Step by step: How to save 15% off your next stay @RSHotel in NYC using facebook.
Posted on 30. Jan, 2012 by Birdsong in Community, Hotel
Missing NYC? Now you can book a room @RSHotel using facebook (really, it’s super easy).
1. Click book now.
2. Join the app.
3. Click offers.
4. Book a room
5. You can spend the extra money on pizza and stop clicking now.
BONUS: Brag about it to your facebook friends using the share button.
“That’s right. I’m in NYC, and you’re not.”
See you in NYC!
Travel dates: Now through February 29, 2012. Subject to Availability.
Give the gift of New York! Win a free stay @RShotel. #Rogersrooms
Posted on 20. Dec, 2011 by JohnKnowles in Community, Events, Hotel
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In the week leading up to Christmas, Roger Smith will be putting on his Santa hat and giving away a series of #Rogersrooms. It’s a brilliant gift idea to give a 2 night stay at New York’s Roger Smith Hotel. The rules to win are as follows. In the comments section of this blog, tell us who deserves the gift of New York and why. Once you have posted your comment on the blog you must also post “Give the gift of New York! @RShotel #SantaContest #rogersrooms http://bit.ly/u0wWAt” to your twitter or to our facebook profile. 
We will be choosing 2 winners on Friday December 23th, just in time for Christmas.
In the wake of Santa Con, we are also giving away 1 room to the best Santa Costume Picture Submitted to twitter with “Give me my #Rogersroom @RShotel #Santacontest” in the body of the tweet.
Thanks ahead of time for participating. Happy Holidays
John Knowles, Director of Digital Marketing @RShotel
Appnostic announces SocialBooker Facebook booking app; @RSHotel in NYC first hotel
Posted on 15. Nov, 2011 by Birdsong in Community, Hotel
(via Hotelmarketing.com)
SocialBooker allows for any hotel using any Central Reservations System (CRS), Internet Booking Engine (IBE), or Property Management System (PMS) to harness the power of Facebook’s Social Graph.
Appnostic, a leading social media and travel technology provider, is introducing the first fully integrated Facebook hotel reservations booking app; SocialBooker. SocialBooker allows for any hotel using any Central Reservations System (CRS), Internet Booking Engine (IBE), or Property Management System (PMS) to harness the power of Facebook’s Social Graph. Appnostic’s SocialBooker provides true social commerce, personalizing the hotel booking experience, while providing travelers a better way to socially interact and book a hotel.
SocialBooker is the hotel industry’s first reservation platform specifically optimized for Facebook’s Social Graph. The look and feel can be easily customized to complement a hotel’s existing branding and CRS connectivity. SocialBooker enables the hotel to harness the viral capabilities inside the Facebook network to maximize sales, build customer loyalty, and deliver improved customer service.
According to Appnostic CEO Brian Dass, “SocialBooker is a Facebook app that delivers a completely integrated booking solution, from room availability through payment transaction, all from within the Facebook environment. Furthermore, hotels can customize their unique booking paths to deliver a fully branded, immersive, and socially connected room-booking experience,” he explained
“We are very excited to have jointly launched a private label version of SocialBooker with the Roger Smith Hotel, a New York based hotel known for their proactive approach to Social Media.” Dass explained. Furthermore as consumer adoption for F-commerce continues to grow at a rapid pace, more and more hotel bookings will be conducted through Facebook. “Beginning with the Roger Smith Hotel, Appnostic is helping the hotel industry prepare for the social commerce revolution that is already having an impact on consumer travel.
John Birdsong, Roger Smith Hotel New Media Director says, “Customers are increasingly looking to engage with the hotel via Facebook. Each month over 500 million people on Facebook use an app or experience the Facebook social plugin on other websites. It’s becoming the must-have marketing platform for hotel managers. SocialBooker brings the first complete booking app solution to our Fan Page, and allows the Roger Smith Hotel to monetize our fan base, while opening up an entirely new sales channel.”
