Marriott International and customer relationship management provider Salesforce have created a Marriott customer recognition platform that helps Marriott associates share and see guest information for guests who have opted into the program. "It's a foundation to create guest-centric interactions," Marriott global digital and sales officer Brian King told BTN. Salesforce's cloud-based tech, Service Cloud, can plug into Marriott's legacy platforms, such as its reservations system and its loyalty system, and allows associates to use guest information to create a better experience.
That information comes from loyalty member profiles, a guest's past stays at Marriott properties, the traveler's interactions with associates at Marriott's customer engagement center and other sources. Salesforce GM and VP of travel, transportation and hospitality Taimur Khan said the platform offers faster, more relevant, context-rich interactions with guests. A loyalty member who regularly stays at the Charlotte Marriott City Center midweek and is vegan, for instance, no longer has to offer up that information to Marriott associates before or during each trip.
A "Message" icon appears in Apple Maps to enable Apple Business Chat, and the interface includes links, images and menu-driven responses.
As part of the partnership, Marriott is piloting Apple Business Chat at about 300 of its full-service Marriott brand properties. Through Apple Business Chat, members of Marriott's loyalty program can use their Apple iOS devices to chat with Marriott customer engagement center associates to make special requests even weeks in advance. On the day prior to check-in, that guest can alter the request using Marriott's mobile apps. During check-in, a front desk associate can inform the guest the request had been fulfilled.
King said the customer-to-business chat includes enhanced imagery, links and menu-driven responses. "I think this is going to be a big trend that we're going to start to see," he said. Khan said Salesforce is platform agnostic and intends to expand to other messaging platforms.
The partnership comes as a number of Marriott competitors—including Intercontinental Hotels Group, Choice Hotels International and Radisson Hotel Group—roll out cloud-based global reservations systems to allow for, among other things, enhanced personalization.