A few years ago, my wife and I stayed at the Landmark Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Hong Kong.
It's a seriously stylish property and remains one of Hong Kong's more design-forward hotels. It's expensive, aspirational, premium...you get the picture.
So....why, exactly, would anyone think that I would want to become a 'fan' of this hotel on facebook? I ask because I received an email inviting me to do just that.
Not only is that horribly forward gesture for a place I have stayed once. But facebook...are they sure?!
I guess that the digital gurus at the Landmark think that I will want to parade my worldly status, increase my social capital, by making my fandom of their hotel public.
But I won't. And, in the process they have just ensured that I will tell all my friends that the once stylish Landmark has now gone tacky and mainstream.
If I were advising the Landmark, I'd be trying to help them find ways to keep in touch with former guests in a relevant, respectful way. And I'm pretty sure that setting up a facebook group would not be how I'd start.
Or is it just me?
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