I had the opportunity to stay at the Hilton The Hague recently. I recently started staying at Hiltons again and had one good and one bad experience in September, so I was curious to see how this one would go. I checked into the Hilton and was pleasantly surprised. The hotel was built in 2010 so it’s very modern and in great condition. I was able to stay at the Hilton because I got a great pre-paid rate for the two-week stay. Had it not been for that rate, I don’t think I would have been able to justify the steep rates. The hotel was filled with diplomats and lawyers trying cases at the International Crimes Court.

I really liked the ambiance of the hotel. The lobby was large and had plenty of seating areas. The décor was black, white and red – my three favorite colors and what I have decorated my home with, and the accessories and lighting was unique and interesting.

The check-in process was very easy and the hotel had my room ready upon my arrival (which was about 12:30pm). I was upgraded from the standard room I booked to an executive level room. The room was quite large and had a king sized bed, desk, entertainment center, chair and ottoman. The bathroom was also very big by European standards. There was a bathtub and stand-alone shower, Peter Roth bath products and large fluffy towels. The water pressure was great, but I felt bad for the maids because no matter I did, I couldn’t keep all the water in the shower! The floor would have big puddles after every shower.

As a gold member of the Hilton Honors program I had access to the executive lounge. The lounge was very nice and had plenty of tables and couches. There was an outdoor patio that looked quite nice – but I was never able to enjoy it due to the rain and cold temps. Breakfast was served each morning and consisted of scrambled eggs (which were usually down to the last few pieces by the time I arrived at 8:30), bacon, a selection of meats – which were always plentiful, two or three fruit choices, breads and pastry, cereal and yoghurts. There were a few juice choices, tea, and a great coffee machine. Throughout the day the staff would place snacks out in the lounge. In the evening, drinks and appetizers were served. The selection was always very good and they didn’t seem to run out like they did at breakfast.

The hotel staff was very helpful and always friendly. I only really encountered one problem during my stay. I was in the hotel for a total of 12 nights and so I unpacked my suitcase and settled in. On the 8^th night I heard some very strange noises around 10pm. It sounded like hammering and drilling. It went on for quite some time. I called the front desk to ask if there was construction going on. They seemed shocked that I would be asking such a question – and in fact, it did seem like an odd question at 10pm at night – but that’s what I heard. They assured me there was no construction going on. About 30 minutes later I heard water dripping and then the drip turned into more of a stream. I called the front desk again to tell them that now water was dripping into my room. The hotel night manger came up to my room – I’m pretty sure he thought I was crazy, until he saw the water himself. His exact words, “wow, this isn’t good.” He informed me that I would have to switch rooms because there was no one from maintenance at the hotel so late. So at 10:30 at night I started to re-pack, everything! I moved down the hall, to a much smaller, but drier room. My only real disappointment with the situation was the no one from the hotel followed up with me the next day to apologize for the inconvenience or ask if everything was okay now. I had to make a point to speak with the front desk and ask what had happened. It turns out that there are executive apartments on top of the Hilton and someone in the apartment above my room had been doing some decorating and hit a water pipe.

I didn’t eat at the hotel’s restaurant, but I did order room service. The room service was well managed and arrived promptly. I got a Caesar salad, which I didn’t care for – there was almost no dressing and the dressing was not a traditional creamy Caesar salad dressing. I also got a ham, cheese and mushroom Panini that was very good. Everything at the hotel was quite expensive, as was everything in The Hague.

Overall, I really enjoyed my stay at Hilton The Hague. Aside from the one hiccup with the leak in the room, the rest of the stay was quite good. If I return to The Hague, and I can find a good rate, I would absolutely return to the Hilton.

The Bathroom

The Bedroom

The Hotel

In July of this year I visited Macau and stayed at the Westin Hotel, at the time the only Starwood property in Macau. I was very dismayed when I discovered Shark Fin Soup on the hotel’s menu. The practice of Shark Finning is considered one of the most inhumane and unsustainable practices impacting shark populations around the world. If you’re not familiar with what it is, Shark Finning refers to the practice where fisherman catch sharks, cut off the fin and throw the live shark back in the water. Without its fin, the shark drowns. Shark Finning has brought many species of shark to the brink of extinction and its estimated that each year almost 1 million sharks are slaughtered.

When I discovered Shark Fin soup on the menu I took to Twitter and wrote a blog post. The post received a lot of publicity including responses from well known international NGOs and from the Westin Macau and Starwood itself. The hotel’s general manager, Stephan Winkler, wrote me the following letter

Dear Ms. Segal,

Greetings from The Westin Resort Macau.

Thank you very much for choosing to stay with us in the last few days and I hope you had a good time here.

We have noted your comment on Twitter and are sorry to know that you were disappointed to find out we still had Shark Fin Soup listed on the in-room dinning menu. We appreciate you bringing up the issue, as it offered us a chance to explain the situation.

