Announcing Marriott International’s Global Meeting Strategy: Meetings Imagined
Over the past few years, Marriott has been designing and testing new products and concepts as part of our global meetings strategy, which was known as “Future of Meetings” during the testing and development phases. Moving forward, this program will be branded as MEETINGS IMAGINED: People Inspired. Marriott Delivered.
Marriott International’s Global Meeting Strategy starts by putting people at the center of the meeting; understanding their business purpose, and then empowering associates to co-create and deliver not just a meeting but an experience. In this way, Meetings Imagined is a competitive differentiator that pulls together new tools and resources such as industry-leading technologies, powerful brand meeting strategies, creative culinary options, and the most passionate and well-trained people in the business.
In mid-June, Marriott International’s Global Meeting Strategy will be introduced to customers through media, a customer-facing video, print ads, and updated content on MeetingsImagined.com. For more information, visit the Meetings Imagined Global Meeting Strategy page on MGS or email GlobalMeetingStrategy@Marriott.com.
As we launch the Meetings Imagined Global Meeting Strategy, we will continue to implement innovations in meetings and events to differentiate our brands globally. Following is an update on each of these digital experiences.
MEETINGS IMAGINED.COM: After a Successful Proof of Concept in 2014; Global Rollout to be Completed by Year-End 2015
MeetingsImagined.com is a collaborative website featuring tips, insights and trends, which offers an elevated approach to selling and designing events. The site provides an inspiration gallery featuring the best events and hotel-specific ideas, and allows each participating hotel to highlight their own offerings, categorized by purpose.
MeetingsImagined.com is currently being deployed to Marriott Hotels, JW Marriott, Renaissance Hotels, Autograph Collection Hotels, and Gaylord properties throughout the U.S. As of May 27, there were 106 hotels live with the concept and another 278 in progress, with the remaining 24 in-scope hotels scheduled to go live in Q3 2015.
For more information, explore the website at www.MeetingsImagined.com, visit the MeetingsImagined.com page on MGS, or email MeetingsImagined@Marriott.com.
MEETING SERVICES APP: Billing Enhancement – Pilot and Full Rollout Worldwide in 2015
Marriott’s Meeting Services App (MSA) is now live at 795 hotels in over 50 countries across Marriott Hotels, JW Marriott, Renaissance Hotels, Autograph Collection Hotels, and The Ritz-Carlton properties. On May 27, we launched at Courtyard Hotels with their brand-specific “Courtyard Connect” app.
In 2014, more than 140K invitations were sent and 90K requests were made through the app. Of these requests, 15-20% involved revenue, facilitating the capture of approximately $2.1M. MSA continues to evolve, and in April of this year, an enhancement to automate meeting planner invitations launched for all CI/TY hotels.
The next version of MSA, MSA 2.0, will provide customers with additional request types surrounding billing, including:
- Setup Invoice Formats
- Set Daily Invoice Delivery Details
- Set Final Invoice Delivery Details
- Ask a Billing Question (i.e., Contact Billing Specialist)
- View Status – View the Status of Open Billing Requests
- Review My Charges – Request Banquet Check & Dispute Charges (available to CI/TY hotels)
The MSA 2.0 pilot started in May and deployment to all hotels live with MSA will begin in Q3. For more information, visit the Meeting Services App page on MGS or email MeetingServicesApp@Marriott.com.
WiFi Simplified: A New Approach to Offering WiFi to Meeting Planners
As part of Marriott’s broader Meetings Imagined Portfolio Strategy, WiFi Simplified is a new approach to offering WiFi to meeting planners via a property-specific tiered Internet grid based on per-person pricing. This structure (similar to what is provided in the guest room) will provide customers in the U.S. a consistent offering, while improving the guest experience and increasing meeting planner satisfaction.
Phase I: Meetings with Up to 100 Participants
The current phase of this effort is focused on meetings that include up to 100 participants. A Meetings Internet POC was conducted at nine full-service properties in 2014. We will begin our Early Adopter phase at the end of May, which includes kick-off webinars and program training, with a go-live scheduled for June 8, 2015.
Phase II: Meetings with More than 100 Participants
The future phase of this effort focuses on large meetings (more than 100 participants). We have begun our research stage on potential solutions with the goal of beginning a POC by the end of 2015.
For more information, visit the WiFi Simplified page on MGS or email WiFiSimplified@marriott.com.
These are exciting times as Marriott is launching the Meetings Imagined Global Meeting Strategy to help differentiate us from the competition and make us the first choice for meetings and events. We thank you for your continued support.