Marriott’s Not Selling Just Rooms Anymore – Inside Its Bet on AI

Photo Caption: Drew Pinto, Marriott chief revenue and technology officer speaking at Skift Data + AI Summit 2024. Skift
Skift Take
Marriott is looking to tap AI to reinvent itself as a travel retailer, letting customers create bespoke experiences much the way they do today when booking an airline ticket.
Marriott wants to be the hotel industry's Build-A-Bear Workshop.
The hotelier is looking to tap into generative AI and technology to reinvent itself as a travel retailer, letting customers create bespoke experiences much in the way they do today when booking an airline ticket or when their kids create their own personalized, cuddly Teddy bear.
“It's the biggest tech transformation we've ever done,” Drew Pinto, executive vice president and chief revenue and technology officer at Marriott, said at the Skift Data + AI Summit in New York on Tuesday. “We have a lot of really great products in our company that we sell. Of course, the rooms, but we ha