed valuations the way tech companies do).

Curating content is what media companies do

Despite the protests, however, there is plenty of evidence that Twitter is a media entity — not a traditional one, perhaps, but a media company nevertheless. For one thing, its business model relies entirely on advertising around content, which is fundamentally the same model most media companies depend on (Facebook could be seen as a media company for the same reason). The content itself may be entirely user-generated, but then so was much of the content in the early years of the Huffington Post, now a major media player in its own right.

Until recently, Twitter was just a platform that provided easy access to this real-time content created by others. But deals like the NASCAR partnership — and offerings like the email summary powered by its Summify acquisition — are pushing Twitter further and further into the “curation” business, and that is essentially an editorial function.

Selecting tweets and photos about a car race might not seem like journalism, but what Twitter is doing is very similar to what a site like Huffington Post or even a newspaper or sports site might do with an event like NASCAR. A traditional media outlet might also have a columnist write some thoughts about the race as well or send a reporter down into the pits to interview drivers, but pulling together real-time reactions from those involved and from spectators has also become a big part of the media response to a major event.

If something like the “Arab Spring” revolutions in Egypt were to flare up again, Twitter could quite easily adapt the NASCAR model to such an event (although there wouldn’t be the obvious commercial relationship). An editor or editors could function in much the same way that NPR editor Andy Carvin did during the revolutions in Egypt and Tunisia, curating tweets and even fact-checking photos and videos in real time. That is fundamentally an editorial function, whether Twitter sees it that way or not — and as Columbia University journalism professor Emily Bell notes, the network is already an important source of news.

For media companies, competition is everywhere

I have no idea whether Twitter has any intention of expanding its editorial ambitions, but the NASCAR arrangement could be an interesting precursor to a number of different scenarios: for example, the company could develop (or acquire) tools and services like Storify or Storyful that make it easier to curate and verify real-time news reports, and it could either offer those to existing media players or it could employ them itself with its own news staff. For these reasons and others, blogging pioneer Dave Winer has said he believes that news organizations should absolutely see Twitter as competition — and suspects that the company might even buy a traditional media player at some point.

The most compelling reason for Twitter to move into this kind of area is that it could increase the engagement that users have with the network, something that is fairly crucial when it comes to appealing to advertisers. Being a platform and allowing anyone to distribute content through your network is great — but coming up with reasons why users should spend time on your pages (and look at the ads) is also pretty attractive from a business point of view. Can Twitter do both at the same time? Can it offer itself as a partner for media companies while also tip-toeing into the editorial end of the business?

If nothing else, the Twitter deal with NASCAR reinforces the fact that for traditional media companies, competition is everywhere — just as Twitter itself can hire editors to curate and aggregate content, so brands and advertisers like the auto-racing entity are becoming publishers and content creators in their own right, with all the same tools that media outlets have at their disposal. Everyone is a media entity now.

Post and thumbnail images courtesy of Flickr users Abysim and Alan Light

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from GigaOM http://gigaom.com/2012/06/08/should-the-mainstream-media-see-twitter-as-compe...

Apple Reportedly Set to Open Up Apple TV to Third-Party Developers at WWDC

Following up on its report from last week claiming that Apple will show off the operating system for its future television set product at next week's Worldwide Developers Conference, BGR now briefly reports that Apple will be using the event to introduce a new software development kit (SDK) to allow third-party developers to build apps for the Apple TV.
We have heard from a trusted source that Apple will be introducing a TV SDK at WWDC next week. This would enable third-party developers to create software for Apple’s TV products.
The report reveals no other details on Apple plans, but we do note that Steve Jobs himself admitted just as the revised Apple TV was launching in September 2010 that the company could open an App Store for the Apple TV "when the time is right".

With rumors of an Apple television set continuing to build, Apple may now consider the time right to begin allowing developers to build apps for the existing Apple TV set-top box ahead of the company's larger entry into the market.


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from MacRumors: Mac News and Rumors - Front Page http://www.macrumors.com/2012/06/08/apple-reportedly-set-to-open-up-apple-tv-...

