May 27, 2021 | U.S. & Canada Franchise Management Company Webinar

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Publication of new Owner & Franchise Communications on mi360 continues to be temporarily suspended. Important information is communicated to owners, franchisees and franchise management companies through other channels including the weekly U.S. & Canada Franchise Update email, Franchise Management Company webinar, and monthly webinar for Marriott Managed Owners in the U.S.

Thank you for joining us on Thursday, May 27 for the U.S. & Canada Franchise Management Company Webinar. If you were unable to join, a recording and PDF of the presentation are now available (EID and password required).

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This webinar covered COVID-19 updates and resources, including:

Key Actions

U.S. & Canada Franchise Update | May 27, 2021

Changes to CTAC Commission Invoice Process Will Take Effect in July; Review Invoices and Submit Timely Payment CTAC charges will be on a separate Owner & Franchise Billing (OFB) invoice from all other program and services charges. These new invoices will be billed every other week and will be due upon receipt. Continued on-time payment of CTAC invoices will ensure proper, accurate and timely payment of third-party channel commission. ​ The OFB email link for invoice retrieval will continue to be sent to the invoice recipient noted in the OFB system. Additionally, an automated ACH debit process for payments will be made available for these invoices to hotels with USD bank accounts; details for enrollment will be shared in the coming weeks.​

Complete the Self-Audit by May 31 at 5 p.m. ET Hotels that cannot access the QA Site or need to modify access to reflect a different property should use the QA Site Access Guide to submit an access request through Identity Center. Plan ahead as it can take several days for access to be approved and reflected on the QA site.

Sales, Marketing, & Revenue Management Update

Topline Trends

1. Traveling again remains a top desire and is directly tied to rates of vaccination.
2. Memorial Day travel looks strong.
3. The travel experience for customers is not yet near normal in the U.S., with considerable work ahead.

Marriott Bonvoy Escapes Changes

• Sunday is open to arrivals
• Cancellation policy increases to 48 hours
• Advance booking window increases to 48 hours
• Occupancy fencing and participation frequency returns
• Additional details on MGS

Prepare for 2022 Special Corporate Pricing

• Review memo regarding 2022 Special Corporate Pricing Approach
• Review Special Corporate Pricing Timeline
• Self-Audit Reports: Conduct Self-Audits under the Tools and Resources tab in MarRFP
  • These audits may require changes in EPIC to ensure all information is complete for our customers to see in their RFPs
  • Blank or inaccurate information could jeopardize hotels from getting into account travel programs
• Review Special Corporate Pricing Seasonality Guidelines

Key Property Marketing Focus Areas

FOCUS AREAS
OFFERS	Utilize Leisure Recovery Offers – Benefit from the continent marketing budget and placements across paid, earned and owned marketing  Offer Catalogues -Only if your hotel has a need to market an additional offer and has resources to support, use the Offer Catalogues as the basis for creating the offer Laser-Focus on ADR -Ensure Offers, Package and Discount ADR keeps up with Retail growth –
HOLIDAYS / SUMMER	Keep Pushing for Memorial Day, Fourth of July & Set the Stage for Labor Day -Win the holidays and don’t forget about the shoulder days/weeks around them -Family travel, revenge travel, Bleisure –
WEEKDAY	The Weekday is the New Weekend -Drive demand to the weekday and shoulder days –
PROPERTY MEDIA SPEND	Drive Direct Media Spend via PLUS -Opportunity for many hotels to balance spend between tactics driving direct bookings vs. OTA
OTA CONTENT SCORES	Goal Should be 90% or Higher – Check Your Scores on Expedia & Booking.com Often

Member Exclusive Offers (MEOs) + Elite Exclusive Offers (EEOs)

• What are MEOs & EEOs?
  • MEOs + EEOs are stay-based hotel offers that drive incremental revenue from Marriott Bonvoy members.
    • Increase demand during short-term need times
    • Hotels can promote member exclusive rates, packages, bonus offers & redemption deals
    • Promote offer on the hotel website by loading the offer in in the Marriott Bonvoy Offers Platform (MBOP)
• Offer Types
  • • BONUS POINTS
    • RATE DISCOUNTS
    • PACKAGES
    • BONUS MILES
    • POINTSAVERS
    • CASH + POINTS

MEOs Best Practices

Best practices for building successful offers:

• • Cluster offers (3+ hotels) perform better than individual properties
  • Bonus points offers drive the highest revenues
  • Average bonus offer is “2,000 points per stay”, consider a richer bonus
  • Consider a two-tiered approach – 1 MEO + 1 EEO

EEOs should include rich amenities or higher discounts, or at least 2,000 bonus points/stay

Best practices for marketing successful offers:

• • Use the Copy Templates available in MBOP
  • Be succinct – think “Mobile First” and avoid long paragraphs
  • Include critical details like minimum length of stay or booking dates

New Beginnings Await – Wedding Closing Offer

• Drive wedding business by offering triple Marriott Bonvoy™ points that can be used toward free nights for honeymoon or anniversary plans. 
• Hotels are responsible for the cost of the points awarded. 
• New editable marketing flyers now available for download on Marketing Central with enhanced image and copy options for customization based on individual property needs.

Points Advance Policy Modification

Implementing three key changes to alleviate hotel risk by reducing amount of time a member can hold inventory without form of payment, quickly resolve irregular reservations and provide hotels with on-demand reporting to make informed decisions regarding oversell.

	UPDATED POLICY/PROCESS	CHANGE DESCRIPTION
Booking Parameters	Hold for up to 60 days from booking.* On the books Points Advance:  60-day hold starting at policy modification date.	Reduces inventory hold time for Points Advance.
Reservation Management	Cancel points advance reservations at end of hold period.	Current Policy allows for changing to paid reservation.  Align with airline “hold” option familiar to many.
Future: On Demand Reporting	Loyalty will be creating a monthly MBV Report – active redemption reservations on the books with and without certs in the coming months.	Report will be made available in the future with communication regarding deployment.

*Change in hold time could have member implications.  Mitigation:  Members would re-book the stay to hold for another 8 weeks, based on inventory availability. 

Points Advance Scenario Path for New Policy

When a member logs in to make a redemption reservation and chooses a hotel that they do not have enough points for, there are now two scenario paths:

Scenario 1:

The member needs 100K or less points to complete their redemption (Free Night Award) reservation.

In this scenario, in addition to Points Advance, the member is given the option to purchase points. The Points Purchase option will be prioritized in the booking path as it is preferable for members to use Points Purchase in this case.

Scenario 2:

The amount of points the member needs is more than the annual Points Purchase maximum of 100K.

In this scenario, the member is only given the Points Advance option.

For both scenarios, language reflects that the member can hold the booking for up to 60 days from booking or up to 14 days prior to arrival, whichever is sooner

Hybrid Meeting Activation Learning

Marriott International is offering new solutions to help meeting and event professionals and attendees Connect with Confidence and streamline the planning process.

Learning Content: This 50-minute eLearning Offering provides examples of hybrid experiences and benefits, the necessary selling + planning skills and processes, as well as tips and tools to get teams started in the activation journey