By becoming part of the Facebook eco-system, hotel property operators are able to access user profile data and gain insights through Facebook’s internal analytics. This experience is fully personalized including ‘Friend Recommendations, Wall posts, and “Like” button integration, all leveraging Facebook’s newsfeed technology to virally spread your special offers, promotions and packages.
Jeff Thomas, Appnostic’s EVP, Business Development stated that many hotels have expressed a strong interest in adopting the SocialBooker app. “We have active discussions underway with a large number of hotels and groups in North America and in Europe on utilizing SocialBooker as their preferred social media distribution platform.” Thomas continued, “These hotels recognize the importance of this valuable new distribution channel and understand that early adoption is crucial in gaining a competitive advantage on Facebook while defining a standard for social revenue management and distribution.”
Check out the app here.
Let us know what you think in the comments section.
The Roger Smith is a hub for social media in #NYC. People. Art. Food. Wine. For 10% off our best available rooms rate: bit.ly/RSrooms
twitter: twitter.com/rshotel
fb: facebook.com/rogersmithhotel
blog: bit.ly/RSlife
web: rogersmith.com/
“Thank you for showing your support, and Dog Bless You!” -Charlie Annenberg #video @SXSW @SXSWi #SXSW #SXSWi
Posted on 15. Mar, 2011 by Birdsong in Community, Hotel
Charlie Annenberg of “Dog Bless You”, Explore.org, and the Annenberg Foundation thanks everyone who has shown their support for Japan and his generous support for earthquake relief efforts. Dog Bless You.
http://www.facebook.com/exploredogs
http://www.rogersmithlife.com
Name This ‘Super Hero Dog’ for movie tix @RSHotel
Posted on 25. Jan, 2011 by Birdsong in Arts, Community, Hotel
The facts: His name is Henry. He is a Boston Terrier. He is not neutered.
What we are looking for: What is ‘Super Dog’s’ name? What are his superpowers? Where did he come from? What is his story?
How to play: Tell the story in the comments section. Be sure to tag your comment with your twitter handle or by signing in to facebook. When you’ve left the comment send this out on twitter or facebook:
Read my story about @RSHotel ‘Super Dog’ here: http://bit.ly/eQWE6o
Winner will be announced this Friday January 28th before 5pm.
What you win: Two tickets valued at $45 each for Cinémonde: a Private Screening Series for Thought Provoking Film. Tickets include entry, drinks, and hors d’oeuvres. Screening will be held on February 10th @RSHotel.
More information on Cinémonde here. Tickets available for purchase here. Thank you to Jerry Rudes at Mistral Arts Management for providing the tickets to Cinémonde.
Good Luck!
“Who am I?”
@RShotel Food Writers’ Conf: All of the Panels (Video Archive)
Posted on 16. Feb, 2010 by Birdsong in Events, Hotel, RS Food Writers Conf
Is tradition in print food writing dead? The closing of Gourmet and the large number of jobs lost in traditional food magazines and newspapers suggests it is. If it is dead, what will replace it? And how can one make the alternatives financially viable? These were some of the questions that fifty-eight of America’s top writers, editors and agents addressed at the Roger Smith Food Writers’ Conference held last Friday, Saturday and Sunday (February 12-14). Twelve sessions and four workshops discussed the current and future state of food writing in newspapers, magazines, cookbooks, blogging, ezines, websites and ebooks. The main message was simple: The food writing field is in rapid transition and success now depends on adopting a multi-media approach to communicating – including traditional good writing plus video, blogging and social media. Attendees were excited by the possibilities of the new media, but how to make these new media generate full time salaries for professional food writers remains unclear, and many attendees wondered if professional food writing was dead– and it would now just become a hobby for those interested in food.
Andy Smith
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click here to watch
From Websites to Blogs to Facebook
Food writing has progressed from tiny triangular marks impressed in clay tablets, stored in heaps in Mesopotamia, to much tinier magnetic impressions stored somewhere “out there” in cyberspace. Changes in the medium may change the message, but the goal is the same: writers want readers to experience their work—what’s different is that readers get to respond to writers more directly than ever before. Like it or not, food writing is not likely to change back to the one-directional medium it once was.
