Westin Hotels Twitter-Activated Vending Machine Dispenses Free Running Gear

Westin Hotels & Resorts created a very unique vending machine to encourage people to run a 5K in New York on June 4th. The vending machine wasn’t your typical vending machine as it dispensed New Balance running gear and could only be activated by sending a tweet, “I want to run with @Westin” with your size and gender as well as a unique code that the machine assigns you.

Upon sending the tweet, the vending machine would then acknowledge your tweet and dispense a package containing new socks, shoes, shirt, shorts and, for women, running bras…all for free!

The machine held 75 sets of gear from 9 to 10:30 am. The hotel staff also handed out free T-shirts so that latecomers didn’t leave empty handed.

“We take a lot of pride in being a hotel that’s healthy,” said Christopher Heuisler, Westin’s running concierge. Yes that’s an actual job title. “We want people to think of Westin as a place to go when you want to stay healthy on the road.”