"We're going
to keep them all," Marriott CEO Arne Sorenson said of his company's
brands, which number 30 now that Marriott's acquisition of Starwood Hotels
& Resorts is complete. Meanwhile, he reiterated Marriott's commitment to
work with owners and franchisees to distinguish
the brands from each other.
Sorenson said
Marriott has been in talks with Sheraton owners since late last year about
where the brand should go, what brand standards should be set for the future
and how they should be implemented. "I suspect, however, we will see in
2017 that some of the hotels that are most obviously at the bottom end of the
brand—in other words they didn't meet whatever standards were in place already
and they don't meet any likely standard that we end up with—that we'll see that
renovations actually occur in some of those or some of those actually leave the
system."
The company also is
shifting its boutique-style Element brand toward extended stay. The brand is
piloting a communal concept in which four guest rooms share a kitchen, living
room and dining room.
Loyalty Developments
On Day One after the
merger between Marriott and Starwood, Marriott enabled loyalty members to link
their Marriott Rewards, Starwood Preferred Guest and The Ritz-Carlton Rewards
accounts. The company plans to fully combine the programs in 2018, and up in
the air is which payment card provider the company will work with.
"We've got two
co-brand credit card partners, SPG with Amex, and JPMorgan Chase Visa for
Marriott Rewards," said Marriott CFO Leeny Oberg. "We obviously are
in discussions with both of those companies." One of the agreements
expires in 2018, and the other in 2020. "We're very excited about,
frankly, the possibilities there but wouldn't be in a position to be able to quantify
anything at this point," she said.
Marriott Rewards
recently updated
its app, broadening the reach of Mobile Key from 25 properties to more than
500 and expanding its Mobile Requests to more than 4,000 hotels.
Marriott tested its
Mobile Requests for a year before the broad rollout, VP of global loyalty Thom
Kozik told BTN. The pilot allowed Marriott to pre-populate a list on the app
with the requests for which guests typically call down to the front desk. That
service-request list is customized not only to each hotel—think extra water in
Las Vegas—but also to the guest. "Over time, you'll see the app get more
personalized," Kozik said. "If you've never requested hypoallergenic
pillows, that comes off the list and is replaced with something you request
directly." Additionally, a built-in chat window connects directly to the
front desk.
Marriott's app also
now features destination-specific articles from Marriott's digital magazine,
customized to travelers based on their previous hotel searches and upcoming
trips. Kozik said Marriott is changing how it interacts with its members.
"We're really shifting to recognize, first and foremost, booking is only
one of the things you do with us," Kozik said "that as a traveler,
we've got a tremendous amount of context about where you're at in your current
journey."