The Omni Group releases OmniPlan for iPad

Business users will be happy to know that OmniPlan from Omni Group is now available for the iPad. The project planning app is the last of OmniGroup's core productivity apps to hit the iOS App Store.

As its name suggests, OmniPlan lets you manage your projects on your iPad. The app features a visual timeline that lets you see all the tasks and people associated with a project. You can easily edit each task and add new ones from the iPad. There's also a robust syncing feature that lets you share your projects with colleagues. When away from the office, you can sync your changes to a server as well as approve or reject changes from others who are collaborating with you on a project.

OmniPlan is available for $49 from the iOS App Store. You can see a demo of the app below and read more about it on Omni Group's website.

The Omni Group releases OmniPlan for iPad originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Fri, 08 Jun 2012 10:12:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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from TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog http://www.tuaw.com/2012/06/08/the-omni-group-releases-omniplan-for-ipad/

What are you paying for when you buy TV?

When pay TV options came out in the 1980s the consumer was buying choice — more channels and more options for their prime time or daytime or anytime entertainment. But in today’s world, where the choices are infinite and spread between Facbeook, So You Think You Can Dance and Angry Birds, consumers aren’t demanding choice. So in today’s world what I am actually buying when I buy TV packages, be they from a pay TV provider, Hulu, Amazon on Demand, or Netflix?

After thinking about TV in this way, I realize that traditional cable is no longer about choice, it’s about access: we have an abundance of choice, but not necessarily what we crave. As an access provider for content, cable has the widest depth of content right now, but it also costs the most. When I thought about what I was actually buying, it shed light on cable’s problems but also led to insights about Netflix, content companies and broadcasters, and also helped me as consumer to think about TV in a new way that could help me better spend my money. For example, I don’t have cable and this reaffirmed that call.

Netflix is for sleeping in.

Netflix’s child-friendly interface.

When I buy Netflix, I’m buying the ability to sleep in on weekends. Quite simply, it’s worth it to me to pay $8 a month for a service that contains a bonanza of children’s programming in formats that enable my five-year old to wake up, borrow my iPad and settle in for an extra hour or two selecting her shows — all without waking me up.

I’m also paying for the shows to be ad-free, although I would say to Netflix that creating some easy way for me to create a kid-safe selection of TV for this use case is important, and becomes more so as she grows up.

Buying broadcast

On the other hand, I subscribe to Hulu Plus because that’s my only way to get broadcast TV. I occasionally want to watch broadcast TV, but not enough to want to pay $25 for an entire season of a show on Amazon. I can’t receive digital signals inside my home, which frustrates me since those airwaves are considered a public good. Thankfully Hulu and new services such as Aereo are coming to my rescue with my broadcast content.

I even watch ads on Hulu, which is the only place I actually even ever see ads anymore when viewing TV content. Apparently for some programs web advertising is outstripping it’s TV counterparts, which may bode well for Hulu and other broadcaster’s web efforts. March Madness ad spending on web TV last Spring outstripped the advertising spending on live television. Apparently people know where to reach the March Madness demographic and it’s not on TV. So what does that mean?

Maybe instead of authenticating users for Hulu Plus to make sure they are cable subscribers, the broadcasters should go all in and embrace the benefits of offering a platform that gives people broadcast TV (and ads) even if they don’t want to buy cable and can’t get broadcast signals. People are willing to pay for it if Hulu Plus and Aereo are any indication. As for the argument that advertisers currently spend more on “real broadcast TV,” that will change, and fairly quickly is my hunch.

What about sports?

I don’t watch’em, but my husband does. It’s the thing he misses most about losing access to cable, but so far he still doesn’t think it’s worth it to switch back to paying $85 a month for the service. Instead he shelled out $120 for an MLB Premium pass, and he uses a website to track games that are blacked out. For other sporting events he wanders over to a local sports bar and buys a beer. So now, instead of buying sports, he’s buying an evening out with friends and a game. Unsurprisingly, even though he doesn’t catch every game, he likes the bar better.

