More and more people are getting their news and information from amateur websites called blogs because they’re fast, fun—and totally biased. As the blog world has exploded, resorts, clubs and other hospitality properties have seen the need to add, or develop, social-media experts on their staffs, to try to ensure that all that’s being said in the blogosphere enhances, and doesn’t detract from, their reputation and efforts to communicate effectively with prospective members and guests.
And now, one historic New Hampshire resort hotel is taking things a step further. The Balsams Grand Resort Hotel, in Dixville, N.H., has recruited what it calls an “Inn-Bedded Resorter,” a social media guru who will spend the summer Tweeting, posting, texting, blogging and YouTubing his or her heart out.
“The Resorter,” after reporting to work on July 1, will essentially have two jobs: to experience all of the fine dining and outdoor adventures that the 8,000 acre resort has to offer (that’s the easy part), and then to share them with the world—as they happen—using social media.
“In years past, guests would come and spend the entire summer at grand hotels like The Balsams and send postcards to friends and family about all the fun they were having,” says Jeff McIver, President and General Manager. “This is a new media version of the postcard—but instead of the occasional card in the mail, the followers of our ‘Resorter’ will get nearly minute-by-minute updates on what it’s like to eat dinner in our dining room, go golfing, or hike to the top of Table Rock [a precipice on the property offering a three-state view].”
It’s a first-of-its-kind social media campaign for a property that is known for being ahead of the pack—the hotel, which opened just after the Civil War, is in the spotlight every four years when voters gather there at midnight to cast the first votes in New Hampshire’s first-in-the-nation Presidential primary.
The “Inn-Bedded Resorter” search was created and is being managed by bobdonpaul.com, The Balsams’ marketing agency. Applicants entered information into an online system that, along with input from the resort and bobdonpaul.com teams, was used to help sort out the best-of-the-best. The top 5 applicants were then posted on The Balsams website and encouraged to demonstrate their social media savvy by campaigning for the most votes.
After the voting closed, members of the bobdonpaul.com and Balsams teams interviewed the Top 3 candidates, resulting in one lucky person earning the right to be called the world’s first “Inn-Bedded Resorter.”
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