On #WineWednesday, Nov 17, 2010, Four Seasons twitter followers will gather at select hotels for a happy hour of oenophilia aka a virtual wine tasting tweetup, led by Four Seasons’ top three sommeliers in the United States.

Four Seasons Wine tasting

The event will offer participants a guided tasting of three distinct wines (Loosen Bros. Dr. L Riesling; Paraiso Syrah; and Chappellet Mountain Cuvee) in the tweetup.

Leading the discussion will be:

1. James Tidwell, co-founder and current head of the Texas Sommelier Association who is also the Beverage Manager for Cafe on the Green at the Four Seasons Resort and Club Dallas at Las Colinas.

2. Mark Sayre, Sommelier at TRIO at the Four Seasons Hotel Austin and one of Wine & Spirits magazine’s ’7 Best New Sommeliers of 2010.’

3. Dana Farner, Director of Beverage and Sommelier, CUT and Sidebar, Beverly Wilshire. Dana Farner has been recognized as ‘one of the best around’ by Bon Appétit magazine.

Participants will be discussing the unique flavour profiles of the featured wines and how to pair them with seasonal dishes, along with tips for weaving the wines into a Thanksgiving holiday menu.

Here’s how it works: Log on to twitter at 7:00pm ET on Nov 17 and follow the discussion via the hashtag #FSWine. If you wish to participate, make sure your comment/question includes the aforementioned hashtag.

If you want to join the tweetups, head for one of the fifteen participating hotels – Four Seasons Hotel Atlanta; Four Seasons Hotel Austin; Four Seasons Hotel Boston; Four Seasons Hotel Chicago; The Ritz-Carlton Chicago; Four Seasons Resort and Club Dallas at Las Colinas; Four Seasons Hotel Houston; Four Seasons Hotel Miami; Four Seasons Hotel New York; Four Seasons Resort Palm Beach; Four Seasons Hotel Philadelphia; Four Seasons Hotel St. Louis, Four Seasons Hotel Toronto and Four Seasons Hotel Washington, DC.

Note that the wine tasting events at all these hotels are free. But if it’s not possible to make it to any of these locations and you still want to be part of the tweetup, then you have the option of putting together your own event at home – call your friends and family and Four Seasons twitter followers who might be interested.

Pre-purchase the three featured wines, follow along with the other tweetups and share your own thoughts and pictures. Here’s a few tips from Four Seasons if you want to host your own virtual #FSWine wine tasting event.

Photo credit – Brian Solis (via flickr)

More info: http://fourseasonswine.eventbrite.com/; Follow on Twitter @FourSeasons (#FSWine)

Related posts:-
Eat, Pray, Love with Four Seasons & Como
Wine Tasting in Sonoma, CA

Giant bed with great linens at the Marriott Napa Valley!

Two things are high on my must have list for hotel rooms:

• plentiful and easy to access outlets so I can plug in my traveling library of electronic devices
• good light in the bathroom so I can accurately apply my “too much for daytime, but perfect for me” eyeliner

You might think luxury hotels would always have these two oh-so simple features, but you’d be wrong. It’s hotels that cater to business travelers that always seem to come through for me.

I’m pleased to say that the magical place where you can find all of these delights is in my backyard: the Marriott Napa Valley Hotel and Spa.

Read More »

HRH Tower Suite at Las Vegas Hard Rock Hotel & Casino

Looking for a cheap Las Vegas hotel?

Hop on Twitter and start following @hardrockhotellv, the official Twitter account for The Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas.  While a lot of hotels are jumping on the social media bandwagon with the occasional Twitter contest, Vegas’s Hard Rock is using Twitter to offer screaming deals to followers.

Every Tuesday, @hardrockhotellv broadcasts a twitter hotel special to followers as part of their ongoing Twitter Tuesday promotion.  Recent specials have included $25 per night room rates for 25 followers, $29 nightly rates, 50% off specials, and an amazing $12 per night rate for 12 lucky followers.  The best deals are time sensitive and limited to a few fast acting followers, so you’ll want to pay close attention if you’re planning a Vegas trip in the near future.

