Starwood and its Preferred Guest program just started up a blog called TheLobby.com, which is hyped in the press release this way:
- "By creating an experience outside of the corporate box, we believe TheLobby.com will establish more personal relationships with members in a new and non-traditional way," said Robin Korman, Vice President of Loyalty Marketing for Starwood. "It's all about fostering a sense of community for our members where we can showcase and celebrate their experiences and passion for travel and provide access to great 'insider' editorial content."
Nice concept, but where are the comments? It's not a relationship if it only goes one-way. Like in this post about Boston's theater district, where I really wanted to add some comments about seeing Spamalot this past weekend (oh man, it was fabulous. I laughed so hard my stomach hurt. But if you or your attendees are tall or have bad knees, the Colonial Theater is not for you—the seats were built back when people were shorter). They're missing an opportunity to really connect and have conversations with their readers, and let readers have conversations among each other, by not allowing comments. That said, so far, the content is pretty interesting, if slightly hype-y on Starwood properties. I added it to my ever-growing list of RSS feeds.