MARRIOTT MEDIA: New Ad Network To Monetize Bonvoy Members

Economy is good, companies are creating all these redundant departments doing what they are already doing. But they have to do it because they paid insane money to McKinsey to tell them to do something like this idea that this will make Marriott insane money. (it won't)
The real winners are executives getting a big fat bonus for this milestone.

When recession hits we'll just see more layoffs.

This is trashy as hell. How gross

"Marriott’s new media network is described as connecting relevant brands with customers at the right time, across digital and physical touchpoints, and with a contextually relevant message."

"The ability to engage with travelers on a connected journey through digital and physical touchpoints and its seamless integration model sets the network apart."

“Today’s travelers expect personalization and welcome thoughtful discovery. MARRIOTT MEDIA is designed to enrich, not interrupt, serving guests content, recommendations, and offers in ways that feel natural, relevant, and aligned with their travel experience."

What does all that corporate doublespeak even mean?

Marriott's customers (the hotels) are in the business of selling hotel rooms (a place to lay one's head for the night) to their product (the guests). Why try to turn something as basic and simple as selling hotel nights into a mission to Mars; from what I've seen, it would appear that Marriott would be much better off spending their time and their resources getting the basics right.

"The intent is to use first-party data and 200+ targetable attributes across nearly 237 million Bonvoy members and 9,500 properties globally..."

And the points-and-miles crowd are shocked, simply shocked because the Airlines Reporting Corporation is selling data to the Customs and Border Protection agency information that includes things like payment details, travel agency history, seat assignments, meal requests, contact information, and prior and future trips.

Well, I'm glad someone is interested in where I sit on the plane and what I have for lunch because I'm sure not.

Surprising lack of concierge or excursion type planning assistance in recent years, especially in room and synced with the app. One can visit a hotel rarely be exposed to opportunities that may be compelling. That said, when paying for a hotel room one is hopefully getting a sanctuary from the outside world and marketing.

On cruises from the moment of sign up there is support for port excursion sign ups and many third party companies too. At best at a hotel, there are brochures.

Just opt out of all of that sh-t. Many states now have privacy laws like California's CCPA that let customers opt out of targeted advertising and the sale and sharing of their personal information.

@Ben how do I get out of this? I'm so tired of being micro targeted within an inch of my sanity?

Seriously - I want to travel, to engage with the world, to fly, to stay in hotels, to eat good food and engage in exciting activities. I'm just tired of being analyzed, profiled and nudged.

Great, more ads, because we don't have enough of them everywhere already.

Also, good luck to them implementing this in the EU, which actually has consumer privacy protections.

I've worked with some really incompetent marketing leadership and on some truly clueless branding efforts but man, the Bonvoy folks are just in a class by themselves. Bravo.

I can't even fathom how the formatting of that brand identity was conceived, successfully proposed and then signed off on. 100% chef's kiss.

Does anyone else's Marriott TV feature someone else's name 30-40% of the time? Does that mean that I'm going to get targeted ads for Kevin or Brandy or whatever name is up there?

That should be interesting. I hope they like my targeted ads. Researching PE acquisition targets in the industrial b2b space has led to some weird ones recently.

Are you saying you wouldn't have launched "Riot" branding the week the national spotlight shifted to the national guard being deployed against protestors?

You must be some sort of marketing and PR wizard.

"What does all that corporate doublespeak even mean?"

It means they're going to do what any Fortune 1000 company has been doing for decades through their media agency: targeting customers with as much precision advertising as they can. There's nothing in this corporate word salad that is in any way inventive. There hasn't been a single campaign or brand I've worked with where we didn't just assume that our media partners would do all of this as part of their due diligence.

But marketing departments get big budgets and need to do a big song and dance to keep leadership employed, so you get dreck like this.

@JP It's like the ad where one of those Kardashians or whoever handed the riot cop a cold Pepsi. I loved that spot. Maybe Bonvoy can remix it for 2025.

This must be a joke. How about not devaluing your points, how about recognizing your higher tier members? Titanium elite member here stayed three months for work at a Marriot in Asia and never could get a upgrade. The manager said that they can book a room easily at that location.

There better be an opt in feature as I do not want any hotel sending me any ads. This invasion has got to stop.

A. Marriott TV SUCKS. I’m always happy when I hit a property that doesn’t have it.

B. Thus should be a data opt-in endeavor for members.

So more ads on the hotel room TV. Cool.

Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if they have a permanent overlay on top of whatever's playing on the TV.

This is why the first thing I do when I enter a hotel room is unplug their HDMI source, and plug in my own Chromecast.

Bonvoyed again by the dimmest bulbs in marketing

Want to personalize my experience. Go back to having a human answer my phone calls.

But Marriott has proven repeatedly that they don't have a clue as to who their guests are or what they want... let alone run an IT infrastructure to do even the most basic things, let alone digital marketing.

Does anyone actually watch the hotel's TV?
First thing I do when I get into a hotel is fire up my travel router. Second is plug in my Onn 4k box. Third is look for bed bugs while the first two are booting up.

I recently had a 11 hour stay at a Marriott and I didn't even bother with the travel router or TV.

I often forget to turn off the welcome video and it loops forever. I've watched the featured hotels thousands of times and have heard the music from that stupid Mexican hotel in oxaca in my dreams. I've developed an irrational hatred of it.