Which Romance is NOT Like the Others

Here's a "content lite" post on a chill September evening. The topic involves top 10 lists and romance.

Top 10 lists sort of get to you. There's a natural drama on the count-down to "what's  number 1?" After all, the #1 - the first, the fastest, the newest, the most explosive, the craziest, the hottest, and the biggest are the ones we like to watch, emulate, know about, admire, laugh at, embrace, and aspire  to be with.

The makers of these lists also like to support the ranking with  "hard evidence". This evidence, of course, can be largely subjective itself. Suppose we wanted to rank  the "Top 10 most romantic musicians of 2012?"  Just think how different the #1 on this Top 10" list would be if it was supported by these metrics:

• Number of ballads the musician sings.
• Number of heart-felt intensity of the ballad.
• Frequency of poetic words in interviews.
• Duration of the relationship.
• Public displays of affection with partner.
• Some index of the above combination.

But here is the kicker, the wisdom of the crowds can actually get closer us closer to what the general public rates as the Top 10 - at least on subjective rankings. Large number of ratings can give us some crude validation and generalizability of what the most "romantic" would be. Take this example:  Trip Advisor's Traveller's Choice for Romantic Hotels 2012. See the list below and then answer this "Which one of these ain't like the other?" (Click on the images to see a larger image).

Which one of these ain't like the others?

 






I'm guessing you picked out the Mariaggi Hotel in Winnipeg. Why is this such an anomaly? You might say because the hotel is located in inner-city Winnipeg, and is thereby disadvantaged to what one might naturally associate with a romantic hotel: a location with aqua blue sea waters, sandy beaches, warm sensual weather, and tropical sunsets. The evidence suggests you'd be right. The other 9 hotels fit this imagery.

So what good is this Trip Advisor Award to the Mariaggi?  I'm going to point out what my students of marketing would say is pretty obvious.  Mariaggi has the opportunity to make a strong PR campaign with this prestigious award and enhance its brand / demand for the hotel via a social network effort. A quick look at the Mariaggi web sites suggests neither is happening. If it were my hotel, I'd sure want the nation to know that Mariaggi is Canada's #1 Most Romantic Hotel.