So what do the content and cable guys do?

The cable guys are in a tough position. People are lazy, and do like choice, but they are also cheap. And the focus today isn’t about choice — it’s about finding the right content on the right device when you want it. That’s a mindset that screams for services like true on-demand networks powered by IPTV where a cable provider can queue up any content for a watcher on demand and on any device.

But technologically cable companies and some other pay TV providers aren’t there yet, and are hazy about when they’ll get there. One reason for this is because it’s tough to do on the back end, but it also has the potential to destroy the geographical monopolies established by physical access lines into the customer’s home.

While they wait, they are pushing hard to create TV Everywhere services that will let customers watch whatever they want within certain restrictions and on particular devices. And they are also trying to keep their content providers from decamping to Netflix or other over the top services.

Some of the content guys are undoubtedly realizing that many consumers will still pay for their content even if it doesn’t come from a pay TV provider. The question is: how much? And when will it make sense for a content company to jump ship and risk alienating a huge source of revenue?

That’s why the Internet is so eager to see HBO Go’s actions, because many believe HBO Go has the largest and best chance to go over the top thanks to its distribution deals and its quality content. But that argument continues to be debunked and HBO isn’t interested. Honestly, this entire future of TV idea is more compelling than some last season’s dramas.

TV Image courtesy of Shutterstock/Angela Waye.

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from GigaOM http://gigaom.com/2012/06/07/what-are-you-paying-for-when-you-buy-tv/?utm_sou...

Artificial cells evolve proteins to structure semiconductors

A marine sponge that produces silicon dioxide fibers.

Scientists have applied genetic engineering to create proteins that can be used to create electronics. They've used the tools of molecular biology and principles of evolution to find proteins that can make new structures of silicon dioxide, commonly found in computer chips, and titanium dioxide, often used in solar cells.

Traditional genetic engineering involves sticking a foreign gene into bacteria and using the bacteria as tiny factories to make the protein encoded by that gene. This approach wouldn’t work for all silica-binding proteins found in marine sponges. The minerals produced by these proteins, which the researchers want to study, can kill the cells.

So Daniel Morse, of the University of California, Santa Barbara, and his colleagues looked to another protein making strategy: synthetic cells with a tiny plastic bead nucleus surrounded by a bubble of oil that acts as a cell membrane.

Read more | Comments


from Ars Technica http://arstechnica.com/science/2012/06/artificial-cells-evolve-proteins-to-st...

Delivering B2B Social Media Value

For the past few years, studies have repeatedly shown that the #1 reason people follow brands on social media is that they expect to get special offers or deals via those channels. This simple fact often makes B2B firms squirm since offering a discount for let’s say, an enterprise-level solution, on Facebook is often, well…less than practical.

Some B2B shops might be comforted to hear that the #2 reason for following brands is that the person is an existing customer and/or wants to show some loyalty to the company. That’s excellent fuel for building a community, which is incredibly important, but what if you want untapped business (prospects) to jump into your social circles as well?

“No Deals” Doesn’t Mean “No Value”

At the end of the day, value is what compels B2C “deal hunter” followers. People are willing to exchange their time, attention, and tweets (or whatever) for something they perceive to be getting in return. If you’re not saving them money on your product or service, you can be making them bigger, stronger, and faster with some insightful thought leadership. You can arm them with good, relevant content that they can share with their own networks. You can deliver them outstanding support and customer service, faster than any of your competitors. And yes, you can also include them in your tight-knit community where they feel like they have a voice and are part of something special.  The list goes on and on.

These value-adds are incredibly important to potential consumers – arguably more than your run-of-the-mill special offer, especially if you can provide these things consistently. Run your content through this kind of mental litmus test: is this piece the equivalent of a 20% discount?

Round up the experts in your company to start blogging or to help create other forms of helpful digital content. Actively tie your support team into each appropriate social channel where they can make an impact (these suggestions deserve a post on their own). Select channels to engage your community of customers and funnel prospects into these channels as well (more on this below).

