Assignment:
The MIT presentation was a continuation of that Ertfelda showed a corporate video with scenes including Sorenson examining hotel models at the Marriott Lab in the Bethesda HQ Office. He also highlighted Charlotte Marriott, which the company owns, that is scheduled to open this summer as a test vehicle for all of Marriott's newest product and digital innovations.
MARRIOTT SHIFTS EMPHASIS TOWARD A PEOPLE COMPANY
The large international hotel brands like Marriott have always taken the brunt of criticism from independent hospitality groups and the industry at large about how the big chains lack a personal connection with their guests.
In fact, all of the small hotel groups position themselves as a foil to the legacy brands. Their very entity is based on their "independent spirit," such as referenced this week by the Commune and Destination Hotels CEOs speaking about their merger, and the id ea that, "We're not Marriott.
So all of the top brass at Marriott have been out in the field over the last year talking about how Marriott places the individual hotel guest, hotel associate, and member of the local community as its highest priority.
"We attribute a lot of our success to actually having a higher purpose, and our higher purpose as a company is to transcend travel to transform lives by putting people first," said Ertfelda. "That means the lives of our associates, the lives of our guests, and lives of the people in the communities in which we operate. People and community will always be at the heart of what we do."
QUESTION:
(a) Why did Ertfelda say that Milennials and Gen Z travellers have forced Marriott to develop new hospitality brands over the years? Include the general characteristics of these generations in your answer.
(b) Explain how online booking platforms could have "threatened Marriot's direct relationship with the customer". How could Marriot overcome this issue?
c) Why would Airbnb be a threat to brand preference for hotels like Marriot? Explain using concepts in business level strategy.