Tammy Routh, senior vice president, global sales at Marriott International, is passionate about experiences. We caught up with her at IMEX America to discuss how her company is elevating the guest experience for its meeting and incentive attendees.
“If I think back to all the meeting planners I’ve spoken with this year, the common denominator is experience,” Routh said. “They are asking me to help figure out how to take their meetings and incentive programs to the next level.”
A lot of the conversation at Marriott, she said, is around technology and the digital experience and working with meeting planners to connect their attendees to the Bonvoy app as part of the registration process.
“So whether you have 100 or 1,000 people who are checking into one of our hotels, if they want to choose not to stand in that line, or to use the mobile key, or chat to say they’re arriving too late for registration, we’re trying to build all of that into the app.”
The company is also rethinking how Bonvoy Moments can be expanded for the group market. “Bonvoy Moments are so popular with consumers that we said to the team, ‘We’re missing an entire audience here.’ Right now, we offer really cool experiences. For so many points you can go have a private dinner with a chef, or whatever it might be. So we’re looking into how we can build those into the meetings and events experience pre and post. Sponsored by Bonvoy. Something you can’t get on your own. You can only get it if you attend that meeting or event or incentive.”
Marriott is also partnering with the Neu Project—with “Neu” standing for neuroinclusion—conceived earlier this year by a small group of event leaders and neurodiverse individuals at Google and officially launched during IMEX America. Its mission is to demystify and normalize neurodiversity in the events and hospitality industry, while also inspiring and empowering event professionals to design events that are inclusive of all neuro types, such as ADHD and autism. Learn more here.
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