Julia Roy | Roger Smith Life

Honored To Be A Shorty’s Finalist

Posted on 04. Mar, 2010 by BrianSimpson in Community, Events, Hotel, Lily's Restaurant

A year ago Adam Wallace and I (Brian Simpson) and the TEAM at The Roger Smith Hotel barely knew what the Shorty Awards were and we sure in hell were not getting into the event! Note: Last year even Julia Roy was left in the cold, literally. Fast forward one year and we find ourselves one of five finalists in the category of Customer Service. Although the Shorty Awards are a Twitter based awards recognition, we at RSH know that customer service goes way beyond what can be conveyed in 140 characters. Our on-line presence has certainly been instrumental in finding new friends, converting them into guests and following up to ensure satisfaction. It is fitting that the day after the event Tamar Weinberg has a blog post that expresses this same message. Tamar quotes Joseph Jaffe as saying “Roger Smith Hotel, through their bevy of ‘humans,’ actually participates. They go out of their way to welcome any social media-initiated guests in person…”

OUR ROGER SMITH FAMILY

We were honored to be a part of The Shorty Awards and be listed in the Customer Service Category alongside:

and of course, and big congrats to, Winner ComcastBonnie

Thank you again to all that have supported us and make our jobs here at RSH more fun because we are surrounded by greatness everyday!

See you next year… with a lead image photo from behind the podium

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A Picture Is Worth A Thousand ‘Check-Ins’

Posted on 20. Feb, 2010 by BrianSimpson in Community, Hotel, Lily's Restaurant

Last Thursday afternoon I received a call from my friend Julia Roy. Julia had been approached by Susan Dominus, of The New York Times, to participate in an article Susan was doing on the social network FourSquare. Julia asked if it would be O.K. to do the interview at Roger Smith Hotel. Her reasoning was to hopefully include other FourSquare users in the article. (on most nights there is someone here “Checking-In” on FourSquare) This gesture alone shows why people like Julia excel in social media. FourSquare is a way of sharing your dining, shopping, traveling, museum hoping, train riding and sight seeing experiences with other people.

FourSquare is about the strength of community. To quote Kenneth Hartley Blanchard “None of us is as smart as all of us.” Julia could have done the interview on her own and it would have been great. She would have shared it, the twitterverse would have re-tweeted it and the world would continue to spin about one thousand miles per hour. Instead, Julia recognizes the greater strength and potential energy of community. Everyone has an audience: Damien consults on building your companies brand. Clay has studied under Seth Godin and now assists a variety of businesses with their overall strategies. Jill has a loyal community on YouTube as a videographer that surpasses most of its users. I (Brian Simpson) work at Roger Smith, a hotel that has become a go-to business for all types of social media personalities.
Collectively the story became what platforms like FourSquare stand for… connecting friends and strangers with commonalities to create conversation.

Jill Hanner's NYSC Mayorship

It was a great night and we at The Roger Smith Hotel wanted to thank Julia for including us. I/we would also like to thank Jill, Clay and Damien for sharing their unique and individual insights as to why FourSquare is important to them.

“Beyond Twitter: An App That Truly Lets You See City”

JOIN FOURSQUARE NOW: Here

Susan Dominus

Special thanks to: Susan Dominus, writer for the NYT and Nicole Tung Photographer for the NYT

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Looking Back on the Future: Recapping Next Year

Posted on 23. Dec, 2009 by BrianSimpson in Events, Hotel, the LAB

2009 was the year of ‘social media’, gurus, experts, mavens and using ‘TW’ in front of every word possible. In Twenty-10 it was all about social engagement and the idea of ‘social media’ was replaced by the concept of ‘just doing business’. The shills were weeded out and the workhorses shined! The Jets are now drinking wine instead of Gatorade, David Blumenstein now actually knows EVERYONE in the world, Brogan isn’t just talking about bacon anymore, Cupcakes have become their own food group, iJustine is now just known as Justine, Our friends at Panman Production have created a video empire, Julia Roy got COACH tattooed on her arm, We found out what the ‘CC’ stands for in C.C. Chapman, The Lab Gallery goes to MoMA, Jill Hanner becomes a Ferrari Agent, Sarah Prevette finally buys an apartment in NYC (but still stays at The Roger Smith Hotel), Adam Wallace becomes a member of every frequent flyer program available and I ( Brian Simpson ) convinced everyone I know that all you have to do is CARE.