Gary Allen, chair
Irena Chalmers
Mitchell Davis
Bret Thorn
Laura Weiss
click here to watch
TV and Beyond: The Future of Food and Cooking in Broadcast Media
Beginning with home economist-hosted programs in the 1940s, cooking on television has evolved over the last sixty plus years into a phenomenal industry and pastime. What does the future of food media look like and where/how will we view it? Who will be our guides? What will we be taught and how and what will we learn?
Kathleen Collins, chair
Geof Drummond
Joe Langhan
Dana Polan
Krishnendu Ray
click here to watch
The Future of Food Writing on the Internet
This panel will explore how the continually changing, ever-evolving world of Internet technology is impacting food writers. Will technology make it easier–or harder–for writers to make a living? Will there come a time when a writer can completely sidestep traditional media and become successful, financially and critically? How will developing technologies impact–positively and negatively–the industry
David Leite, chair
Elissa Altman
Joe Langhan
Bonnie Tandy Leblang
Renee Schletter
click here to watch
Blogs with Tweet Sauce: The Future of Recipes
The Internet and television cooking shows have irrevocably changed the way cooks search out and use recipes. How do we deal with the challenges of this new environment? What recipes can we trust? Is the on-line community fostered by recipe ratings of any value? This panel will explore the future of recipes, their reliability, their validity as cultural documents, and their impact on how people learn to cook and go about preparing daily meals.
Lorna Sass, chair
Elissa Altman
Melissa Clark
Barbara Haber
Amanda Hesser
Sarah Kagan
Barbara Ostmann
click here to watch
Powerful Potables
Calling all cork dorks and coffee geeks! How is the increasingly specialized world of beverage writing evolving? How have platforms like Wine 2.0 changed the playing field? If you already write about food, what tools & training do you need to expand into writing about wine and other potables.
Kara Newman, chair
Alice Feiring
Alan Kropf
Nora Maynard
click here to watch
Good-Bye Gourmet, Hello Yelp!: The Changing Role of the Restaurant Critic
However much the media landscape has changed, people still want to know where to eat. This panel on restaurant reviewing will touch on the past, current, and future of restaurant reviewing. Emphasis will be placed on changes in the relationship between the reviewer and diners, the reviewer and media outlets, and the reviewer and the restaurant industry. The craft of reviewing restaurants will be explored in the context of other forms of cultural criticism.
Mitchell Davis, chair
Gabriella Gershenson
Irene Sax
Robert Sietsema
click here to watch
Food for Thought: The Future of Academic Food Writing
Recent years have witnessed an explosion in academic food writing. Food series have rolled off university presses and specialized and cross-disciplinary journals abound, all to sate the growing appetite for classroom materials and scholarly investigation. This panel unites distinguished authors and editors in the academic world to assess where we are and where we might be going in this hot pot of academe.
Cathy Kaufman, chair
Ken Albala
Jennifer Crewe
Bruce Kraig
Marion Nestle
Andrew F. Smith
click here to watch
Turning Your Life and Food into a Best Seller
In today’s world, food writing is everywhere– in newspapers, magazines, recipe headnotes, web sites, blogs and tweets. Much of it is informative and some of it pretty interesting, but not necessarily the stuff of literature. For that, readers turn to memoirs–some food based, some with food as a potent ingredient unveiling other lives and times. What distinguishes a food memoir and makes it fresh? These panelists will tell you how they did just that.
Judith Weinraub, chair
Monica Bhide
Kathleen Flinn
Betty Fussell
Mimi Sheraton
click here to watch
Food Writing Profession: Current State and Future Prospects
Holly Hughes’ words, “Food has never been so high on America ’s agenda – are 21st-century food writers ready to meet that challenge?” To open the conference, a panel of four food-writing visionaries will present the art of food writing historically, presently and in the future from their points of view. Molly O’Neill will discuss the changing context of American food writing, including food-travelogues to a social/political commentary on the world to legitimization of the nostalgia cult. In a more microscopic way, Holly Hughes will focus on the past decade in food writing. How do the lines between journalism and entertainment blur, considering celebrity chefs and television cooks who produce cookbooks? Where do food safety and health fall in the spectrum of food writing today? Then, with a macro view of the world of food words, Ray Sokolov will look into the future. He sees the future of food writing much like its past, only more so. Moderator Antonia Allegra will look at why food writers write, even in this difficult economy; and she will discuss the thrust of food writing for cookbooks and other culinary writing as it exists today.
