It's standard practice for hotels and airlines to offer discounts and other rewards to their own best customers, but a new service aims to pass those benefits on to other consumers as well. Specifically, users of location-based social networking services including Foursquare, Gowalla, Yelp, Loopt, Brightkite, Google Buzz and Google Latitude can now coordinate their check-ins through Topguest for a variety of travel and hospitality rewards.

Topguest is a free, members-only service that automatically gives users real rewards program points for their location-based check-ins. There's no need to download or install anything new; rather, users simply sign up for Topguest and sync their check-in app account(s) to the service. Some programs, such as Delta Skymiles, give users points wherever they check in; others, such as Starwood Preferred Guest, will award points only for check-ins at Starwood hotels, Topguest says. Currently Topguest is in "sneak peek" mode, featuring a partnership with Standard Hotels; rewards include a complimentary week's stay for any road warrior who checks into four Standard hotels in the course of a single week, and a 25 percent discount for those who check into Standard properties 10 times. Over the summer, however, the New York-based company plans to add additional partners in the travel and hospitality industry, according to a CNET report.

As the mass-mingling crowds increasingly coordinate online and compete for badges and other local rewards, there's opportunity aplenty for vendors further afield to get in on the action—not to mention companies like Topguest, which stand to benefit by making it all happen. One to get in on early...? (Related: Helping consumers manage their loyalty perks.)

Website: www.topguest.com
Contact: help@topguest.com

Spotted by: USA Today via airlinetrends.com

A one-stop-shop for those planning an event or party, EventNow connects consumers with pre-screened event vendors who compete for their business.

After registering with EventNow, consumers submit a form outlining their event requirements and budget. Within hours, they're contacted via email or phone by up to five event service providers that can fulfill their requests. Users can then browse those vendors' portfolio galleries, customer reviews and ratings. The service is free for consumers, and vendors pay a lead fee for each customer match. EventNow offers over 350 categories of event services ranging from caterers and equipment hire to ice sculptures and butterfly releases.

EventNow is another shining example of the intention economy at work: buyers stating a purchasing intention, and sellers competing for their business. The service affords event vendors laser-focused access to their target audience in purchasing mode, and offers event-planning consumers a more convenient and efficient marketplace. The New York-based startup launched in April with more than 445,000 vendors in its directory and plans to reach 1 million vendors by the end of the year. Time to start up something similar, or partner with EventNow to set up international versions? (Related: Ponoko ID lets shoppers and designers collaborate – Bank helps clients buy homes that aren’t for sale — Shipping marketplace capitalizes on intentions.)

Website: www.eventnow.com
Contact: customerservice@eventnow.com

Spotted by:  Cecilia Biemann

Exclusivity is the key to many status-minded consumers' hearts, so how better to convey that feeling than through a gift that can't be purchased for any price? Such, in fact, is essentially the premise behind the Key-2 Luxury key ring, a corporate gift that bestows upon the recipient an ongoing series of luxuries for life.

Key-2 Luxury rings “automatically unlock the door to the rarefied world of exclusive VIP privileges at the world’s leading restaurants, retailers, clubs, bars and hotels, purveyors of fine goods, services, entertainment & travel,” in the London-based company's own words. The lucky consumers who receive them can expect to receive 50 complimentary bottles of Cristal champagne when they book a five-cabin yacht for 10 nights, for example. Similarly, when they spend GBP 18 per person on canapés at a catered drinks party they host, they can receive half a bottle of champagne free for each guest. Hotel discounts, upgrades, late checkout and even complimentary rounds of golf are other examples, and new ones are added daily. Also included with each of them, significantly, is a direct contact at the partner venue, establishing a personal relationship between key holder and supplier. Perhaps most important of all, however, is that ordinary consumers cannot buy a Key-2 Luxury ring; only companies can, for gifting their very best customers and clients. Corporate users of the brandable Key-2 Luxury key chain include Jaeger LeCoultre, Lamborghini, HR Owen, Hugo Boss, City Index, Reuters, ICAP, Man Group, Exclusive Resorts, Storm Model Agency, Hilton on Park Lane and La Dolce Vita.