Have a Purpose for Each of Your Channels

Instead of just asking people to follow, like, or add you, give them a reason to. Use each of your social channels to add something unique to this greater value-adding scheme of yours. Here’s how we use ours at Brainshark:

  • Twitter — Pretty much everything works on Twitter: thought leadership, customer success, photos, videos, other firms’ content, and so on. It’s also the go-to vehicle for customers to get in touch with questions or issues.
  • @BrainsharkLearn – A new dedicated Twitter handle created specifically to help existing customers learn and use our products and services.
  • Facebook – Here we showcase our company culture, fun shark stuff, and the occasional helpful blog post. Customers also like to get in touch via this channel.
  • LinkedIn – This allows us to use company statuses to segment thought leadership and best practices posts by vertical. We also manage a Brainshark Users Group to facilitate discussion amongst existing customers on how to use and improve the product.
  • Google+ – Here we can facilitate open discussion around our blog posts and other digital content.
  • YouTube – This is used mainly for customer success stories, but you’ll also find content around video-based thought leadership and office fun.
  • Pinterest – Here we use our customer success/best practices content as well as others’ to drive traffic. We’re still happily experimenting here, just like most marketers and organizations.

Community Really Does Matter…

…and not in just the flowery, “let’s hold hands” kind of way. Did you know that 60% of the average B2B purchase decision occurs before a prospect talks to a sales rep? People have grown accustomed to finding product information on their own, and a large part of it involves asking friends and other users for their opinions. By using social to foster a community around your brand, you’ll be arming your existing users (or followers) to recommend your products and services to those in need.

No matter how attentive you are to the social web, there’s no way you can get to every single opportunity. If you successfully create an engaged community, no matter how large, you enable the members of that community to become ancillary social marketers for you. This way, you can actually contribute to that 60% of the decision-making process.

This often occurs if you execute the last two suggestions properly. If followers begin relying on you for great content and find something useful and engaging on each of your channels, including real-time support, they’ll be happy to be stuck in your web and pull others into it as well. Create groups or other areas where prospects can easily find existing users of your service!

The same can be said here for B2C firms (I believe there actually isn’t all that much difference between B2B and B2C when it comes to social media). Yet, it’s that much more important for B2B firms since they tend to have fewer customers – making each one all the more important.

Gerry Praysman is the Buzz Marketer at Brainshark. You can follow him on Twitter @gpraysman, and visit the Brainshark Key Uses page to learn more about how video presentations can benefit your overall marketing strategy.

from BostInno http://bostinno.com/channels/delivering-b2b-social-media-value/

Revolutionary Paper Scanner Folds Flat, Costs $15 on Kickstarter

This portable smartphone-enabled scanner is on the verge of changing how we work.

The Scanbox on Kickstarter is a foldable scanner that's easy to put together and snaps in place with magnetic buttons. The scanner, made from a high-quality laminated card, works with most smartphones with a back-facing camera. The Scanbox can digitize full-size documents and anything that fits into its dock. Watch the video above to see how the scanner works.

The Scanbox has been 702% funded with 31 more days left on the crowdsourced funding platform. Backers can receive the scanner with a $15+ donation. The scanner will go into production once its Kickstarter de… Continue reading...

More About: kickstarter, Tech, trending, Video

from Mashable! http://mashable.com/2012/06/07/scanbox-scanner-kickstarter/?utm_source=feedbu...

Social TV: Social Marketing Practices That Translate Beyond Television

For us marketers engaging in a dialogue with your key audience and cultivating that ongoing relationship is crucial to maintaining brand awareness and loyalty.  Social TV is no exception.  In the largely uncharted waters of social media, Social TV is an arena marketers can no longer afford to ignore.  People are using this space at a rapidly growing rate, and certain television networks, like Discovery Communications LLC and USA Networks, are reaping the benefits.  In this post, I’ll discuss what Social TV is reviving an industry, pronounced by many pundits as slowly dying.  What can we as brand marketers learn from this Social TV revolution in media?  Plenty.

What exactly is Social TV?

