Forrester Groundswell Award Submission: Marriott Rewards Insiders
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The original objective of Marriott Rewards Insiders was to facilitate local area knowledge amongst members. Our frequent and well-traveled guests – over 30 million worldwide – often need local details and destination logistics, that with over 2,800 properties worldwide, we are unable to provide via our normal marketing and communication channels. While they could possibly get some of this from other sites, they couldn’t be sure of the authenticity and credibility of the information. Through a Marriott community, however, they could share their stories and get dependable, honest information from other frequent travelers just like them.
As the idea evolved Marriott Rewards Insiders morphed into more of a digital lobby where members – who know the ins and outs of travel better than anyone – can share tips, insights and recommendations on travel related topics, including the Marriott Rewards program. Members told us through research that they wanted a place where they could talk to each other without interference from sponsors trying to sell them something. The community is pre-moderated but not restrictive; members can be frank about the Rewards program and their experiences with booking and staying in hotels. Our original strategy was to play a minimalist role in the community. However, based on member feedback we are developing a response strategy. If, and when, Marriott chooses to respond or comment we will do so transparently and only in response to member requests or if we feel that we can add insights other members can not.
We started slowly by launching the site as a Beta site to a subset of our member population. Based on our initial success we recently expanded that invitation to all of our Elite members – almost 4 million – and our plan is to roll the site out to all members by year’s end. To date, our email open rate is nearly 30%.
The site was built to be flexible for both members and future growth. There are a number of ways that members can participate – they can be creators or critics and set up their profile to post questions, comments or responses, or they can be spectators and just read information they find useful. They can also sign-up for alerts, which are sent when a post is created in a forum the member wants to follow. They can be emailed or posted in the member’s profile. Marriott Rewards Insiders offers “expressive profiles” that allow members to personalize their online identification by uploading pictures and / or by creating avatars, providing travel preferences and personal interests and identifying their home town. Members can search for posts about destinations or specific hotels or travel opportunities (wine country ideas, vacations in Beijing), and discuss anything they like, from the hotel rewards programs to where to find a guide in Nepal. They share their personal tips on everything from the best beach resorts and where to find the best sushi, to favorite wireless hot-spots for business users.
The site was a custom implementation by LiveWorld and was built without a top-down forum structure often imposed by standard community software. In Marriott Rewards Insiders members may create a post anywhere, label it “Thai restaurants” and “New York City” through dropdowns and tag it with “fun” or “great cuisine”, rather than being forced to navigate to a message board thread labeled New York City, find restaurants, and then find Thai cuisine. Members may also search via a map interface by tags set by the topic creator or others, or from “forum” sections such as Restaurants, and Travel with Kids, or by “themes” such as Hidden Treasures and Must Try.
While we started simple, we have a feedback mechanism that allows us to hear from members about desired enhancements and features. Based on this feedback and our own evolving objectives, the community is constantly being evaluated, improved, and redesigned.
How does this entry accomplish business or non-profit goals?
First and foremost the site is designed to enhance our relationship with Marriott’s most loyal and enthusiastic guests – our Marriott Rewards members. Our goal is to offer them a superior online community experience that enables them to connect and support one another, and ultimately increase their loyalty and engagement with Marriott Rewards.
A secondary and more indirect goal is revenue. If a member can use the community to find answers to their travel questions then in turn, they will be more ready and able to complete their travel plans. While we explicitly did not provide direct booking links from the community (to avoid the perception of it being a sales channel) we have found the community to be a strong referrer of reservations on Marriott.com.
Dates during which your entry was available to users: March 2008 through present