As one of the properties of Starwood Hotels & Resorts, we do take collective measures to play a role in helping to preserve the bio-diversity of our oceans. Indeed, we are working on the new in-room dinning menu, from which sharks fin soup will be taken off. This new menu will be ready in one month’s time.

However having said that, we understand your perspective and the will to protect the living eco system. At this point, we have taken out the Speciality Dinning page of the existing in-room dinning menu from every guest room.

 Again, thank you for bring this to our attention and the support to the anti-finning movement.

 My team and I look forward to welcoming you back for another renewing stay.

 Be Well.

STEPHAN WINKLER

General Manager

In addition to copying members of his own team, Mr. Winkler also copied members of Starwood’s corporate Consumer Affairs team, Public Relations team, Social Media Team and the Sr VP of Starwood Global Communications, the Director of Corporate Communication, the Area Director for Hong Kong & Macau, the VP of Asia Pacific Sales, and the VP of Brand Management.

It was amazing to me that one person who tweets and blogs could get such a response from a major corporation.

I was asked by many readers to follow-up and make sure the hotel really followed through on their promise and so this week I reached out to Mr. Winkler who confirmed that the hotel had stopped serving Shark Fin Soup and connected me with the new Director of Food and Beverage for a follow-up interview.

Today I was able to ask Theo Mahendra, the Director of F&B, some questions. Mr. Mahendra joined the Westin Macau in this role in August of 2012 (a month after my stay.) He manages the hotels restaurants and room service offerings. Mr. Mahendra confirmed that on the 12^th of July 2012 Shark Fin Soup was removed from its menus. I asked Mr. Mahendra if they’d received any complaints about removing Shark Fin Soup from the menu. He indicated that they had not received any complaints, but had received a few questions from guests. Mr. Mahendra’s mission as the Dir. of F&B is to assure brand standards, maintain the quality of service, keep harmony among the associates while achieving set goals. I asked about the direction of the restaurants and room service menu and Mr. Mahendra informed me that they will change the menu twice a year and ensure that they stay on top of current trends. One trend that you will not see the Westin Macau follow…returning Shark Fin Soup to the menu.

Commentary

There is absolutely no doubt that I am truly loyal to the Starwood brand. By the end of this year (2012), I will have completed 150 nights with Starwood and have already booked 25 nights in 2013! Actions like this help cement my loyalty. While it is true that I am highly motivated by points and free nights, it is in fact equally important to me that I do business with brands that share my concern for the world. Given the choice between two equally suited hotels I am absolutely going to chose the one that demonstrates their commitment to the environment, children and other important global causes.

I applaud the Westin Macau and Starwood for making this positive change. I hope others will follow their lead.

This contest is now closed.

The winner is comment #33, from JettyOne.  Congratulations on winning this week!   Grand prize winners will be announced on Friday November 2nd.  

As many of you know, I’m celebrating my 1^st year anniversary on Boarding Area all month long. This is the 4^th and final week to enter the 1 year 1 million point give-away. At the end of this week the week 4 winner will be selected as will the two grand prize winners!

Earlier this year I stayed at the Westin Macau and blogged/tweeted about how disappointed I was that the Westin still had Shark Fin Soup on their menu. Not only did I get a response from Starwood’s social media team, but I got a response from the hotel’s GM Stephen Winkler indicating that the hotel would remove Shark Fin Soup from the menu. I wanted to make sure they actually followed through and so I contacted Mr. Winkler again this week for a follow-up. He confirmed that Shark Fin Soup was removed and provided the name and contact for their new Director of Food and Beverage for a follow-up interview. I will publish the follow-up interview later this week. The point of relating this story here is that one person CAN make a difference. You can influence a hotel, an airline, a local business, a co-worker or family member in small or major ways.

To enter this week’s contest, share a story of how you have facilitated change – it could be big or it could be small change. Perhaps you helped someone learn to read, volunteered after a natural disaster, convinced a business to change the way they operate, etc… There are millions of ways you can facilitate change.

Every little change matters and I’ve decided to change the world 1 mile at a time. From convincing the Westin Macau to remove Shark Fin Soup from their menu to volunteering after Hurricane Katrina and the Tsunami to helping a stranded traveler and giving up my seat for an active duty military member on leave….I’m facilitating change. I hope you will too!

This week’s winner will receive 20k Starpoints and everyone who enters will have a chance at one of the grand prizes! To refresh everyone’s memory, the grand prizes are: 1) 300,000 Delta Sky Miles & 200,000 Hilton Honors points and 2) 240,000 US Airways Miles, 100,000 Marriott Rewards Points and 50,000 Hyatt Gold Passport Points.

Good luck!

Rules:

Entry: Leave a comment on this blog post. You may enter up to three slogans, but only 1 per day during this promotion period. Multiple comments on the same day will be disqualified. The winner will be selected based upon creativity.

