Starwood Preferred Guest - Lurker hit 20K posts at 5:41 PM CDT, September 9th (updated title)

....when it is getting close to the time that they picked for Williams 20000th post?
William care to respond? :D:D

....when it is getting close to the time that they picked for Williams 20000th post?
William care to respond? :D:D

I joked with my wife yesterday that I might need to post, "William, what are your thoughts?" on about 14 threads today...

I wouldn't mind picking up those 20k points but I suspect he's gotten a LOT of emails in the past few days :p

Well, I've already lost...

I'm on my way to losing. He's not posting at the same rate as recent days.

Maybe he submitted an entry too and is timing his posts accordingly ;)

I'm on my way to losing. He's not posting at the same rate as recent days.

Amen. I'm contacting customer care...

I'm on my way to losing. He's not posting at the same rate as recent days.

Could be as much a function of necessity as anything. ;)

Every passing hour just increases the number of entries I have to sift through, so I was really looking forward to a quick end myself. Frankly, I thought this would be over and done with yesterday, but alas no. :(

I guess the bright side is that a few more folks get an opportunity to win.

Best regards,

William R. Sanders
Online Guest Feedback Coordinator
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide

guest.forum@starwoodhotels.com

Too bad the posts on OMNI don't count. You could post something touting the Longhorns or abusing the Trojans about losing another Heisman. :D

I joked with my wife yesterday that I might need to post, "William, what are your thoughts?" on about 14 threads today...

Hey, William. What do you think of that? :D

I'm on my way to losing. He's not posting at the same rate as recent days.

I know!

I'm out of the running too! I thought the contest would spur a lot more q's to William.

Good luck to whoever wins!

...which I am sure my finance prof would be SO proud of.
I actually picked a date NEXT WEEK.....aaaaaaaaaaaaauuuuuuuuuuuuuugh!
Wow, and this was without the aid of drugs or alcohol.
Here's hopin' someone with a few less synaptic gaps than me enjoys their 20000 pts.

sorry - what's going on? was in Zurich at the Sheraton - very nice centrally located

See the sticky in the SPG forum.

Okay. We are done. Game called at 5:41 PM CDT, September 9th.

Thanks to everyone who participated. ^

Best regards,

William R. Sanders
Online Guest Feedback Coordinator
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide

guest.forum@starwoodhotels.com

Anyone close?

Anyone close?

I guessed 5:39PM!!! I hope that's close enough!

I guessed 5:39PM!!! I hope that's close enough!

Nice. I had 3:17.

Congrats, William, and thanks for all the help over the past many years.

I've now updated the title to reflect the end of the competition.

I think it's time to reflect on all the hours it took to make 20,000 contributions to a single forum. That is simply astounding! Wow!^

Thanks, indeed, William for all of your postings and contributions here!

However, I must cry foul with this promo!

If Starwood Lurker is William. And William didn't make each and every one of the 20,000 posts himself. Then the contest should not yet be closed!

Because I seem to remember that there have been predecessor and backup Lurkers that have posted under this account.

Conspiracy! I cry foul!

;)

Seriously, thank you William, and thank you to Starwood that this milestone indicates in terms of its commitment to engaging its customers online.

Best wishes, truly.
Gary

Why is it that only US or Canadian residents were allowed to participate?

I think it's time to reflect on all the hours it took to make 20,000 contributions to a single forum. That is simply astounding! Wow!^

I can vouch that he did sneak out of the forum, occasionally!;)

Congrats, William!

Hmmpf! Obviously you were not as prolific of a poster (these past few days) as I had you stacked up to be because it took you FOREVER to get there! :p

Actually, just wanted to say :-: :-: :-: CONGRATS on reaching 20,000! :-: :-: :-:

^

Why is it that only US or Canadian residents were allowed to participate?

The legal department could not get it set up in time with any other regions. In fact, it could not be set up so folks who live in Rhode Island or Quebec could participate, so not everyone who resides in the US or Canada was allowed to participate either.

I've gone through my fan mail and from the overview it looks like 5:39 CDT was the winner. There was one better...5:42...but that person was ineligible to participate due to their residency status.

I'm forwarding the winner's email to SPG and I would expect for them to hear from them either sometime tomorrow or on Monday.

Best regards,

William R. Sanders
Online Guest Feedback Coordinator
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide

guest.forum@starwoodhotels.com

I guessed 5:39PM!!! I hope that's close enough!

Looks like you're the winner! Congrats!^

Looks like you're the winner! Congrats!^

Thanks mnmag, and thank you Mr. Sanders (Starwood Lurker) and the good folks at Starwood! I just told my wife and she is giddy with excitement even though I interupted her viewing of The Vampire Diaries season premiere. :D
I'll keep my eye out for that email from Starwood. I've been a happy member of SPG since 1994!!