By now, I’m sure you’ve seen them on your favorite TV shows.  Intruding ever so slightly, it’s there, on the bottom right hand corner of the screen, pulsing in and out of visibility: the hashtag.  Those who are not well adverse in social media often dismiss or don’t even see it on the screen.  But to an ever-increasing population, it signals a conversation going on that you don’t want to miss. Social TV is a term used to describe both the technology and processes that allow social interaction amongst fans, TV producers, and distributors…on the TV screen. Featured in The Social Media Monthly October 2011 issue, the article “The New Fall Season: Social TV poised to change how we find, purchase, and consume television,” by Carri Bugbee, boasts The MIT Technology Review listed Social TV as one of the “ten most important emerging technologies in 2010.” Television viewing has always been a social phenomenon, but the birth of Tivo, DVR and YouTube, has stagnated our “water cooler” moments – the “Who shot JR?” moment or the blackout ending of The Sopranos finale. Social TV has brought these moments back to us in a newer and re-imagined way with some impressive statistics:

  • According to Carri Bugbee, the #TrumpRoast hashtag was used more than 27,000 times on Twitter during the March 2011 telecast of the Comedy Central Roast of Donald Trump. Apparently that was the most-watched Tuesday night show in the history of the network.
  • Fox’s ‘The X Factor’ is No. 1 among new series, with an average of 94,000 social comments per episode as recorded by Bluefin.
  • The Old Spice The Man Your Man Can Smell Like campaign generated:
    • 5.9 million views on YouTube.com in the first 24 hours of launch
    • 20 million views 3 days after launch
    • 1.4 billion impressions over 6 months
    • Sales increase by 107% over 6 months

It seems Social TV offers a place for fans to interact over favorite programs both in real-time and on a grand scale. This type of connectivity gives networks insight not only as to how people are watching and consuming media but also their degree of engagement, insights that were previously inaccessible.  Emerging from the pack, Discovery Communications, LLC is creatively engaging in the conversation with viewers and building a growing network of fans. 

According to Gayle Weiswasser, Vice President, Social Media Communications at Discovery Communications, social media has made TV a social experience again. With its vast assortment of networks – from Discovery Channel, Animal Planet, and TLC– the company manages 70 Facebook Fan pages boasting 40 million fans, and 20 Twitter accounts with 2.4 million followers. Gayle shared that their philosophy on social media is “to use it as a platform that enhances the viewing experience and the relationship with the viewers”.

Part of cultivating that relationship through blogposts, sneak peaks, photos from show talent and more, requires a kind of content producing powerhouse that goes above and beyond a show’s storyline or premise. For example, Discovery’s What Not To Wear Facebook  Fan Page (over 800,000 fans at the time of writing this blogpost) links to articles about fall fashion trends, while the DC Cupcakes Facebook Fan Page features mouth-watering recipes (over 160,000 fans). Lauren Drell from Mashable quotes Weiswasser as saying “content may not have anything to do with the show, but it is relevant to our viewers.” Weiswasser attributes their success to four easy steps:

  • Building relationships and engaging with fans
  • Personalizing the brand
  • Strengthening fan-talent relations
  • Driving tune-in

By far, the most successful social media campaign on Discovery’s resume is the Shark Week promotion. During the week of air in July 2011, there were more than 750,000 tweets mentioning Shark Week — an eight-fold increase over last year — and the handle @SharkWeek grew to close 60,000 followers.

The Shark Week Photo Frenzy – a call for fans to submit photos of how they celebrate Shark Week, got 600,000 page views and more than 1,000 submissions, in addition to 80,000 views of the Photo Frenzy tab on Facebook (Drell).  The Facebook Page accrued 30,000 fans in a single day (116,000 fans throughout the week). The result? 3.9 million viewers for opening night, the highest number in Shark Week history, coming in at a 2.8 for the 9-11pm time slot. Part of the high rating can also be attributed to a well-executed app that lets viewers participate in social conversations on their computers, iPhones and iPads.