Promotion Period: The week 3 contest runs from October 22^th – 28, 2012 and ends at 8pm ET on October 28^st. Any entry posted after that period will be disqualified. The entire promotion period for grand prize give-away runs from October 1 at 12:01 am ET through October 28^th 2012 at 8:00 pm ET.

Eligibility: To enter, you must be a legal resident of the United States (void in Rhode Island & Puerto Rico) Canada (void in Quebec) Great Britain, Ireland (void in Northern Ireland) or Thailand. You must be 21 years of age or older to enter. Void where prohibited by state, federal, country or other local laws. The immediate family members of VeryGoodPoints(VGP), the judges, and the immediate family of the judges are not eligible to win.

Prizes: Limit of one weekly prize per household or per person for the entire promotion period. Weekly prize winners are eligible to win 1 of the grand prize awards. Recipients will be responsible for taxes where applicable. The odds of winning are dependent on the number of entries. There is no cash value of the prizes. There are three valid methods of entry Twitter, Facebook and this blog – please refer to each weekly prize post to determine the valid methods each week. You are not required to enter on all three.

Winner Selection: Entries will be judged by a panel of three judges. Those who are and are not selected for a weekly prize will be eligible for the grand prize. Winners will not be selected at random – rather, the winner will be selected based on creativity, uniqueness and thoughtfulness.

Winner Notification: Once notified, the recipient will have 10 business days from the date of notification to claim the prize. Prizes may be claimed by emailing verygoodpoints@gmail.com. If the prize is not claimed within 10 business days after notification, the recipient forfeits the prize. The winner will be announced on this blog (www.verygoodpoints.com)

Other Conditions: No purchase necessary to win. Recipient must have a valid rewards account to accept the prize. It is free to join the Starwood Preferred Guest, Delta Sky Miles, Hilton Honors, Marriott Rewards, Hyatt Rewards and US Airways Dividend Miles Programs. Please read the terms and conditions of each rewards program to determine what constitutes a valid account. VeryGoodPoints is not affiliated with Starwood, Delta, Hilton, USAirways, Marriott or Hyatt or any of their subsidiaries. This promotion is in no way sponsored or administered by Facebook, Twitter, Starwood, Delta, Hilton, USAirways, Marriott or Hyatt or any of their subsidiaries. By posting a picture on VGP website you grant the rights to republish that picture on this website.

Privacy: Information collected from participants (name & email address) is only used for the purpose of determining eligibility and awarding the prize(s) and will not be re-used, sold or shared in any manner.

I had the opportunity to stay at the Hotel Des Indes in The Hague, Netherlands this past weekend. The town center in The Hague, or Den Haag as it’s referred to locally, dates back to the mid to late Middle Ages and many of the streets and buildings are originals. This historic hotel was originally built in the early 1800′s as an estate for the Baron van Brienen. He planned to use the palatial property to host grand parties. Upon the Baron’s death in 1863 his eldest son inherited the estate and sold it to a hotelier. Throughout the years the hotel has retained its charm and witnessed some of history’s most memorable moments.

History

In 1900 all rooms were equipped with a phone, an intercom system connected with the reception, washing stands that had hot and cold running water and a bath tub. In 1902 a hydraulic elevator was built which worked on the pressure of the water. The hotel has developed a legendary guest list and on the first floor displays photographs and signatures of many of those guests. Among those guests are the Empress Eugénie of France, Mata Hari, President Theodore Roosevelt and Josephine Baker, who rented a separate room for her monkey. One of the most famous stories was that of famous ballet dancer Anna Pavlova. In 1931, she arrived to The Hague from Paris by train. The train had been involved in a severe accident and Pavlov offered assistance to her wounded fellow travelers. Following the accident she caught pneumonia and two days later, she died in Hotel Des Indes in a room on the first floor.

During the Second World War, the hotel was used not only by German forces, but by Jews who were in hiding. Long before the war started, the hotel manager built a pigeon house on top of the hotel. When the Germans arrived, the hotel manger and his wife wanted to escape to England. She was shot and did not survive. The pigeon house served as a hiding place for Jews. The irony was the both the German soldiers and the Jews at the same pigeons cooked by the same people. After the war, American troops settled into the Hotel Des Indes including Eisenhower, Churchill and Montgomery.

It is said that the hotel “do not disturb” sign was first used at the Hotel Des Indes when a member of a visiting royal family hung a feather outside his door to indicate that his servants should not enter the room.

Then:

Now:

Review

The Hotel Overview:

The hotel entry is regal and welcoming. I arrived in the afternoon and was greeted by a bellman dressed in traditional formal attire. He asked if I needed assistance with my bags, and when I said I did not, he walked off. I found my own way into the hotel and wandered aimlessly until I found reception. I was greeted by a very helpful and friendly agent who quickly checked me in. He reviewed the hotel amenities and informed me that breakfast was not included in my rate nor was it included for Platinum members of the Starwood Preferred Guest Program. I was offered as my check-in amenity the choice between 500 Starwood points or breakfast. I chose the points as I figured I would sleep in.

