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Marriott buying good publicity for Bonvoy

Marriott buying good publicity for Bonvoy

Old Mar 8, 2019, 2:43 am
  #16  
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Originally Posted by Oxon Flyer
Oh yes they do, and, as per the posts upthread, rather naïve to think otherwise.
Indeed they do, and very frequently. The good publications write in the article if the trip was "at the invitation of ..." or "sponsored by ..." The more dubious publications forget this little piece of information.
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Old Mar 8, 2019, 9:08 am
  #17  
 
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Originally Posted by 1353513636
Honestly this is everything that's wrong with corporate America. Ruin a great program, make it obvious to members that they don't care, and then buy good publicity so they can tell investors that a bunch of people who saw some influencers and probably never stay in hotels view Marriott Bonvoy favorably, so give the C-suite a big bonus.

This is probably way cheaper than paying to replace passports exposed in the hack so they'll throw money at this while refusing to cover replacement costs of hacked passports because that doesn't costs more.
You're just likely not the target demographic (neither am I) and you're missing the point that Bonvoy is primarily a rebrand to market to a younger generation of Instagramming Millennials. Some of these people literally plan vacations around getting the perfect Instagram pic...
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Old Mar 8, 2019, 9:48 am
  #18  
 
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There’s nothing very sinister in this as it relates to mainstream travel writers: they are obliged to acknowledge the source of the funding ( and reviews can be read through that prism). It gets murkier with travel bloggers, as they rarely acknowledge if they are the beneficiaries of free goods/services, including preferential treatment ( some do acknowledge, or decline to participate, and they deserve credit for it and to be taken more seriously). At the really murky/sleazy/corrupt end of the scale are the “social media influencers”, ie paid shills/agents of corporations,. And there’s all sorts of jiggery pokery going on in that space.
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Old Mar 8, 2019, 10:53 am
  #19  
 
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Originally Posted by laxmillenial
Lol. Tell that to the instagrammers that email hotels saying they deserve comp'd rooms at 5 star accommodations because they're going to feature the hotel in an instagram post. They'll shame you right out the door with how instagram is a professional occupation and how they're real and deserving of anything they ask for.
Originally Posted by paolo64
There’s nothing very sinister in this as it relates to mainstream travel writers: they are obliged to acknowledge the source of the funding ( and reviews can be read through that prism). It gets murkier with travel bloggers, as they rarely acknowledge if they are the beneficiaries of free goods/services, including preferential treatment ( some do acknowledge, or decline to participate, and they deserve credit for it and to be taken more seriously). At the really murky/sleazy/corrupt end of the scale are the “social media influencers”, ie paid shills/agents of corporations,. And there’s all sorts of jiggery pokery going on in that space.
It's not just hotels; I own a small tour company and get approached by "social media influencers" looking for free trips, which I always refuse. Millennials are not my target market and I doubt any of the "influencer" freebies would result in the kind of coverage that would translate into substantial enough sales to cover that cost.
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Old Mar 8, 2019, 11:16 am
  #20  
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Originally Posted by escapefromphl
You're just likely not the target demographic (neither am I) and you're missing the point that Bonvoy is primarily a rebrand to market to a younger generation of Instagramming Millennials. Some of these people literally plan vacations around getting the perfect Instagram pic...
Out of curiosity, is this the same Marriott that deleted all the Starwood hotel email addresses and replaced them with fax numbers?
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Old Mar 8, 2019, 11:45 am
  #21  
 
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Originally Posted by escapefromphl
You're just likely not the target demographic (neither am I) and you're missing the point that Bonvoy is primarily a rebrand to market to a younger generation of Instagramming Millennials. Some of these people literally plan vacations around getting the perfect Instagram pic...
it’s more that the old execs at these companies spend millions on snake oil salesmen/consultants to learn ‘what millennials want’ & roll out such things which end up failing.