This balance between content generation and allowing fans to shape the course of content has proven to be a powerful exchange for Discovery Communications.  Because of social media, Discovery and other networks can now listen to that social discourse, the “likes” and “dislikes,” and mold their content to drive ratings. “We want the content to speak for itself,” says Weiswasser. “If it’s compelling, people will want it — that’s how we got this footprint” (Drell).

What can brand marketers learn from this?

While Discovery Communications is not the only network finding success with social marketing campaigns, they provide a good example of how brands can market successfully with social media. For a network, the outreach – the blogs, photo campaigns, Twitter postings, Facebook engagement, etc. – becomes an extension of their storyline.  Using the television show as the initial premise behind their social media marketing, they broaden those topics to deliver more relevant content for viewers with intent on keeping viewers coming back to the shows.

Just as Old Spice became a phenomenon through a social TV lens, so can other brands.  But it begins with good content – The Man Your Man Can Smell Like campaign wouldn’t have been nearly as successful without the right actor, a pithy, witty script, and the medium (YouTube in this case). The other key factor in making this campaign a huge success was singling out their key audience, in this case, women – but while still appealing to men. The initial commercial was not only funny but it drove home the point that real men don’t use women’s body wash and if you want your man to live up to his potential, he needs his own.

These are definitely lessons we hear all the time – content is key, go beyond your initial product to further engagement — but what networks are discovering through Social TV is that their social outreach may be equal or even more important than the actual product of their shows.  Old Spice followed up their initial commercial with several vignettes using the same actor and premise. The goal of their first commercial was to increase sales but they did more than creating one successful commercial.  They personalized the brand, giving it dimension and a story arc that extends beyond its first inception.  This three-pronged attack pushed the campaign from successful to legendary.

Got a favorite TV show that keeps on living in the social realm?  Using Social TV to engage fans and keep them coming? Share your insights, experiences and questions on this blog, Twitter: Facebook at: Awareness, Inc., Social Media Marketing Best Practices and Social Media Marketing Mavens pages, and in our LinkedIn Social Media Marketing Mavens Group.

Mike Lewis

@bostonmike

from BostInno http://bostinno.com/channels/social-tv-social-marketing-practices-that-transl...

How Easy is it to Obtain Starwood Stay and Night Credit on an Award Redeemed from Someone Else’s Account?

My stay in Iguazu Falls at the Sheraton was on points, a reservation gifted to me by a friend with more Starwood points than he can shake a stick at.

Points for incidentals at the hotel (e.g. my bar tab!) didn’t post automatically to my account, so I scanned a copy of the bill and sent it in for credit. The points were promptly added to my account.

Strangely, though, my stay and night counter for elite status didn’t go up.

Now, it doesn’t matter a great deal for me. I have Gold status through the American Express Platinum card. I’ll earn Gold status on my own, anyway. And I’m not expecting to hit Platinum as tempting as this year’s changes to the program make it to do so.

But it’s the principle of the thing, plus it’s more nights towards lifetime status. So I followed up.

No dice. I was told that since there were no room charges, I get no stay or night credit.

Dear Gary,

Our records indicate the previous email receive with your attached hotel bill was for incidentals as it did not have any accommodation charges. If you have room accommodation charges please send a full copy of your hotel bill and I will be happy to make the appropriate adjustments accordingly.

We appreciate your loyalty and look forward to your future hotel stays. If you have any further questions please let me know.

Best Regards,

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
SPG Program Services – Research Specialist
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide

That’s wrong, of course, Starwood now counts award stays towards status. I know this because I broke the story and even posted an internal memo confirming it prior to the announcement. So I really do know this.

I replied quite simply,

There were no accommodation charges because it was an award stay!

But of course award stays still count for stay and night credit.

Please adjust accordingly.

Regards,
Gary Leff

Now the problem becomes that my wife’s name appeared on the booking (at check-in we had to present both our passports, so she was registered to the room along with me).

Dear Mr. Leff,

Our records indicate that your award reservation was booked under Ms. [name redacted]‘s account. As it pertains to this stay we are not able to credit your account with stay and night credit due to it being under Ms. [name redacted] account. However, your account has been credited for your incidentals.