The agent showed me around the hotel lobby and when I expressed interest in the hotel history, he showed me to the first floor where pictures and signatures of famous guests hang. His service was excellent.

The Room:

I was upgraded to a Junior Suite which was one very large room with a king sized bed, a couch and chair, a desk and large entertainment center. The bathroom was quite big and had a shower and separate bath tub. There were a large number of bathroom amenities including a soaps, shampoos, lotions, a loofah sponge and bath salts all that smelled like green tea but the brand was not one I am used to seeing at Starwood hotels. The couch was covered in soft velvet and was very comfortable, I found it a great place to sit and read. The bed was luxurious and comfy as well – just what you’d expect from a Starwood Luxury Collection Hotel.

The room décor was elegant and stately. The hotel was renovated in 2006 by renowned architect Jacques Garcia at a cost of €35 million. All of the rooms, suites and public areas were restored to reflect their original splendor.

I absolutely loved the room I was in. I wish I could have afforded to stay in that room during my entire stay in The Hague. Thanks to a reader I learned about an Anniversary special that the hotel was offering during my trip, €135 per weekend night, which made it possible to stay one night. Normal rates during the two weeks I was in The Hague ran around €235+ a night. The rack rate for the Junior Suite I was in was €625 a night.

The Restaurant

I decided to try the hotel restaurant because it got great reviews. I arrived at 7pm and asked to be seated in the restaurant. I was told that without reservations I couldn’t get a table in the actual restaurant, but I could sit anywhere in the lounge/bar area and order from the full menu. The dining room had at least 12 tables open so I didn’t quite understand why I couldn’t sit there. However, I took a seat at a small table in the lounge. I was promptly provided a menu and my drink order was taken. I ordered a bottle of sparkling water and it came quickly as well. I waited another 30 minutes before anyone came back over to take my order. The server was not knowledgeable about the menu at all. I asked him several questions and he couldn’t answer any of them.

I ordered a Cesar salad with crab meat which ended up being the smallest “salad” I’ve ever seen. There was almost no lettuce but there were some crab and quail eggs…or at least that’s what the server told me they were. They sure didn’t taste like quail eggs. It took 1 hour for the salad to arrive.

For the main course I ordered a dish and I really wasn’t quite sure what I was going to get. When I asked the waiter to explain the dish to me he said it was three different preparations of duck liver. When the dish arrived, 45 minutes after the salad arrived, I discovered it was actually chicken stuffed with duck liver and spinach. The chicken was very pink when it arrived. I was a bit nervous about eating it. I was also nervous that if I sent it back I’d sit for another 45 minutes before it came back out. In the end, I decided just to eat the areas that were not pink. When I was done eating, I sat for around 30 minutes before the server came back over.

I decided to throw caution to the wind and order tea and dessert. I was very excited to see apple strudel on the menu. I figured it had to be good. Before the dessert came out, they served an amuse-bouche of chocolate ice-cream with cherries. The ice-cream had a very odd texture but the cherries were nice.

Finally, 45 minutes after the amuse-bouche arrived my dessert arrived. I was very disappointed when I saw my apple strudel – it looked nothing like an apple strudel and tasted even less like an apple strudel. The round circle was meat to represent the crust. It had almost no taste. Each of the components of the apple strudel was represented on the plate. There was a small dollop of apples, a dollop of vanilla ice cream which melted quickly, a dollop of cream and some powder that had no taste. I ended up eating only the dollop of apples and vanilla ice-cream.

My tea never arrived, which was quite disappointing and after a very long dinner I decided not to ask for it again. Overall, I was extremely disappointed with the service at dinner and even more disappointed with the quality of the food. The restaurant was busy and I noticed that most tables, like me, had been sitting for hours.

Overall

I was very impressed with the hotel itself. As old as it is, the rooms felt like they provided all of the modern day comforts while maintaining the historical charm. Other than the terrible experience at the restaurant, I found the staff to be knowledgeable about The Hague and the hotel. I would stay at the hotel again and absolutely loved they documented and maintained the history for guests to enjoy today.

The Hilton in the community Foundation, Hilton Hotel’s foundation in Great Brittan, has gone to the ducks, literally. Hilton hotels in Europe are selling Ducks for Change – miniature rubber ducks painted with fun costumes. You can collect ducks with 18 from participating hotels and all net profits go to Hilton in the Community Foundation, a grant-making trust focused on supporting young people in the areas of health and education.

Hilton’s Duck For Change Facebook page

The Hilton Ducks for Change have all sorts of adventures! To follow them on their adventures your can become a fan of the Ducks for Change Facebook page. The Ducks are sold in sets of three. If you want to buy a set buy a set from one of over 80 participating Hilton Worldwide Hotels across Europe or you can email your order to info@hilton-foundation.org.uk.

This is such a great idea and great way to raise to money for wonderful causes across Europe. If you’re a duck lover, consider buying yourself a flock next time you’re at a participating Hilton!

