Magaluf Beach of Majorca, one of Spain’s Mediterranean Islands, is home to a virtual community called #SocialWave for guests of Sol Wave House, a Twitter-themed hotel. Although Twitter can be a good way to connect with pepole online, Twitter hotels are one step too far and should not branch out to the U.S.
Twitter can be an obsession for many college students. Of course, hashtags are a fad of today’s times, thanks to Twitter. Other social media sites, like Facebook, are adopting the hashtag and hashtagging is infamously portrayed on a segment of Late Night Jimmy Fallon.
However, the idea of a Twitter themed hotel and all of the perks that come with it is ridiculous.
As Sol Wave House guests check into their hotel room to find blue and white balloons and champagne glasses laid out in a hashtag formation, they are able to log into Twitter and access a web application available via the hotel’s Wi-Fi.
In the party hotel’s network, guests share photos, browse user’s Twitter avatars that will show them who is online and where they are in the hotel, send private messages and send virtual kisses, like Facebook pokes.
“That’s 100 percent crazy,” said Elizabeth Amoa-Awuah, a UA phycology pre-med junior and daily Twitter user. “Frankly, I don’t wanna flirt virtually, I’ll do it the old fashion way.” This hotel has taken online dating and hooking up to the extreme.
In addition to virtually flirting and hashtagging your room number to a fellow guest, Sol Wave House employees have other ways to utilize the network.
Guests who find their minibar empty can request concierge service with #FillMyFridge.
Amoa-Awuah said she feels as though picking up the phone and pressing a button that connects you straight to the front desk is not too hard, in fact it’s probably more efficient.
Let’s not forget about the #TwitterPoolParty every Friday for Sol Wave House guests or more private parties for up to four people in a #PartySuite.
The only place a hotel of this nature would be a success in the U.S. would be Las Vegas, where people go to let loose. Las Vegas is also home to some uniquely themed hotels that attract people from all over the world.
However, even in a sinful Vegas situation, guests tend to have no shame in approaching the next showstopper to walk through the door without having to hide behind a virtual avatar and tweet at him or her.
“Vacation hookups are so much easier when everyone’s using the same hashtag,” said Olivia B. Waxman, a reporter at TIME. Yet, according to a Statista graphic, only 49 million active Twitter users are in the U.S. opposed to 169 million users in other parts of the world, so 70 percent of Twitter users are outside the U.S.
This generation is already too caught up in social media and while almost everything is available via the Internet, some things need to stay traditional.
For some Tweetaholics, this could be paradise, a judgment-free zone, but all in all, the Twitter themed hotel needs to stay over seas, forcing American guests to make their own moves and stop hiding behind their cell phones.
Ashley T. Powell is a journalism senior. Follow her @ashleytaylar.