Launching the new loyalty program for the Marriott brand with a newly overhauled digital experience across hotel brands.
For generations, people trusted Marriott for a reliable hotel experience. After acquiring Starwood, Marriott faced a series of challenges that eroded customer loyalty, including a decline in the guest experience and the largest data breach in industry history.
Marriott engaged HLK to reimagine the digital guest experience, focusing on improving every touchpoint and highlighting each brand’s unique selling proposition.
Marriott was performing significantly below guest expectations across all digital touchpoints. To compound the issue, focus group feedback revealed VRBO and Airbnb as threats to its core business traveler audience.
However, almost all travelers were willing to try a Marriott property again if it improved the experience, and we saw that as starting with the digital platforms it lived on.
Individual hotel brands and the digital guest experience were lost in the vast portfolio, leaving guests unable to distinguish properties or choose one Marriott brand or property over others.
With multiple audiences — each with their own objectives — the center of the solution became focused on the guest experience. The mobile application needed an immediate overhaul as it was a huge source of frustration for users. Quickly implementing minor changes to the mobile platform led to increased app usage and mobile bookings, giving Marriott and HLK a momentum-building win in the early stages of the project.
There was a pressing need for a scalable solution to the website experiences — one that would simultaneously serve the individuality of the brands while providing a smooth and consistent digital experience.
The flexible solution we created allowed each brand to leverage the real estate on their own brand site to focus on the unique needs of their target audience while delivering an economical single platform that was used across the entire portfolio.
Changes to the brand websites and the Marriott Bonvoy experience allowed for meaningful business results for the brand.