Antonia Allegra, chair
Holly Hughes
Molly O’Neill
Ray Sokolov
click here to watch
Surface or Substance: Food Writing in Magazines
What is the role of magazines in the food world today? Should they provide a practical guide to the kitchen, with plenty of recipes and useful techniques? Should they offer diversion through lifestyle stories and glossy images that make readers drool? Or do magazines have a responsibility to report on the ethical and political issues surrounding food in the twenty-first century? This panel of seasoned magazine editors and writers will explore the possibilities and limitations of food writing for magazines today.
Darra Goldstein, chair
Dana Bowen
Barbara Fairchild
Jane Daniels Lear
Jordana Rothman
Bret Thorn
click here to watch
Cookbooks and the Cyber-Age?
This panel will examine the current state and highly uncertain future of cookbook publishing. Panelists will consider how shifting patterns in home cooking and restaurant dining are altering people’s expectations of cookbooks. They will also discuss the impact that television has already had on the American cookbook audience as well as the radical changes being brought about by new phenomena such as cyber-publishing, culinary websites, blogs, and online recipe searches.
Anne Mendelson, chair
Rux Martin
Molly O’Neill
Roy Finamore
Angela Miller
click here to watch
Fight and Flight: the Newspaper Food Section of the Future
Fight and Flight: the Newspaper Food Section of the Future
A discussion of the evolution of food writing as newspapers take on the challenges of a very new day. The effect of RSS feeds; blogs; recipe websites; Twitter; the Food Network; and the turn away from print, on content, style, format, and even survival.
Cara De Silva, chair
Jane Black
Sylvia Carter
Kim Severson
Judith Weinraub
‘Social Media’ is so 2009
Posted on 08. Jan, 2010 by BrianSimpson in Community, Hotel
In 2009 we all, and I mean ALL, jumped on the runaway train called ‘Social Media’. Now before you attack me I will admit SM changed my career, my way of doing business and my life, all for the better. I became well versed on Twitter and its idiosyncracies, I learned the importance of creating sets on Flickr, I discovered that with a single post to Tumblr I could bombard all my communities with silly links and most importantly I discovered Blip.fm where I could either send out songs that made people dance in their chairs or be completely annoyed by my taste in music. *just blip’d out Lola Live by the Kinks* All of this was great, it is still great and I have fine tuned my skills in communicating online, I think we all have.
To start 2kx (2010) I thought long and hard about what I had actually learned in 2009. Not what on-line skills I had learned, I wanted to truly question myself and figure out if I had grown as a person in any way that I could carry over and exploit for the next twelve months. It actually came to me when I was talking to one of my new friends about how shy I am. She laughed and said “yea right”. I tried to defend my claim and explain my shyness… I failed miserably. “I WIN!” she exclaimed. This was my moment of clarity. Between my recent ass kicking of cancer
What does not kill you makes you stronger
and my new-found voice on-line I had broken out of a lifelong shell of meekness. I had acquired a confidence that was lost when I stopped racing for the National Cycling Team.
Bringing Back This Intensity
Now I am back, confident – not cocky, pushing the limits – not wreckless and ready to embrace the extended community that we are constantly building here at The Roger Smith Hotel.
'75 Over Time Square
What I learned was that by changing my typical mode of communication I was able to find new skills and cross these skills into real life. It reminds me of the time I broke my back and lost feeling in my legs. Even after surgery I had massive loss of nerve sensation and the doctors told me that alternative nerves would start to become more active and create new paths giving me back muscle control and the ability to function. They were right. The skills I now use in real life conversations were always there, it took my on-line voice to find them.
