ACCOR VS NOWNESS

Luxury package hotel including "Twitter butler"

It seems that the concept of social media manager for the companies get extended to hotels with the idea of offering a social media butler in an expensive package at the Madison Hotel in Washington, D.C.

For a fee of 47,000$ for 4 days during the Barack Obama’s inauguration, besides a private Lincoln Town Car and driver, a tour of D.C., a $5,000 shopping experience at Brooks Brothers, and a couple's massage, among other luxuries, the hotel offered a personal social media butler.

So what is a social media butler ?

It is a dedicated staff member who follows the guest around with a camera and document the adventures in real time on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.

The main marketing idea to sell this service is that « From Tweeting and Facebooking to Instagramming and Pinning -- we're ready to record the memories in real time as the Social Media Butler for the friends and family of excited attendees so they can enjoy the moment," according to the marketing agency that will staff the program.

How does it work concretely ?

Guests can control the experience, deciding how frequent status updates should be, designating which social networks are included, curating the content of their tweets

Guests can also leave the butler with their social media account information, periodically text messaging over photos to be uploaded remotely. This way, VIPs can make use of the service without having a stranger following them around Washington at all times.

Is it really a good concept ?

This sounds like creating and having a private paparazzi who will posts the most « amazing » updates, showing how cool and « in » the guest is.

The hotel tries to justify this « luxury service » to the guests by explaining that many companies are having social media strategists and that they are just applying th same «successful » concept to hospitality.

We can wondering ourselves, why being on social media (that will imply necesseraly personal level) if it is not to make it personal and enjoying the fact to share pictures, posts…

It became a little bit insane to need an assistant to talk about your life, what you think and the pictures….if the customers can send pictures to the social medi butler, why not posting it directly ??

If the concept of social media strategist is a good strategy for companies, 

I don’t believe in the success of a social media butler.

Besides, it reduces even further the concept of privacy !

SoLoMo MacDonald's study case

https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B4nR4Q2R-wRuUXZIYnVpVDJRQU0