William Sanders, Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide's "Lurker" enhances the company's presence in online travel communities. Here he talks with senior editor Jennifer Kovacs about why his position is so important.
Q: When did Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide create the “lurker” position and why?
A: The position of Lurker was created in 2000. I was already with Starwood and was approached by the leaders of Starwood Preferred Guest about a new role within the company. Starwood had begun to establish a presence on Flyertalk.com. But as we became more involved, it was clear that the influence of the site was so great we needed an even stronger presence. We needed to become active members of the online community to address their needs. The way our guests communicated and told the story of their experiences with our brands had evolved, and we needed to evolve with them. I began monitoring Flyertalk.com on a part-time basis, answering members’ questions. And from there, our involvement has grown from one site to being active participants in the key online travel communities with two Lurkers. I have to say that I was at first a reluctant participant. At the time, there was the unknown factor of the message board itself. While there were “lurkers” at Flyertalk.com previously, no one had really ever attempted to communicate as I was being urged to do. But, it was a risk that Starwood was willing to take, so I gave up my relative anonymity in December 2000 and never looked back.
Q: How often do you monitor sites and which ones do you monitor?
A: I monitor the sites on a daily basis, and then I have a colleague in Asia-Pacific who monitors during the evening hours. We monitor and respond to conversations on the key players’ sites, including Flyertalk.com, Communispace, TheLobby.com and the SPG Facebook page.
Q: In what cases will you respond to a review or comments made in a forum?
A: I respond when I feel like it will actually help someone or bring clarity to an issue or concern—anyone or anything. It doesn’t matter who or what … Starwood, the hotels, SPG, our associates, the members of SPG, those guests who are not members of SPG, etc.
Q: What is your goal when you respond? Will you personally resolve a situation or send guests in the right direction on the corporate or property level?
A: My main goal is to get whomever needs it the help they need, again keeping in mind … it doesn’t matter who or what ... To make sure guests get the service they need, we prefer that any issues first go through proper customer service channels. We try and direct community members to the best resource depending upon the issue at hand.
Q: I noticed on some Flyertalk forums that people were actually referring others to you to help with a situation. It appears that Starwood is trying to go further than just responding to reviews but really being involved in these communities. How true is that and why?
A: I would say it is very true that Starwood really works to be involved in these communities. We want to have an ongoing dialogue, and I have always been encouraged from the beginning to become involved in any community that allows for online interaction. This year we even began hosting webinars to explain new promotional offers and redemption opportunities, allowing members to log into a conference call and voice their questions and concerns.
Q: What do you take out of your involvement on these sites and bring back to the corporate level? Have changes been made to properties or to programs/offers from which problems or positive experiences surfaced?
A: The information we get from these communities is priceless. We want to know what is on the minds of our guests and how we can serve them better going forward. How better to get that than to listen to what they are saying?
— Jennifer Kovacs
