The hotel giant released quarterly earnings Monday (Nov. 2) showing its third-quarter global per available room (RevPAR) up 6.5%, anchored by a 12% surge in luxury hotels. Meanwhile, the company’s third-quarter gross fee revenues rose 14% year-over-year to $1.52 billion, propelled by credit card fees and room expansion.
Against this backdrop, Marriott is accelerating an enterprise-wide digital transformation to capture shifting booking habits and deepen customer retention.
During an earnings call, CEO Tony Capuano emphasized that consumers globally are valuing experiences over goods, sustaining solid momentum across key travel segments.
“People around the world continue to prioritize in-person experiences like travel,” Capuano said, pointing to a 7% global increase in leisure RevPAR and a 9% gain in North America.
Average booking windows were steady at 21 days globally, underlining stable consumer behavior. To capitalize on these trends, Marriott said it has modernized its underlying technology infrastructure to engage travelers across digital touchpoints.
The company has shifted more than 3,000 properties to a new technology ecosystem and is beta-testing proprietary tools, such as an in-app upgrade tracking list for loyalty members.
At the same time, Marriott continues to integrate generative artificial intelligence (AI) into its guest-facing operations, introducing tools like “Ask Bonvoy” and collaborating with search platforms such as Google and OpenAI.
“The real challenge and opportunity for us is to take advantage of these emerging technologies without losing the human-centric approach that’s guided us for nearly a century,” Capuano said.
In related news, PYMNTS wrote recently on findings by NYU researchers showing that more than half of hotels use or are buying generative AI.
The findings show that AI search now accounts for a measurable share of hotel reservations. However, more than half of hotels saw little or no change to their distribution strategy. While hotels have direct-booking tools in place, online travel agencies still bring in nearly twice the bookings of hotel-owned channels. Hotels trust AI to help their staff, though not to act alone.
“The traveler’s assistant will not wait for a hotel to finish its strategy,” PYMNTS wrote Monday. “Bookings are already arriving through AI search. The hotels that connect their data first will be the ones agents find.”
