Business Travel News - October 23 2017

Innovation is part of Marriott’s founding and
future DNA and it transcends all aspects of its
global business.

The Perfect Marriage

Marriott International Inc., based in Bethesda, Maryland, encom-passes a portfolio of more than 6,200 properties in 30 leading hotel brands spanning 125 countries and territories. The merger with Starwood is often touted as the perfect marriage as Marriott International has the operational expertise, built on the company’s legacy of nearly a century, while Starwood’s was built on innovation and marketing prowess. Combined, it is the world’s largest hotel company.

Innovation

When it comes to innovation, Marriott is trying to create more satisfying, memorable, unique and comprehensive experiences— to create immersive travel experiences and help guests from all over the world dive into the local culture, while also making them feel at home. Officials are rethinking hotel rooms as the lines blur between work and leisure travel.

It is using technology to get even better, sharper consumer insights. Earlier this year, Marriott opened its first pop-up innovation lab to allow guests, professionals and the public to see, touch, taste and hear enhancement options and provide direct, real-time feedback on preferences. In permanent and pop-up hotel labs, Marriott continually tests concepts and garners consumer opinions about hotels, beds, food and beverage programs and more.

Additionally, Accenture Interactive and 1776, a leading global incubator and network for startups, approached Marriott to develop the Travel Experience Incubator—a new program designed to discover and foster startups working on innovative technologies and solutions to improve the travel experience. The incubator will bring together the expertise of some of the world’s most innovative companies along with participating startups, to co-create unique and inventive new experiences for travelers.

Scale

Insights will be incorporated into the unique characteristics, benefits and strengths of each of its more than 30 hotel brands. As part of its brand architecture, Marriott offers luxury, premium, and select levels and groups each as “classic” or “distinctive” styles to give guests a better understanding of which experience will best suit their needs.

Marriott International in 2016 opened a record 55,000 rooms, excluding the 381,000 rooms gained with the Star wood acquisition.

At the start of the year, Marriott operated or franchised nearly 1.2 million rooms in those 6,200 properties. It also operates award-winning loyalty programs such as Marriott Rewards®, which includes The Ritz-Carlton Rewards®, and Starwood Preferred Guest.®

Luxury

Luxury brands in the “classic” category have a more timeless lens on design and service, offering truly bespoke, memorable experiences for today’s global traveler. These brands, which include The Ritz-Carlton, St. Regis, and JW Marriott, are all trusted and known, proving to be a consistent benchmark for global luxury travel around the world.

Meanwhile, luxury brands in the “distinctive” category take a more lifestyle-driven approach, each providing a unique point of view on luxury travel. This includes W Hotels, EDITION, The Luxury Collection, Ritz-Carlton Reserve, and Bulgari Hotels & Resorts.

Now an unparalleled collection of worldwide brands, Marriott’s core values remain constant: putting people first, pursuing excellence, embracing change, acting with integrity and serving our world.