It took me 3 hours to get from Amsterdam Schiphol Airport to The Hague and only 6 ½ hours to get from Chicago to Amsterdam. Considering The Hague is only 40 miles from Amsterdam, you might be asking yourself, what took 3 hours! Let me start from the beginning…

I started out in Chicago where there were severe thunderstorms and a tornado warning that forced everyone into shelters, rooms w/no windows, etc… Luckily there was no tornado, but it created a bit of a backup at the airport. Security and check in were both shut down for 30 minutes during the warning and when they reopened the lines were long. The priority access lane was backed up past the economy check in counters. I haven’t seen that before at ORD.

My flight was running about 30 minutes behind schedule, which was understandable. We boarded the aircraft (which seemed to take forever) and were finally on our way. Soon the pilot announced that we’d be arriving in Amsterdam early! Not just a little early, but a full 50 minutes early. It always amazes me how you can depart 30 minutes late and still land on time or in this case early! Well, sure enough, we landed early – 60 minutes ahead of schedule.

I was through customs and baggage claim by 9am. I made my way to the trains. I’ve taken the trains in the Netherlands many times so I was pretty sure I’d be in the Hague by 9:30 or 9:45 and would have a full day in The Hague. Well, that’s where things turned a little crazy. It seems that department of transportation picked this very week to conduct major track renovations – great timing! Therefore there were no direct trains to The Hague. Oh no!

I bought a ticket (which by the way I had to pay cash for since they now ONLY accept credit cards with chips & pin smart card technology for train tickets) and asked for directions. I was told to take the 9:05 train on Platform 1 two stops and then switch to the next train. I did that and 10 minutes later I was at the next station. I asked for directions from there. I was told, get on the 9:15 train on Platform 7 five stops and switch to the next train. By this time I was a little confused with all the switches, it was pouring rain now and no announcements were being made in English. An elderly couple started providing translation for me. They were from Washington DC and very nice. They offered to let me tag along with them and they’d get me to The Hague (where they were both originally from.) I did that and 10 minutes later I was at the next station. I then boarded that train and was told this train goes to The Hague. Yay! I would be there by 10am.

After about an hour and 10 or so stops, we pulled up to a station, a few announcements were made, a lot of people got off the train and then the train started rolling…backwards. We were going in the wrong direction. What was going on? Were they switching tracks? This couldn’t be right. The elderly couple asked a conductor what was happening. He said, “We made an announcement; this train is no longer going to The Hague. You should have gotten off at the last stop. We’re going back to Amsterdam. WHAT? Amsterdam? I just came from Amsterdam. OMG how could this be happening. So we rode the train back to one of the stations where we could switch and get onto a train that would take us to the Den Haag HS station (the non primary station in The Hague.) At this point, I didn’t care what station I ended up in, I just wanted off the train.

To make the whole situation more comical, I was dragging – and I literally do mean dragging – my 58 pound suitcase which United kindly tagged as “heavy” with a bright orange tag. It was quite heavy by the second train switch…by the fourth train switch I wanted to throw it out a window and buy new clothes!

Three hours after I left the airport, having seen pretty much all of the Netherlands on the train, I finally arrived in The Hague. How am I getting back to the airport you ask? I’ve booked a shared car service for about 30 Euros and it will be worth every penny if I don’t have to lug that suitcase on and off the trains!

I’ll have plenty more from The Hague this week!

Stacey

And the winner is….

 There were a ton of really unique, fun and entertaining submissions. The winner is comment #64 from Adventure Flyer – “Virgin Airlines – ironically, we’re always on top”.  Adventure Flyer receives 20k SPG points! Congrats. 

If you have time, be sure to read though all the comments, you’ll find yourself laughing out loud.

Original Post:

Have you ever watched a TV commercial for an airline, hotel, or car rental agency and thought, “I can do better than that.” Well, here’s your chance! To enter this week’s give-away for 20k Starwood Preferred Guest points, come up with a new slogan for any airline, hotel or car rental chain. You will be judged on creativity – but please keep it clean (this blog is PG!)

To enter, leave a comment on this post and make sure you include

• The brand your slogan is for
• Your slogan

You may enter (3) three times during this week (Oct 15-21, 2012) but only 1 time per day. Multiple comments on the same day will disqualify you.

Special Thanks to @TheHowieee, @JohnMooreNow & @JeffTheWanderer for being my think tank and coming up with ideas for this week’s contest!

Good Luck!

Rules:

Entry: Leave a comment on this blog post. You may enter up to three slogans, but only 1 per day during this promotion period. Multiple comments on the same day will be disqualified. The winner will be selected based upon creativity.

Promotion Period: The week 3 contest runs from October 15^th – 21, 2012 and ends at 8pm ET on October 21^st. Any entry posted after that period will be disqualified. The entire promotion period for grand prize give-away runs from October 1 at 12:01 am ET through October 28^th 2012 at 8:00 pm ET.

