My mother may love me, and my dog always greets me at my door, but in the most important measure of one’s legitimacy—online influence—I’m the lowest of the low. Worthless. A meaningless speck among the sands of the forgotten.
At least that’s what PeekYou would have me believe. The company measures an individual’s “importance” by compiling mentions and links and overall reach and then compiles a score based on a scale of 10 to one—10 being Steve Jobs and one being, well, me.
No joke. Poor ol’ Patrick Mayock of Cleveland, Ohio, has a PeekYou score of 1.00. Le sigh.
Editor’s note: HotelNewsNow.com Finance Editor Shawn A. Turner also had his Friday completely ruined by discovering he also had a PeekYou score of 1.00.
What about some of the biggest names in the hospitality? I’m glad you asked. Here’s PeekYou’s rundown, starting with the most “important”:
1. Donald Trump, Chairman and President, The Trump Organization 9.97 / 10.00
2. Steve Wynn, Co-Founder, Chairman, and CEO, Wynn Resorts 8.32 / 10.00
3. Ian Schrager, Founder and Chairman, Ian Schrager Company 8.26 / 10.00
4. Sheldon Adelson, CEO, Las Vegas Sands Corporation 8.14 / 10.00
5. Barron Hilton, Former Co-Chairman, Hilton Hotels 8.03 / 10.00
6. Micky Arison, CEO, Carnival Corporation 7.91 / 10.00
7. Thomas Pritzker, Executive Chairman, Hyatt Hotels Corporation 7.57 / 10.00
8. André Balazs, Creator, Standard Hotels 7.49 / 10.00
9. Bill Marriott, Chairman and CEO, Marriott International 7.15 / 10.00
10. Joan Tisch, Co-Heir, Loews Corporation Fortune 7.04 / 10.00
.
.
.
*6,893,483,383. Me
*Number is approximate
Is my self-wallowing facetious? Of course it is. But that’s not to dismiss the overall premise here. As the world becomes increasingly digitized, you need to be aware of the type of visibility and influence you have online—especially if your persona is inextricably tied to a company or brand.
Granted, we don’t all have the same levels of importance as the above example illustrated, but everyone who has ever sent a tweet or updated a Facebook status has at least some influence. Just how much? For that, I encourage you to check out a far more useful tool: Klout.
Klout measures influence based on your ability to drive action in social networks. The service then processes this data on a daily basis to give you an updated Klout Score each morning.
My Klout score, I’ll have you know, is a respectable 34 on a scale of 100—well above the average of 22. In your face, Trump.
Editor’s note II: HotelNewsNow.com Finance Editor Shawn A. Turner’s Friday just improved upon seeing he has a Klout score of 39. In your face, Mayock.
Best travel brands
I’m sure many of you saw the results of Buyology’s most desired brands, which were released this week. The report outlines brands in 10 industries, including airline, food and beverage and automotive.
The most desired brands for women? Johnson & Johnson. For men? Crest.
We’re all a bunch of clean freaks, apparently.
But while the study is interesting, it lacks a hotel perspective. For this, let’s turn to the fine folks at Brand Keys. The consultancy’s Customer Loyalty Engagement Index examined which brands, including hotels, “delighted” customers compared to competitors. Here are the winners by category:
Hotel (Luxury): InterContinental
Hotel (Upscale): Hilton
Hotel (Mid-Scale): Best Western
Hotel (Economy): Days Inn
Interestingly, each brand came from a different parent company: InyerContinental Hotels Group, Hilton Worldwide, Best Western International and Wyndham Hotel Group.
Now on to the usual goodies …
Stat of the week I
65%: The percent of U.S. respondents to a TripAdvisor Industry Index survey that said they were optimistic about the prospect of an economic recovery during 2012, which was a full 27% higher than the global average.
Stat of the week II
100 million pounds: Average annual finance costs Travelodge is paying on its debt—one of a handful of reasons the company is working through a debt restructuring that could see a change in ownership. The U.K.-based company was purchased by Dubai International Capital in 2006 for 675 million pounds ($1.1 billion), backed by debt of 478 million pounds ($755 million).
Quote of the week
“There’s no clarity around it from my perspective what they have, what they have control of, and what’s actually available to sell.”
—Invesco’s Marc Socker discussing the difficulty in working with Ireland’s National Asset Management Agency, as reported in “NAMA still a slow slog for hotel investors.”
Socker’s quote sums up the ambiguous circumstances surrounding this government agency, which was created during 2009 to quell Ireland’s budding debt crisis. NAMA, which doesn’t actually own any hotels, is charged with driving maximum value across all asset classes to recover the maximum amount of distressed debt on behalf of the country’s tax payers. It’s a fascinating agency that is under intense public scrutiny, but also has to adhere to strict rules of confidentiality because of its relationship with various financial institutions.
Comment of the week
“I'm not surprised at the confusion you report. NAMA doesn't own any hotel assets NAMA owns loans which were used by borrowers to acquire about 140 hotels In about 30 cases, NAMA has appointed receivers who manage the hotels for the benefit of all creditors including NAMA. In not ONE SINGLE case has NAMA acquired the property. So if investors are going to NAMA to buy some fabled hotel, they'll be disappointed! NAMA will be packaging loan portfolios for sale – ‘loans’ NOT the underlying property - so if you're an investor in loans, that might become of interest. But if you're phoning up NAMA to buy an actual hotel, you're wasting your time.”
—Commenter NAMAwinelake lending some more clarity to the above.
Email Patrick Mayock or find him on Twitter.
The opinions expressed in this blog do not necessarily reflect the opinions of HotelNewsNow.com or its parent company, Smith Travel Research and its affiliated companies. Bloggers published on this site are given the freedom to express views that may be controversial, but our goal is to provoke thought and constructive discussion within our reader community. Please feel free to comment or contact an editor with any questions or concerns.