Thank you to all the people that helped me find my voice, confidence and passion in 2009. In 2kx I am going to take more risks, be personally more vulnerable than ever, fail a bunch, have monumental successes and come out the other side a better person for it. I challenge you all to do the same.
Tech Tuesday 12/29: Top Technologies of 2009: and Why
Posted on 29. Dec, 2009 by Birdsong in Community, Hotel
This year there were no HUGE advancements in technology (on the consumer level), but it was the year WE really embraced technology. For example my entire family is on Facebook now. If I want to share something with them it’s ridiculously easy. Hi Mom! The point is, the longer this stuff is around, particularly the advancements in communication the more we begin to rely on them not as a novelty, but as a necessity. For example, when cell phones first came out they were very much a novelty. Now, when your plane lands the first thing you do is fire up the iPhone (if you have one) check your messages (voice and email), send a few texts, and probably update your FB status. Another example is GPS, and I’m completely lost without mine. What will we rely on in 2010, and furthermore what will be the next big thing in 2010? (Comments plz).
Without further adieu, here is my list of top tech in the year that was 2009
iPhone 3gs
This smart-phone will now shoot video (unhacked) and send it to YouTube, and if you get lost in the woods you have a nifty compass to guide you out! Price: Your f%*ing soul.
New Intel CPUs
Code named “Nehalem” i5 and i7 core chips with “turbo”. Put them in mac books already!!! I’m waiting ’till they do to upgrade. Price: Get one with a new computer (27″ iMac).
This micro blogging service exploded in 2009. Words like “Tweet-up” “Tweets-giving” and “Tw-izzlers” entered our vocab. I’m @johnbirdsong, holla. Price: Free (or ALL of your free time).
Tinychat.com/Skype
Skype, one of the most effective low/no cost communication tools has been around for a while. The new version allows screen sharing which is AWESOME. Tinychat.com takes it a step further and allows groups (up to 12 cameras) to communicate with a/v in a virtual room. Perfect for online meetings, and bizarre 3.0 interaction. Price: Free
This year my mom and dad both joined Facebook, and they use it (a lot). Price: All of you free time.
Flip ultra HD
Best flash memory video recorder. Reliable, tough, fantastic daylight video, not to bad indoor/low light video. A lesson in minimalism. Price: $170
Any of the LED back lit flat panel HD TVs
Energy sipping, high quality displays for Bluray, DVD, Hulu, Netflix, web browsing, Amazon on Demand, gaming, and oh yeah…cable. Price: $1,000+ (for Samsung, Panasonic, etc) less $$ for Vizio (which gets very high ratings).
Canon D7 Digital SLR
I havn’t gotten to use this pro-sumer still camera yet, but the picture quality and videos I’ve seen are beautiful. With the D7, Canon has embraced creative filmmaking. The cam features full 1080p HD video @24 fps, adjustable exposure control, and a large CMOS sensor to mimic the shallow depth of field look of motion picture film cameras. Price: $1,899 with a 28-135 lens.
17″ Mac book Pro
This behemoth of a laptop has an 8hr battery, two video cards, up to 8GB RAM, and a 3.06GHZ duo core Intel CPU. Price: starting around $3,000
Amazon Kindle 2
Paper books are so passe. JK, but the Kindle is a pretty amazing device. First of all: electronic ink is really cool. Kind of like a 21st century etch a sketch, but with Hemingway and J.K. Rowling instead of that dumb staircase you’d draw over and over. One of the coolest things about the Kindle 2 is that it comes with FREE wireless. The browser is not perfect, but it gets the job done (for the most part). Price: $259
Looking forward to 2010: What’s Next?
1. Wireless electricity…coming soon
2. A proper upgrade for the iPhone…better battery, HD video recording, front facing camera for video chat
3. Faster computers (plz)
4. 3D HDTV
5. Larger capacity more reliable SD cards
6. Flip camera with wireless, optical stabilization, mic jack, AND headphone jack
7. WiMax
8. A redesigned Facebook
9. A new more efficient, less processor intensive video codec. H.264 is great, but is really CPU intensive…takes 20min to transcode a 3 min video. S-L-O-W.