My company gets multiple calls daily from all manner of “experts on millennials”.
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Old Mar 8, 2019, 3:06 pm
  #22  
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Originally Posted by ukyank

it’s more that the old execs at these companies spend millions on snake oil salesmen/consultants to learn ‘what millennials want’ & roll out such things which end up failing.

My company gets multiple calls daily from all manner of “experts on millennials”.
I'd love to find out which idiot in senior management decided that millennials (of which I am one) didn't want desks in their hotel rooms. I would hope that person is out of a job.
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Old Mar 8, 2019, 5:02 pm
  #23  
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Originally Posted by Beltway2A
I'd love to find out which idiot in senior management decided that millennials (of which I am one) didn't want desks in their hotel rooms. I would hope that person is out of a job.
But Marriott International held a focus group at the Chick-fil-a in Odgen, Utah where the participants said they didn't really travel much but nodded at the statement from the Marriott guy that "desks were for old people and unnecessary".
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Old Mar 8, 2019, 5:29 pm
  #24  
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Originally Posted by Beltway2A
I'd love to find out which idiot in senior management decided that millennials (of which I am one) didn't want desks in their hotel rooms. I would hope that person is out of a job.
​​​​​​I think the whole millennial concept thing has gone way out of proportion. I don't belong to the group, but based on managing and working with millennials, and children of friends and family, I find the generation to be far more diverse and independently minded than all of these marketing concepts seem to assume.

All that being said, I rarely use the desk in my hotel room, I am apparently millennial enough to use use the bed or sofa as a work station
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Old Mar 11, 2019, 1:47 am
  #25  
 
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Is Marriott trying to buy reviews?

Just saw this

"Marriott has sent out invitations to various writers last week offering a paid trip to Hong Kong to showcase the brand in exchange for a pair of posts in two major publications. " quoted from live and lets fly blog.
https://liveandletsfly.boardingarea....rogatory-verb/

Is this really true? Shameful if it is - and maybe they're starting to see some effects of all their incompetence ?
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Old Mar 11, 2019, 2:14 am
  #26  
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Originally Posted by estnet
Just saw this

"Marriott has sent out invitations to various writers last week offering a paid trip to Hong Kong to showcase the brand in exchange for a pair of posts in two major publications. " quoted from live and lets fly blog.
https://liveandletsfly.boardingarea....rogatory-verb/

Is this really true? Shameful if it is - and maybe they're starting to see some effects of all their incompetence ?
To be fair, this seems fairly and squarely aimed at the mainstream media, eg travel supplements of national newspapers. You can tell that by the way they try to convince you that you'll be 'living the Titanium Elite lifestyle'.

(In my case, based on Berlin last week, that would mean being given the keys to a room which is occupied and then quietly downgraded when you are reassigned another room.)

Most journos on such publications would get several offers like this each week. Note that flights are not covered.
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Old Mar 11, 2019, 2:20 am
  #27  
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Old Mar 11, 2019, 2:28 am
  #28  
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If Marriott would just let me give reviews then they could have some for free.
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Old Mar 11, 2019, 2:48 am
  #29  
 
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OMAAT had a good write up on this.

From reading that, it sounds fairly common across the industry. For those in this community, does it have much of an impact? Unless I actually know someone who has visited a property, I prioritise FT reviews and feedback - that's what makes these hotel forums so useful. After that I'll use Tripadvisor (being careful to weed out bogus reviewers with a single post), Google Reviews and bloggers I trust (typically OMAAT, Raffles or the LoyaltyLobby people).

If Marriott want to pay a staff member at TPG, a magazine columnist or an Instagram 'influencer' to visit properties for free, good for them.
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Old Mar 11, 2019, 3:17 am
  #30  
 
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Originally Posted by margarita girl
I thought from what I first read that they were covering air fare - okay they're not BUT
I am lifetime Titanium - do I get meals at Michelin restaurants and spa treatments and concerts? Guess I missed that part in the terms and conditions
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