Eligibility: To enter, you must be a legal resident of the United States (void in Rhode Island & Puerto Rico) Canada (void in Quebec) Great Britain, Ireland (void in Northern Ireland) or Thailand. You must be 21 years of age or older to enter. Void where prohibited by state, federal, country or other local laws. The immediate family members of VeryGoodPoints(VGP), the judges, and the immediate family of the judges are not eligible to win.

Prizes: Limit of one weekly prize per household or per person for the entire promotion period. Weekly prize winners are eligible to win 1 of the grand prize awards. Recipients will be responsible for taxes where applicable. The odds of winning are dependent on the number of entries. There is no cash value of the prizes. There are three valid methods of entry Twitter, Facebook and this blog – please refer to each weekly prize post to determine the valid methods each week. You are not required to enter on all three.

Winner Selection: Entries will be judged by a panel of three judges. Those who are and are not selected for a weekly prize will be eligible for the grand prize. Winners will not be selected at random – rather, the winner will be selected based on creativity, uniqueness and thoughtfulness.

Winner Notification: Once notified, the recipient will have 10 business days from the date of notification to claim the prize. Prizes may be claimed by emailing verygoodpoints@gmail.com. If the prize is not claimed within 10 business days after notification, the recipient forfeits the prize. The winner will be announced on this blog (www.verygoodpoints.com)

Other Conditions: No purchase necessary to win. Recipient must have a valid rewards account to accept the prize. It is free to join the Starwood Preferred Guest, Delta Sky Miles, Hilton Honors, Marriott Rewards, Hyatt Rewards and US Airways Dividend Miles Programs. Please read the terms and conditions of each rewards program to determine what constitutes a valid account. VeryGoodPoints is not affiliated with Starwood, Delta, Hilton, USAirways, Marriott or Hyatt or any of their subsidiaries. This promotion is in no way sponsored or administered by Facebook, Twitter, Starwood, Delta, Hilton, USAirways, Marriott or Hyatt or any of their subsidiaries. By posting a picture on VGP website you grant the rights to republish that picture on this website.

Privacy: Information collected from participants (name & email address) is only used for the purpose of determining eligibility and awarding the prize(s) and will not be re-used, sold or shared in any manner.

Contest Now Closed

The winner of the week 2 give-away (20k Starwood Points) is Samuel G here’s his story: 

I would select prize number two. Five years ago I got engaged to a wonderful woman named Hau (which means Wish in Vietnamese.) She accepted my teenage daughter as if she were her own. My daughter loved her so much, like a mother, and wanted to learn everything she could about Hau’s culture and customs. A year before our wedding Hau was diagnosed with Pancreatic Cancer and it progressed very quickly. She died 4 months before we were supposed to get married. Now it’s just me and my daughter. Hau and I never got to share our cultures with our daughter.

I would select trip #2 so that I could take my daughter on a tour to discover her heritage, including her would have been mom, Hau’s, heritage because she never stopped loving her.

I would fly on US Airways and would go to Germany, Vietnam and Thailand. I would go to Germany on Lufthansa so my daughter could learn about my past. I would then fly on Thai Airways to Bangkok so that my daughter could see the place that Hau and I met. I would then take a cheap flight to Vietnam on a low fare carrier so that we could explore Hau’s heritage together. I would fly back from Bangkok to the US on Thai Air.

This would be the trip of a lifetime and a dream come true.

Congratulations to Samuel G!

Original Post:

What’s your Yolo? For that matter, what’s a Yolo? A Yolo (you only live once) is the new bucket list. If you win a prize during my 1 year, 1 million point give-away you could certainly cross an item – or a few – off your Yolo List!

To enter to win this week’s give-away for 50,000 Hyatt Gold Passport points and your chance at the grand prize give-away simply follow the instructions below!

After 1 year of blogging on BoardingArea I’ve had the opportunity to interact with some amazing people. Many of those people have amazing dreams and by giving away 1 million points I hope I can make a few of those dreams come true.

There are two grand prizes 1) 300,000 Delta Sky Miles & 200,000 Hilton Honors Points and 2) 240,000 US Airways Dividend Miles, 100,000 Marriott Rewards Points & 50,000 Hyatt Gold Passport Points. To enter, leave a comment on this blog post or on facebook telling me

• Tell me which grand prize you’d like to win
• Where you would go & why you would go there
• What airline you’d fly
• And where you would stay (hint: don’t pick prize #1 and tell me you’d stay at a Marriott since the prize only offers Hilton Honors points.)

Be creative, be unique, and be thoughtful!

