Dubai, 14 April 2010; Since the beginning of 2009, InterContinental and Crowne Plaza Dubai Festival City have been at the forefront of a social media uprising, successfully implementing social marketing tools to interact with their guests and promote their online presence, such as Twitter, Facebook amongst many more. This weekend, the hotels will further their online involvement, being the first properties in Dubai to embrace the new geo-social networking tool 'Foursquare', by participating in the inaugural 'Foursquare Day' on Friday 16th April with special promotions at Vista bar and the Belgian Beer Café.

Less than a year old, 'Foursquare' has already been tipped as the potential heir to the Twitter throne, as it takes social networking to the next level, with the involvement of geo-tracking via smart phones. A web and smart phone application based service, Foursquare allows you to search for and 'check-in' to restaurants, bars, hotels, spas and shops when the GPS from your mobile finds these outlets in your immediate vicinity. A user is rewarded with points, leading to badges for their 'check-ins', encouraging them to leave 'tips' and suggestions on a venue for the next person who arrives to try out. You can even become the 'mayor' of a venue if you are the person who has checked in the most amount of times, but beware, as someone can come along and steal your crown at any point! The almost game-like interaction is addictive, and also functions as a useful tool to discover new venues, deals and hidden secrets from friends in your network that you may otherwise have missed.

At this point, Foursquare is a new concept to businesses in the Middle East. Whilst there are already hundreds of users using the service to spread information on venues that have visited, none offer them enticement to visit, and indeed check-in to their establishments. InterContinental and Crowne Plaza Dubai Festival City intend on setting a bench mark for the region, by being the first to offer such a promotion. The hotels are registered to participate on the Foursquare Day website, with Vista bar for InterContinental and Belgian Beer Café Dubai for Crowne Plaza both hosting Foursquare promotions on the day. To discover what is on offer, guests simply have to visit the venues with their smart phones, and 'check-in' with Foursquare.

The service doesn't just have a social aspect, as the Foursquare website encourages business owners to encourage 'swarms' of check-ins with special deals for users. Deals for people who show they have checked-in via their smart phone, or that they are the venue's 'mayor' are common, with the website listing hundred of venues with offers already in operation.

Foursquare has already established itself in the US, with nearly 1,000,000 members checking in to venues on a daily basis, and sharing information on their cities with friends. The fast growing service is tipped to double its membership with the advent of Foursquare Day on 16th April (4 squared = 16!), as members are set to swarm at venues across the globe who offer them special Foursquare deals for checking-in.

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About InterContinental Hotels Group Dubai Festival City
The InterContinental Hotels Group properties in Dubai Festival City include InterContinental, Crowne Plaza, InterContinental Residence Suites and Al Badia Golf Club, each being active on Twitter; @InterConDFC, @CrownePlazaDFC, @ICResidencesDFC and @AlBadiaGolfClub.

Since early 2009, the hotels have become prolific with social network activities, featuring exclusive online offers and holding giveaways including one of the world's largest Twitter giveaways with 'Keast Tweets'. The hotels pride themselves on building an online community for followers of their hotels and outlets, encouraging interaction with guests. The hotels also have Facebook fan pages for all properties and outlets providing news, and exclusive deals for fans, such as www.facebook.com/intercontinentaldubaifestivalcity.

For further press information please contact:
InterContinental Dubai Festival City
PO Box: 45777
Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Contact: Robert Singleton, Online Marketing Executive
Tel: 9714 7011059
Fax: 9714 2329095
E-mail: robert.singleton@ichdfc.ae   

© Press Release 2010