5 Key Takeaways from Marriott International's First Customer Hybrid Event Across Asia Pacific

On September 1, 2021, Marriott International held its first customer hybrid event in Asia Pacific – "Be There with Marriott International – The Path Forward for Travel and Events".

Together with some of Asia Pacific's most exemplary industry leaders, the event attracted more than 1,100 in-person and online attendees to experience Marriott's reimagined approach to meetings while listening to the lively discussions around our industry's emerging and future trends.

The hybrid event simultaneously took place in three locations:

• Renaissance Hong Kong Harbour View Hotel;
•  The Ritz-Carlton, Millenia Singapore;
• and the JW Marriott Gold Coast Resort & Spa;

and was held in collaboration with technology partner NowEvents to broadcast the event across the Asia Pacific, enabling those tuning in remotely to view the panelists as if they were in the same room.

Hosted by Ramesh Daryanani, Vice President, Global Sales, Marriott International Asia Pacific, the event featured three key speakers:

• Julie Purser, Vice President, Marketing, Loyalty & Partnerships, Marriott International Asia Pacific;
• Jennie Toh, Vice President, Brand Marketing & Brand Management, Marriott International Asia Pacific;
• Oscar Cerezales, Chief Strategy Officer, MCI Group;

followed by a panel discussion, moderated by Karen Bolinger, Strategic Business Consultant, PCMA Asia Pacific, with panelists (from left to right in the picture above):

• Bart Buiring - Chief Sales & Marketing Officer, Marriott International Asia Pacific;
• Charlotte Harris - Managing Director, Charlotte Travel Hong Kong;
• Andy Winchester - APAC Travel Manager, Bloomberg;
• Kenji Soh - Executive Director, Head of Asia Pacific Travel, Goldman Sachs;
• Anna Patterson - Vice President & Managing Director, George P Johnson Singapore;
• Oscar Cerezales, Chief Strategy Officer, MCI Group

With an overall optimistic sentiment on the return to travel, we can summarize the event with five key takeaways:

1. Keeping it R.E.A.L.

The customer has always been at the heart of everything we do as an industry. When it comes to customer loyalty, every loyalty company leaned into the equation:

Loyalty = Rewards + Recognition

However, Purser shared that,

“Rewards and recognition are no longer enough.. To truly drive loyalty in a post-pandemic world, what we really need is love and it’s the love that we give to our members that will drive them to come back time and time again.”

So how do we drive love?

Purser’s recommendation was by keeping it REAL.

She broke this down into an acronym to help identify how we can build stronger relationships with our customers:

R = Rewarding. Rewarding and recognizing customers is key to making customers feel special. The recently launched Good Travel with Marriott Bonvoy is a good example of allowing customers to connect with local communities for lasting positive impacts and treasured memories.

E = Easy.Time is precious, so making everything run smoothly will make all the difference. At Marriott, anticipating customers' needs such as advanced web check-ins, mobile room keys, and the full app experience gives the customers more control.

A = Aspirational. Supporting customers whatever their journey and providing unique experiences that add value to them is important. For example, the relaunched of Marriott Bonvoy moments, Work Anywhere with Marriott Bonvoyand more.

L = Like me. This meaning refers to personalization. Marriott recognizes the uniqueness and individuality of every customer. To accommodate your customer's needs, flexibility is key which has driven the Marriott Bonvoy Event's benefits and rewards program, The Time Is Now.

2. The Meaning of Travel

When it comes to emerging trends, it's no question that our wanderlust remains but what travelers are looking for is different from what they used to look for.

From Marriott’s perspective, Toh explained that,

“The disruptive effect of the pandemic has not only sped up the evolutionary process but also accelerated the adoption of these emerging trends.”

Five major trends on the rise include:

1. Secondary cities appeal

There is a surge of travel to smaller cities, stemming from domestic travel and rediscovering new locations within your home country.

2. Travel with purpose

Consumers have a heightened consciousness of environmental and cultural impact. They want greener destinations, waste prevention, and have a greater interest in leaving places better than how they found them.

