Five Percent

In my book, Net Attitude, I said we were 2 percent of the way into the Internet; in other other words, we have only seen 2% of what the Internet has in store for our business and personal lives. More recently, I have been saying we are up to 5%. Now I am thinking of revising my estimate back to 2 percent. This is not a technical measurement. It has to do with expectations. Of all the things that could be done on the Internet to simplify our lives and save us time, how many of them are actually being made available to us? Five percent would be a generous estimate.

The banks, airlines, and hotel chains have made substantial progress compared to other industries, but when you look at all the things that you can do compared to what you can’t do you can see that they have a long way to go. Tonight I attempted to order a Marriott Rewards certificate. The Marriott web site is dramatically better than it had been but no where on the homepage could I find "Redeem points" or "Order certificate". I did find it under a "learn more" link and then found a link to "Use Points". I then found this…..

"To use your Marriott Rewards points for a hotel stay at a participating Marriott hotel brand, please make a reservation and indicate that the reservation is for a Marriott Rewards redemption.  You will receive an email confirmation, and your hotel will be sent an E-Certificate for your redemption reservation." (It then points out that E-Certificates can only be used by you yourself — not even an immediate family member).  "You can make your reservation online or by calling 1-800-MARRIOTT." Unfortunately, the reservation I had made was by phone because I couldn’t find what I wanted on the web site. Therefore I had not received an email because you only get an email if you make the reservation online. I called and went through endless call center menu options. The result of this was that I was short 7,000 points and so I was told I needed to call another number. I called. They were closed. (read more)