Damn...3:22 here!!!!!!!

If only....sigh

The legal department could not get it set up in time with any other regions. In fact, it could not be set up so folks who live in Rhode Island or Quebec could participate, so not everyone who resides in the US or Canada was allowed to participate either.
Best regards,

William R. Sanders
Online Guest Feedback Coordinator
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide

guest.forum@starwoodhotels.com

It was such a cute promotion! I couldn't participate because I live in that wonky little state, but that's my own fault. :eek:

Is there a prize for inspiring the contest? ;)

The "Waiting for the 2010 Q3 Promo" FT Post Count Bonus
Between 8/14/2010 and the date on which Starwood Lurker reaches 20,000 FT posts, earn your FT post count in Starpoints for every stay at a participating SPG property. Register Here! (http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/members/starwood-lurker.html)

Congrats to Churnman! And much thanks to Starwood Lurker for his vast contributions and assistance within the FT community!

I was off by 2.5 hours....

Supercool contest!! Thanks for your support and please do more like this!!

There was one better...5:42...but that person was ineligible to participate due to their residency status.

i think that was me....sucks....

Oops I didnt realise there was a comp :D. But given how I went over my own 3000 post milestone without noticing until I got to 3060....I am guessing I would not have got William's right either :o.

Congratulations William, on all those posts. Wow that's a lot of helping out all your fellow FTers here ^.

Well done. Thanks for all your fine efforts :).

In fact, it could not be set up so folks who live in Rhode Island or Quebec could participate,....

Rhode Island? William, someday when your legal department has absolutely nothing else to do, perhaps one of them will post here and explain why the laws in RI wouldn't allow this. I can't wait. Maybe we can run a separate contest to guess where the contest for guessing Thyetus' 3,000th post won't be valid. :D:D:D

Thanks for all of your help, both substantively and in your positive attitude, and your willingness to assist specific guests with their specific problems, both here and by PM. As I've said before, the availability and responsiveness of both you and Thyetus have played a huge role in earning Starwood my loyalty.

Rhode Island? William, someday when your legal department has absolutely nothing else to do, perhaps one of them will post here and explain why the laws in RI wouldn't allow this. I can't wait.

OT, and IANAL (I am NOT a lawyer, nor do I pretend to be one), but I do have a little info into this from a previous job (with a legal intensive staff). Each state makes up individual laws regarding contests....which means when we would run a US promo, we would have 54 (forget how many territories the US has now-PR, Guam, Siapan...etc) different "sets" of rules! RI happens to have one that you must file a statement with the Secretary of State (IIRC), and pay a few hundred $$$$ to be eligilble in that state. This must be done in advance (and was a difficult and lengthy process to get through), or the officers of the company could be held liable, and charged w/ a criminal misdemeanor. We "wrote off" the small population of RI, and figured business wouldnt be much there, so we never took the time to allow residents to particpate.

Hope this helps......and again, IANAL!!!!!!

PhillyPhlyer40 is correct. I don't know if they really would have had to submit this contest or not, but to do so would definitely would have been on the safe side. The RI statute says that they have to do so "where the total announced value of the prizes offered to the general public is in excess of five hundred dollars ($500)."

The T&Cs of this contest (http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/starwood-preferred-guest/1124180-guess-lurkers-20k-post-contest.html) announced the value as...
"Approximate Retail Value: $500.00 US."

Puerto Rico regulations on sweepstakes were relaxed late last year. I'm not sure if there's any reason that they should still need to have excluded PR from this promotion, but the old laws would have required the T&Cs to have been translated into Spanish.

...and a big kudo to William for the effort to respond 20000 times ^^^.

I love how in Canada you have to take a math quiz to win a contest....what is the reasoning behind that?....to weed out dumb luck?

...and a big kudo to William for the effort to respond 20000 times ^^^.

^^

I love how in Canada you have to take a math quiz to win a contest....what is the reasoning behind that?....to weed out dumb luck?
Yes, that is exactly the reason.

http://contests.about.com/od/sweepstakes101/f/caskillquestion.htm

20000 posts are at least helpful for all of us and sometimes even for some hotels...:p

:D:D:D

Thanks to William and also to Thyetus for the untiring efforts and tireless answers here!!! Hope this was correct english...

^^^

William is living the dream of many FTers. He gets paid to post on FT........
Okay, a lot of us are getting paid to post on FT, but the difference is that William's employer knows and appreciates it.

Congrats, William, and thanks. You have bailed me out a few times. I/we appreciate all the help!

I was off by 1 hour and 11 minutes.

Off by 7 minutes :eek:

Yes, that is exactly the reason.

http://contests.about.com/od/sweepstakes101/f/caskillquestion.htm
That's an excellent link and also explains why sweepstakes in the US always have "no purchase necessary to enter". Thanks.

*sigh*

I was off by only 5 days....