Social media addicts get hotel points when they jones for recognition

by Tom Johansmeyer on

Does check-in mean more to you than a pretty girl at the front desk, fumbling with your credit card and a humble request for an upgrade? If this expression instead reminds you that you’ve been the uncontested mayor of your tiny cubicle for the past seven and a half months – and you like to travel – Topguest.com has you in mind. This new social media service seeks to score hotel points for you based on foursquare, Gowalla, Loopt and a handful of other networks.

So far, Standard Hotels is previewing Topguest. According to CNET:

Right now, there are two rewards in place: check in to all four Standard hotels in the course of a week (which involves being in New York, Los Angeles, and Miami) and earn a complimentary week’s stay at any one of them), or check in to Standard establishments ten times and receive a 25 percent reservation discount.

Okay, so the perks are a little thin right now. But, if Standard can wrangle the addicts, look for the other hotels to get on board.

New York hotel encouraged guests to have sex – with the curtains open

by Scott Carmichael on

The New York Standard Hotel has a history of showing off – back in January, they introduced their staff in a hip Youtube clip, but their latest gimmick has residents and tourists in the Meatpacking district up in arms.

On their Facebook page, the hotel invited guests to “exercise your inner exhibitionist. Please share your intimate, and explicit photos with us — those floor to ceiling windows aren’t just for the views”.

Some guests took that a little too serious, and decided that it was an open invitation to have sex in front of the open windows.

People walking in the area have witnessed a porn movie shoot, masturbating guests and couples having sex.

Of course, hotel management “is embarrassed by all of this”, and have vowed to make an effort to remind guests that it may not be the best idea to give free shows to onlookers.

Whether the whole thing is indeed a reason for management to act, or just a really slick PR stunt remains unknown. Either way, sex always makes for an interesting story, and I’m willing to bet that more than just a couple of people made their way to the area this afternoon to see if they could catch a glimpse of a show in progress.%Gallery-67351%