With benefits for corporate givers, benefit suppliers and individual recipients, it's easy to see the model's appeal. One to try out—or use as inspiration for an uber-premium, status-conveying, perk-infused, brand butler innovation of your own? ;-) (Related: Hotel perks for Mercedes drivers — More luxury loos, now for members only.)

Website: www.key2luxury.com
Contact: info@key2luxury.com

Spotted by: Sam Mar

Between five and 20 percent of the traffic visiting the average restaurant's website does so from a mobile phone, meaning that the PDF menus offered by so many establishments are typically not viewable. Whereas companies like Blue Shoe Mobile Solutions are tackling that problem with custom, branded iPhone apps for every restaurant, Ohio-based Mobile Hunger is taking a different approach by offering a web-based tool that simply converts a restaurant's menu into a mobile-ready site with native interaction.

Restaurateurs interested in using Mobile Hunger's free service begin by entering their menus, menu categories and individual items. Mobile Hunger then converts that information into a site that's viewable by iPhone and iPod. There's no need for customers to learn another web address, because Mobile Hunger automatically redirects mobile users to the new mobile site; there's also no need to convince users to download and use a custom app. Restaurateurs, meanwhile, can take advantage of analytics tools, photo galleries, social networking links, Google Maps and fully customizable colours to match their brand and logo. They also gain the ability to reach customers who use apps like Open Table, Urban Spoon, Four Square, Gowalla, Yelp and more. Once Mobile Hunger gains traction with its basic, free service for iPhone and iPod, it plans to offer a suite of paid upgrades such as support for other mobile devices—including Blackberry and Windows Mobile—as well as detailed analytics and dedicated hosting.

There's little doubt organizations large and small need to reach out to the growing masses of mobile users. The question now, it seems, is whether that should be via a custom app that must be downloaded or via a mobile-ready website--or both, targeting loyal and occasional customers, respectively. One to ponder for your own mobile-friendly brand?

Website: www.mobilehunger.com
Contact: www.mobilehunger.com/contact.php

Tourism agencies have become innovators in the arts of promotion—witness last year's job contest spotlighting the Great Barrier Reef Islands, for example—but lately we've seen several new efforts aimed at the influx of international visitors expected for a particular global event. Shanghai's AtYourSide service was launched to coincide with Expo 2010, for example; Africa Talking, similarly, is ideally positioned to benefit from the World Cup. The latest along those lines? Pass It On, an initiative to turn the nearly million New Zealanders who live overseas into a network of virtual ambassadors in anticipation of the Rugby World Cup 2011 event.

Kicked off last month by the Kiwi Expat Association, Pass It On aims to get expat New Zealanders to spread the word about everything the country has to offer. With funding, distribution and content support from a variety of New Zealand partners, the effort offers monthly prize draws for participants with Kiwi-centric prizes for the winners. Participants begin by signing up with the effort and then sharing stories from the Pass It On site with friends, family and colleagues—sharable videos focus on travel and cuisine, creative talent, and business and innovation. When the recipients of those stories follow the sender's link back to Pass It On and sign up, the sender earns “pass points.” Those points then become entries in a prize draw that takes place on the second Monday of each month; prizes range from locally focused T-shirts and ice cream to the Expat Reconnaissance Tour, an opportunity for four Kiwis living overseas to bring their best non-Kiwi mates home for a week of “money-can't-buy” experiences. Using the Pass Navigator, meanwhile, participants can view their “chain of passes,” including upstream and downstream statistics, the number of people reached, and the countries spanned.

As we've noted on so many occasions before, advertising can no longer hold a candle to the unstoppable force that is peer-to-peer promotion. How can your brand tap the power of crowdsourcing and social media for its own promotional gain...? (Related: Crowdsourcing the sales force — Referral program helps landlords find tenants on Facebook — Crowdsourced chocolate bar promotes Yellow Pages — InterContinental hotels get staff to share mates' rates.)

Website: www.passiton.co.nz
Contact: www.passiton.co.nz/About/Contact-Us/

Spotted by: Scott Riddle