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Marriott launches online travel community

August 28, 2008 | Hospitality Industry

Marriott Rewards Insiders is a lightly moderated online community, and is built specifically for members to share their travel stories, ask questions from other members and give advice and recommendations.

No one knows the ins and outs of travel better than the globe trotting frequent travelers who belong to Marriott Rewards.  Now those members can exchange candid travel advice through a new online travel community – Marriott Rewards Insiders – and share their personal tips on everything from the best beach resorts to where to find the best sushi, to favorite wireless hot-spots for business travelers.

Marriott Rewards Insiders is a lightly moderated online community, and is built specifically for members to share their travel stories, ask questions from other members and give advice and recommendations. Powered by leading social media marketing agency LiveWorld, the site is open to the program’s 3.5 million Elite members and will open to all members later in the year.

“Our members told us they wanted a place where they could talk to each other without interference from sponsors trying to sell them something,” said Ed French, senior vice president, Marriott Rewards.  “We designed an innovative digital lobby to give them a place to share their stories and get authentic, honest information from other frequent travelers just like them.”

How does it work?  Members can either use the site to just read information or set up their profile and post questions, comments or responses.  They can also sign-up for alerts, which are sent when a post is created in a forum the member wants to follow.  They can be emailed or posted in the member’s profile.  Marriott Rewards Insiders offers “expressive profiles” that allow members to personalize their online identification by uploading pictures or avatars, providing travel preferences and personal interests and identifying their home town. 

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