10. A video camera for every cop that records 24/7 and cannot be tampered with, and a less lethal taser. Police need WAY more oversight.
What did I miss? What tech trends do you see for 2010?
Do you disagree? Please let me know.
John Birdsong is a Producer Director Editor with Panman Productions and lives in Brooklyn, NY
My Favorite Story Of 2009 Is:
Posted on 12. Dec, 2009 by BrianSimpson in Community, Hotel
Adam J. Wallace, a.k.a. @AdWal, a.k.a. great co-worker & friend. I am even writing this post from his account because he would never give himself credit so I will. It was just over one year ago that I was introduced to The Roger Smith Hotel and its cast of characters. Adam, a fellow New England’r, was running Lilys at the time and transitioning into managing all of the online strategies. Together we started a twitter account and launched a new blog called rogersmithlife.com. ( Roger Smith had a current blog rogersmithnews.com which was managed by Adam and John Knowles of Pancity). The year has been filled with baby steps, by baby steps I do not mean slow wobbly and cautious. I mean the stage of walking where the baby whacks its head on things and teeters dangerously close to the top edge of the stairs. Although we had the support of ownership we still had to prove that this ‘social media’ thing was worth while and convince the rest of the hotel we were not just ‘playing’ on Facebook.
I could not have picked a better person to work with. Adam’s belief in his work, people and the culture of Roger Smith Hotel is unrivaled. In the past year we have made so many new friends together, played some great rounds of golf
Bethpage - The Blue Course
traveled and presented at conferences, disagreed about plenty, agreed about more and are now starting to write a book together… brilliant.
I wanted to use this platform to thank Adam and to give him credit for a year well done! All the hours, the time away from his lovely GF ( thank you C.) and tireless amounts of time working with me (not that easy) have all paid off.
Thank you Adam !
Happy Holidays to you all and a HUGE THANK YOU for a year of amazing support !
Cheers,
Bsimi
Cupcakes4Charity Profile Video and Photos from Kickoff Event!
Posted on 02. Oct, 2009 by AdamWallace in Community, Events, Hotel
Cupcakes4Charity Kicks Off With Mouth Watering Cupcake Extravaganza, Oct 1
Group utilizes the power of social media (and dessert) to make a difference in the community
September 24, 2009 (NEW YORK, NY) Just as a special dessert can help lift ones spirits on a bad day, it can also help raise money for a well deserving charity. On October 1, 2009, Cupcakes4Charity will debut its very first sweet tooth event at the Roger Smith Hotel in New York City from 7-10 pm. Including an array of extraordinary raffle prizes, a networking happy hour, and a wide assortment of delicious cupcakes for sale, the proceeds will benefit the American Cancer Society in its mission to raise awareness of the disease, diminish suffering and save lives.
Cupcakes4Charity aims to utilize social media outlets and engage every individuals affection for all things sweet to campaign for various causes via mouth watering social events. The three Cupcakes4Charity founders Anna OBrien, Joey Pasion and Sara Wingert first met by conversing on the social media network, Twitter, and have decided to band together to give back to the community using the draw of New York Citys trendy dessert (the cupcake) and the influence of their comprehensive 7,000+ Twitter followers and 1,500+ Facebook friends.
Cupcakes will be sold for $2 each and one hundred percent of the proceeds will be donated towards the efforts of one of the Cupcakes4Charitys founders, Sara Wingert, to raise more than $4,500 for the American Cancer Society. By training for and completing endurance races with the charity, including the Brooklyn Half Marathon and the New York City Half Marathon, the ING New York City Marathon will be the third endurance race that she has completed this year.
Attendees wearing yellow to the October 1 kickoff event will receive a discount on purchased cupcakes. All cupcakes and raffle prizes will be donated for the event.
To register and obtain additional details about the event, please visit the Eventbrite invitation at http://cupcakes4charity.eventbrite.com,check out the Facebook page at http://tinyurl.com/cupcakes4charity, or follow one of the Cupcakes4Charity founders on Twitter: @AnnaOBrien, @PassionMD and @limespark.
Photographs from the Event