3. Far-flung escapes

Pent-up wanderlust and a longing for the extraordinary contributes to this trend to visit natural wonders of the world. This can be considered the new luxury.

4. Culinary tourism

Cooking at home throughout the pandemic has inspired more interest in culinary experiences. A recent survey by American Express found that dining is a top activity when we travel.

5. Rise of digital nomads

The rapid adoption of technology has turned our customers into digital nomads, mixing work with leisure, so access to technology is of utmost importance.

3. Sustainable Travel

Sustainability remains at the forefront of many corporate organizations and travel managers too, which will continue to dominate in the years to come. While travel volumes are comparatively lower now, travel is still considered essential for companies to remain competitive but there must be a purpose.

Winchester shared insight into Bloomberg,

“We have travel policies, for example, the essential nature of a trip – what’s the reason for the trip? Can you conduce a lot of meetings into one trip rather than take multiple trips to cut down emissions?”

He shared food for thought on corporate online booking tools. Like how we can filter hotels and flights based on prices and locations, the industry should consider developing the capability to filter these options by preferred partners based on how sustainable they are.

Soh elaborated on this,

“Goldman Sachs is already carbon neutral in that we have been buying carbon offsets, but we are trying to go even deeper. More than just buying offsets, what else can we do to enable our travelers to be more efficient, greener, and put the choice in the traveler’s hands? The question is, how can we showcase green hotels better in our online booking tools?”

Marriott for example, recently announced its official sign-on to the Race to Zero, as part of its commitment to net-zero commissions by no later than 2050, in line with the Science Based Targets initiative. Corporations with similar values and initiatives will want to see such information displayed when browsing through travel options, to align and make more responsible choices.

Organizations that require business travel want to do their part and allow their travelers to make their own decision to eliminate the guilt associated with travel.

4. The Power of Human Connection

Having addressed that travel is not going away, face-to-face human interaction continues to be a big craving for all.

The power of connection in meetings and events provides a better opportunity for real and valuable engagement. In times like these, MICE industry leaders recognize the importance of bridging the offline and online divide to enhance scalability using technology and digitalization.

Patterson, however, reiterated the importance of human connection,

“You can have technology, holograms, VR, XR, it is all just an enabler. The platform with which you deliver is not the most important thing, it is the human brain, the human emotion, and the human experience, being engaged and entertained, that is the important thing when we design these experiences.”

You can have all the technology in the world, the perfect platform, but it's how you use it to complement the primary goal of connecting with people.

As Daryanani further explained,

"We need to strike a balance between technology, reach, and engagement. When hosting hybrid events, the platform is not the most important—instead, the desired outcome and the value that human connection brings is. Marriott's hybrid solutions will continue to evolve, but there is no doubt that nothing replaces the power of face-to-face meetings."

When it comes to luxury travel, decisions are more emotionally driven and similarly need that level of attention. Harris elaborated on this,

“Our clients are looking for something a bit more different, and we base this on a triangle of decision-making that we’ve created. At the top are health and safety. Customers want to see hotel staff cleaning, sanitizing to reassure travelers. Followed by space and privacy with more personalized, curated, and bespoke experiences. At the bottom are hardware and products that travel entails. I would say previously pre-pandemic, this triangle was flipped. Now it’s more personal; we have been craved human interaction.”

5. Strategy Takes Precedence

Technology is often recognized as a critical advantage for companies, but it is not the only competitive advantage you can have as everyone at some point will have access to this. Cerezales also indicated that technology is an enabler, but the real competitive advantage is our ideation. In other words, strategy takes precedence.

Cerezales summarized that today, we must avoid the sunk cost fallacy, and as he said,

“It’s time to keep testing, thinking, assessing, learning, and changing where things need to be changed.”

For event professionals, this is crucial for finding the right engagement mix that will fit your customers and community.

To conclude, Buiring expressed his optimism and confidence in the recovery of our ever-resilient industry,

"I'm super optimistic about the future of travel, and there are bright spots of travel recovery. In China, special corporate is back, group travel is back, and I look forward to international borders reopening again."

Interested in watching the full event? Register here to be the first to access the event streaming when it becomes available in October 2021.