Rules:

• Entry: Leave a comment on this blog post OR on facebook. You may enter on both this blog post and on facebook, however it will not increase your odds of winning since the winner will be selected based upon creativity, uniqueness and thoughtfulness of their answer.
• Promotion Period: The week 2 contest runs from October 8^th – 15, 2012 and ends at 8pm ET on October 15^th. Any entry posted after that period will be disqualified. The entire promotion period runs from October 1 at 12:01 am ET through October 28^th 2012 at 8:00 pm ET.
• Eligibility: To enter, you must be a legal resident of the United States (void in Rhode Island & Puerto Rico) Canada (void in Quebec) Great Britain, Ireland (void in Northern Ireland) or Thailand. You must be 21 years of age or older to enter. Void where prohibited by state, federal, country or other local laws. The immediate family members of VeryGoodPoints(VGP), the judges, and the immediate family of the judges are not eligible to win.
• Prizes: Limit of one weekly prize per household or per person for the entire promotion period. Weekly prize winners are eligible to win 1 of the grand prize awards. Recipients will be responsible for taxes where applicable. The odds of winning are dependent on the number of entries. There is no cash value of the prizes. There are three valid methods of entry Twitter, Facebook and this blog – please refer to each weekly prize post to determine the valid methods each week. You are not required to enter on all three.
• Winner Selection: Entries will be judged by a panel of three judges. Winner not selected for a weekly prize will be eligible for the grand prize. Winners will not be selected at random – rather, the winner will be selected based on creativity, uniqueness and thoughtfulness.
• Winner Notification: Once notified, the recipient will have 10 business days from the date of notification to claim the prize. Prizes may be claimed by emailing verygoodpoints@gmail.com. If the prize is not claimed within 10 business days after notification, the recipient forfeits the prize. The winner will be announced on this blog (www.verygoodpoints.com)
• Other Conditions: No purchase necessary to win. Recipient must have a valid rewards account to accept the prize. It is free to join the Starwood Preferred Guest, Delta Sky Miles, Hilton Honors, Marriott Rewards, Hyatt Rewards and US Airways Dividend Miles Programs. Please read the terms and conditions of each rewards program to determine what constitutes a valid account. VeryGoodPoints is not affiliated with Starwood, Delta, Hilton, USAirways, Marriott or Hyatt or any of their subsidiaries. This promotion is in no way sponsored or administered by Facebook, Twitter, Starwood, Delta, Hilton, USAirways, Marriott or Hyatt or any of their subsidiaries. By posting a picture on VGP website you grant the rights to republish that picture on this website.
• Privacy: Information collected from participants (name & email address) is only used for the purpose of determining eligibility and awarding the prize(s) and will not be re-used, sold or shared in any manner.

I had the opportunity to interview the Director of Online Marketing for one of the world’s largest Hotel brands this week. I asked him about Social Media’s impact on hotels and how his job has changed as a result of social media. Here’s the interview:

Q: How has social media changed the way hotels operate?

A: Social Media has changed the way hotels operate in the sense that they must be more accountable for their actions. If something goes wrong, the guest will take to social media platforms to tell all of their friends and others that may stay at that hotel. If the hotel doesn’t respond, then that makes it even worse, so hotels/brands have to stay on top of social media and respond quickly.

Q: How do you respond quickly with so many people out their posting?

A: Our Company has tools that allow the hotels to pull up positive and negative comments whenever they want, so it puts it all in one place and they can respond. We also have a team on our Guest Assistance team that is dedicated to watching social media for negative posts and responding within 1 hour. A lot has changed in a short amount of time and I know it will only get more sophisticated as more platforms launch and hotels/brands being to support them.

Q: What are the biggest changes you’ve seen?

A: The biggest challenge is obviously keeping up with all of the comments and feedback guests provide using social media. We have a dedicated team that helps watch for negative reviews, but most brands have an agency that helps them keep up with comments, posts, tweets, etc… With new platforms coming onboard all the time, we have to determine if that platform should be part of our brand strategy or not.

Q: What is the biggest surprise that you’ve encountered this year in regards to how social media has changed the way you do business?

A: The biggest surprise is just the landscape of the apps because as a brand, we have to stay on top of all the apps to know if they are right for us.

Q: What is your goal in using social media, what do you hope to accomplish for your brand?

A: Our goal in social media is to engage with our customers. We don’t want to “talk to them,” but rather “with them.” We always ask questions, do polls, post images and see what people are up to. As we do that, we see what our audience responds to the most and then we do more of that. We hope in the end that with our engagement and timely customer service that they will stay with us again and recommend us to their friends and family.

Q: Do you think your social media goals align with what your customers are looking for with social media?

A: I do feel that the guests are looking more for fun engagement with brands and research shows that as well. Guests want to know they can speak to us on our different platforms – Facebook, Twitter, Trip Advisor, etc…- and that a real person is going to answer them, and quickly, as we do that. We have several departments that touch this aspect and it all aligns to making our guests happy.

Q: Do you have a favorite form of social media yourself?

A: I prefer Twitter myself because with my daily schedule being so busy, getting 140 character updates is good; it is easy to get information quickly.

Q: What do you see happening in the future?

A: Things are going to become more personal and more customizable.