In addition to weekly room discounts, The Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas uses Twitter to pass on celebrity sightings at the property’s restaurants and night clubs, of which there are many.  The Hard Rock has been host to A-listers like Brad Pitt and Sean Puffy P Diddy Big Mac Daddy Super Star Combs.

Of course, you’ll also find news about upcoming concerts and hotel improvements, including the recent opening of the new all-suite HRH Tower.  But don’t expect to find $29 rates for these upscale suites.  The HRH Tower is targeted towards “a more high-end, luxury-seeking guest”.  There’s even a seperate entrance and check in area so that upscale Tower guests can avoid any accidental mixing with the common folk.

After all, that’s what Twitter is for.

Photo Credit: Hard Rock Hotel

Twitter is becoming a more popular vehicle for hotels to reach clientele and job prospects.

Twitter is fast becoming a medium for companies to reach their clients. (We’re on Twitter too!  Follow us @UpTake!)  Just yesterday my own websites went down and instead of going to my server company’s web page, I went directly to their Twitter page.  In seconds I saw they had a power outage and service would be restored within the hour.  What took the company 5 seconds to Tweet saved us both time and satisfied my need-to-know immediately.

Here are some of the top hotels on Twitter.  Feel free to add to the list in comments.

The Hyatt has twitter streams for two purposes.  One @hyattconcierge, to reach clientele and prospective clients, as well as promote their brand.  The other, @hyattcareers, is meant for a search of job prospects and to post employment opportunities within the company.  It will be interesting to see if separating the two genres will prove to be lucrative for The Hyatt.

The Marriott International (@MarriottIntl)posts interesting updates and does a good job of keeping their followers.  With 13,000+ following their feed, it’s obvious The Marriott is taking Twitter seriously.  The Marriott Vacation Club (@MarriottVacClub) is an active feed, with plenty of deals for would-be travelers.  Watch this space closely for coupon codes.

I love how the Ritz Carleton actually has PR rep Allison Stitch as their front woman on Twitter (@RitzCarletonPR).  Not only does that instill a sense of humanity to the stream, you know you’re actually talking to someone who’s job it is to make you happy.  Great job Ritz Carleton!

Starwood Hotels are also doing a great job of engaging fellow Tweeters at their stream (@StarwoodBuzz)  They ask questions, post interesting stories and links and reply back – a key to keeping your followers!

Omni Hotels (@OmniHotels) have a Twitter Team, complete with pictures.  They help clients and post deals when they have them.  Seems to me they are really taking the time to answer questions and go above and beyond to help others.

Joie de Vivre Hotels of California (@JDVHotels) take the time to post interesting things near their locations, answer customer questions and solve problems.  Hotel guest Michael Fishman put the JDVHotel Twitter stream to test with shredded towels (!) and received new towels and a reply on Twitter.

Morgans Hotel Group (@morganshotels) also seem to love Tweeting about nearby nigthlife and the like.  It’s proven to be a good move for them obviously, so say their high number of followers (3100+ to be exact).  One tip for Morgans?  Follow back.  We don’t bite and your ratios are whacky.

Fairmont Hotels (@fairmonthotels) have a fun stream with contests and trivia questions.  If nothing else, this Twitter stream is enjoyable and light.  Twitter host Mike Taylor does a great job or keeping his 4500+ followers on board.

Millennium Hotels (@MillenniumPR) does a great job of posting job fairs, contests and replying to clients and prospective travelers.  There’s a bonus to being one of their followers too: they post things just for us.  I can see this account growing in popularity if Millennium keeps up the momentum.

There are many more hotels on Twitter.  Here is a comprehensive list for you to find your favorites or to touch base with any of the hotels you plan on visiting.

Photo Credit: Karen Bodkin (screenshot of Twitter)