We appreciate your continued loyalty with Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide Inc. If you have any further questions please let me know.

Best Regards,

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
SPG Program Services – Research Specialist
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide

Of course, nothing ever touched her account and neither Starwood nor the hotel ever had her account number.

I admit, I was starting to show some frustration. And I let them know this.

Seriously, what does it take to get Starwood Preferred Guest to apply its own rules correctly?

My wife, [name redacted], was listed on the reservation at check-in. That’s because the hotel requires all guests to be registered, and they verify with passports. My wife was with me, so her name appeared. But her Starwood number was never provided. The reservation was NOT “booked under her account.”

It wouldn’t matter anyway!

The reservation was booked using my friend [name redacted]’s points. BUT STARWOOD RULES ARE THAT THE GUEST WHO ACTUALLY STAYS receives the stay and night credit, not the person from whose account the miles are pulled.

Again, I am due stay and night credit for this hotel stay. I expect it to be credited to my account….

Do you think that solved it? If it did, I probably wouldn’t be writing a blog post!

Here’s the new hurdle I faced:

Dear Mr. Leff,

I apologize for any disappointment this may caused you. However, As per the terms and conditions of the Starwood Preferred Guest program, members must have reserved the room in their name, stay at the hotel and "pay" for the room for any reservation to be credited to their account. If any condition is not met, the stay would not be eligible for stay or Starpoint credit. As stated in your previous Mr. [name redacted]’s paid for this room with his starpoints. The only eligibility towards this stay would be your incidentals which I have credited your account with.

We appreciate your continued loyalty with Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide Inc. If you have any further questions please let me know.

Best Regards,

XXXXXXXXXXXX
SPG Program Services – Research Specialist
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide

Oh boy. Now I’m really frustrated, because the agent isn’t just confused, they actually don’t understand the rules of the SPG program. So I had to explain to them that award nights count towards status for the person who actually stays in the room.

And I admit, I’m not proud of my frustration here. I’m certain this person means well. They don’t deserve my snippiness. And yet as normally controlled as I am, I’m not sure my response was as measured as it should have been.

We’ve truly entered the realm of the bizarre….

You write that “per the terms and conditions of the Starwood Preferred Guest program,” because the room was paid for with someone else’s points, and I stayed in the room, I am not eligible for stay/night credit – I am only eligible for points on incidentals.

This is simply false. Please see the Starwood Preferred Guest FAQ on award stays/nights counting for status. The recipient of an SPG free night award receives stay and night credit towards elite status qualification per Starwood policy!

    Q: If I want to gift an SPG Award stay or night to someone else, who gets the elite status credit?

A: If you (giver) decide to gift an SPG Award stay or night to someone else (receiver), the receiver will be given the stay/night credit toward elite status qualification. If the receiver is not an SPG member, he or she can enroll and receive the stay/night credit. You, the giver, will not receive any elite credit for that posted stay.

AGAIN, please credit my account with the appropriate stay and nights as requested. This issue has taken three additional emails after the credit didn’t post on its own…

I guess once they finally ran out of objections it was ok to give me the credit. This last email seems to have done it.

Dear Mr. Leff,

Your account has been credited for stay and night credit from your stay at the Sheraton Iguazu Resort and Spa.

We appreciate your continued loyalty with Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide Inc. If you have any further questions please let me know.

Best Regards,

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX
SPG Program Services – Research Specialist
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide

I’ll rarely ever give up. I almost always prefer to deal in writing, it helps avoid a moving target and also means I can forward previous correspondence especially if and when I don’t hear back as expected.

Question, though: having had to go through back flips to get Starwood’s policies honored, should I be compensated with some Starpoints for the trouble? What say you?

Update: I did email asking for points for the trouble. They haven’t replied, but posted 500 points to my account. Meh.

from View from the Wing http://boardingarea.com/blogs/viewfromthewing/2012/06/07/how-easy-is-it-to-ob...