Q: Do you think social media is here to stay?

A: For sure! People love to connect, so social media will never go away in my opinion. Whether they connect with friends, family, brands, team, etc.., people love to have that connection and studies of younger generations show this as well.

Q: What things do you do today that you wouldn’t have done 5 years ago before the explosion of social media?

A: First of all, social media was not even a part of anyone’s job description even 4 years ago. The biggest change is having to make sure we keep up on comments to guests and that is hard with all the other duties I handle including display advertising, online strategy, direct response creative, social media, brand emails, etc..

Q: What do you love about your job?

A: I like the interaction every day, which that is with customers, hotel employees, team members, agency partners or whoever is in the office. I also love the strategy side of my job. I get to work with the great marketing team here and work with great agencies to make our hotels as great as they can be.

Over the past nine years I’ve had the opportunity to travel for business – a lot! I’ve earned almost 2 million frequent flyer miles during that time and countless hotel points (I stopped counting, but if I had to guess, I’d say I’ve earned around 3 million hotel points in various programs.) I realize that this type of travel provides a very unique opportunity for me to see the world and that many other people don’t have that opportunity. I’ve been all over the world and some of my favorite places are Alaska, Hawaii, Thailand and the UK.

After blogging on Boarding Area for a year, I’ve had the chance to interact with so many readers who travel, but not the extent I’ve been able to travel. I would love to give every reader the chance to take a once-in-a-lifetime trip, but unfortunately, that’s not possible. So, a million point give away is the next best thing!

During the month of October I’ll be running a weekly contest. The weekly winner will receive either Starwood or Hyatt points. Everyone who enters the weekly drawings will be entered into the grand prize drawing. You can enter up to three times a week (once via Twitter, once via Facebook and once on my blog) however, you don’t need to enter three times to win….since the winner will be selected based on their answer one entry is all it really takes! We’ll be judging based on creativity. Be unique, be clever and put your heart into it!

What am I giving away?

4 weekly prizes

• Week 1 (Oct 1 – 7^th, 2012) – 20k Starpoints
• Week 2 (October 8^th – 14^th, 2012) – 50k Hyatt Gold Passport Points
• Week 3 (October 15- 21, 2012) – 20k Starpoints
• Week 4 (October 22- 28, 2012) – 20k Starpoints

Grand Prizes

• Grand Prize #1 – 300,000 Delta Sky Miles & 200,000 Hilton Honors Points
• Grand Prize #2 – 240,000 US Airways Dividend Miles, 100,000 Marriott Rewards Points & 50,000 Hyatt Gold Passport Points

How to enter:

There will be on blog post each week on which you can enter. You can comment on that post, you can tweet an answer and/or you can post on Facebook. Using the same answer on all three forums will not help your odds of winning since we’re judging based on creativity. However, if you’ve got more than one great answer, you can use the multiple points of entry to submit those.

The first weekly contest is located here. There’s also a bonus entry method. Visit Lufthansa Flyer’s blog and comment on his post located here.

All of the contest rules and information are located on the 1 year 1 million points home page

Good luck – I can’t wait to see who wins!

A company called, Amor Group  will be installing the largest passenger tracking system in North America utilizing the first commercial installation of BluFi, delivered by BlipTrack, at Toronto Pearson International Airport. BlipTrack is the first system in the world to track mobile phones, completely anonymously Amor cliams, through augmented Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connections. The hope is that the technology will provide a clear picture of passenger wait times at key process points like security, customs, etc… It will also provide passengers with live, automated wait time information ensuring they are kept informed as they move through the airport.  The integrated Wi-Fi and Bluetooth tracking system of BlipTrack enables it to track smartphones, such as iPhones and Android devices, which cannot be tracked through Bluetooth alone. Amor Group claims “the technology provides a robust and future proof way to manage resources and help passengers as they visit the airport.”

This is an interesting use of technology but it does bring up questions of privacy and security.  I am sure that there will be plenty of groups examining how much information BlipTrack collects about a person its tracking, what type of information it’s able to access via your smartphone once its connected via BluFi, etc…  According to Amor’s website, “BlipTrack solutions follow human movement in real time. BlipTrack is able to track the same person walking, bicycling, driving a car, using a train, ferry, plane and any other type of transportation.”  So the question that brings to my mind is, if I connect through Pearson and my phone is turned on (meaning they can connect to me via my Bluetooth & Wifi) could they then also track me in other places?   I asked the Former Chief Technology Officer of a major social networking site that very question.  The answer?  Yes, it’s technically possible. Whether Amor Group is doing it or not – who knows – only they can answer that question.

I’m all in favor of using technology to improve customer experience, but I also think there needs to be oversight so that passenger’s privacy rights are maintained.  I’m glad this is being rolled out in Canada because they have some of the strictest privacy laws in North America (and perhaps some of the stronger in the world) and I’m sure they’ll be watching this closely.

What do you think?  Are you comfortable being tracked?