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Marriott International Engineering

To connect people through the power of travel by becoming the world's favorite travel company through personalized digital experiences

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To connect people through the power of travel by becoming the world's favorite travel company through personalized digital experiences

Strengths

  • PLATFORM: Robust global digital reservation system handling millions of bookings
  • SCALE: Tech infrastructure supporting 8,600+ properties across 139 countries
  • LOYALTY: Marriott Bonvoy app with 79M+ active members generating direct bookings
  • DATA: Extensive customer data warehouse enabling personalization opportunities
  • INTEGRATION: Successful tech integration of acquired brands (Starwood, etc.)

Weaknesses

  • LEGACY: Aging core technology systems requiring significant modernization
  • SPEED: Slow deployment cycles compared to digital-native competitors
  • TALENT: Challenges attracting top-tier engineering talent vs. tech companies
  • FRAGMENTATION: Disparate systems across property management and reservations
  • MOBILE: App experience lags behind OTAs in user experience and functionality

Opportunities

  • CLOUD: Accelerate migration to cloud for improved scalability and resilience
  • API: Expand API ecosystem to enable third-party innovation and integrations
  • AUTOMATION: Implement AI for operational efficiency across 8,600+ properties
  • PERSONALIZATION: Leverage customer data for hyper-personalized experiences
  • CONTACTLESS: Expand mobile key and check-in technology across all properties

Threats

  • OTAS: Booking.com and Expedia capturing increasing share of bookings
  • CYBERSECURITY: Growing sophistication of attacks targeting customer data
  • ALTERNATIVES: Airbnb and other alternatives disrupting traditional lodging
  • SKILLS: Widening tech skills gap as AI and cloud technologies advance
  • EXPECTATIONS: Rising customer expectations for digital travel experiences

Key Priorities

  • MODERNIZE: Accelerate legacy system modernization and cloud migration
  • MOBILE: Overhaul mobile experience to exceed OTA booking functionality
  • PLATFORM: Create API-driven platform for innovation and third-party services
  • TALENT: Implement aggressive tech talent acquisition and retention strategy
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To connect people through the power of travel by becoming the world's favorite travel company through personalized digital experiences

MODERNIZE CORE

Transform our legacy systems into cloud-native platforms

  • MIGRATION: Complete migration of central reservation system to AWS cloud with 99.99% availability by Q3
  • ARCHITECTURE: Implement microservices architecture for 70% of customer-facing applications by Q4
  • PERFORMANCE: Reduce average API response times by 40% across all digital platforms by end of Q2
  • DECOMMISSION: Retire 25% of legacy systems while maintaining full business continuity by year end
ELEVATE MOBILE

Create industry-leading mobile guest experiences

  • EXPERIENCE: Increase Bonvoy app store rating from 4.2 to 4.7 across iOS and Android platforms by Q3
  • ADOPTION: Grow mobile check-in usage to 60% of all eligible stays across global properties by Q4
  • CONVERSION: Improve mobile booking conversion rate by 25% through UX optimizations by Q3
  • FEATURES: Launch mobile room service ordering and issue resolution in 3,000+ properties by Q4
BUILD PLATFORM

Develop open API ecosystem for innovation acceleration

  • APIS: Launch developer portal with 50+ well-documented APIs for third-party integrations by Q3
  • PARTNERS: Onboard 25 strategic technology partners to build on our platform by year end
  • DEVELOPERS: Attract 1,000+ active developers to our platform ecosystem by Q4
  • INNOVATION: Generate 10+ new guest experience enhancements from third-party developers by Q4
SECURE TALENT

Build world-class engineering team for future success

  • HIRING: Recruit 150 experienced engineers across cloud, mobile, AI, and security domains by Q4
  • RETENTION: Improve engineering team retention rate from 82% to 90% through new initiatives by Q3
  • SKILLS: Ensure 100% of engineering staff complete cloud certification programs by year end
  • CULTURE: Achieve 85%+ satisfaction score in engineering team engagement survey by Q3
METRICS
  • DIGITAL BOOKING SHARE: 50% of all bookings through owned digital channels
  • SYSTEM AVAILABILITY: 99.99% uptime for all customer-facing digital platforms
  • DEVELOPMENT VELOCITY: 35% increase in feature delivery throughput
VALUES
  • Put People First
  • Pursue Excellence
  • Embrace Change
  • Act with Integrity
  • Serve Our World
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Align the learnings

Marriott International Engineering Retrospective

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To connect people through the power of travel by becoming the world's favorite travel company through personalized digital experiences

What Went Well

  • REVENUE: Q4 2023 worldwide RevPAR increased 7.3% compared to 2022 Q4
  • EXPANSION: Added nearly 400 new properties with 65,000 rooms to portfolio
  • LOYALTY: Bonvoy membership grew to 192 million members, up 10% year-over-year
  • DIGITAL: Direct digital revenue increased to 37% of total bookings volume

Not So Well

  • CYBERSECURITY: Data breach affected approximately 5.2 million guests
  • TECHNOLOGY: Mobile app stability issues during peak booking periods
  • INTEGRATION: Delayed integration of recently acquired property systems
  • INNOVATION: Slower than expected rollout of mobile key technology globally

Learnings

  • CLOUD: Cloud migration delivers 40% improvement in booking system stability
  • AGILITY: DevOps implementation reduced feature deployment time by 65%
  • COMPETITION: OTAs gaining market share due to superior mobile experiences
  • TALENT: Engineering talent retention directly impacts delivery timelines

Action Items

  • SECURITY: Implement enhanced data protection protocols across all systems
  • MOBILE: Accelerate mobile app performance and stability improvements
  • ARCHITECTURE: Fast-track legacy system modernization initiatives
  • TALENT: Launch engineering talent acquisition program with competitive comp
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To connect people through the power of travel by becoming the world's favorite travel company through personalized digital experiences

Strengths

  • DATA: Massive customer dataset spanning 8,600+ properties globally
  • SCALE: Enterprise-wide implementation capabilities across all properties
  • TESTING: Established infrastructure for piloting new AI technologies
  • BRANDS: Diverse portfolio to test AI applications across price segments
  • INVESTMENT: Increasing technology investment budget for AI initiatives

Weaknesses

  • SKILLS: Limited in-house AI/ML engineering expertise vs competitors
  • LEGACY: Outdated systems limiting AI integration capabilities
  • GOVERNANCE: Underdeveloped AI ethics and governance frameworks
  • SILOS: Data fragmentation inhibiting unified AI strategy implementation
  • ADOPTION: Slow corporate adoption cycles for new AI technologies

Opportunities

  • PERSONALIZATION: AI-driven hyper-personalization across customer journey
  • PRICING: Dynamic pricing optimization using real-time market data
  • OPERATIONS: Predictive maintenance and staffing through AI analysis
  • EXPERIENCE: Voice assistants and smart room technology in properties
  • EFFICIENCY: Automated business processes reducing operational costs

Threats

  • COMPETITORS: OTAs rapidly deploying advanced AI travel recommendation tools
  • PRIVACY: Evolving global regulations restricting AI data usage
  • EXPECTATIONS: Customer expectations for AI experiences outpacing delivery
  • DISRUPTION: AI-driven startups disrupting traditional hospitality models
  • DEPENDENCE: Over-reliance on limited AI vendor ecosystem

Key Priorities

  • TALENT: Build specialized AI/ML engineering team through hiring/upskilling
  • PLATFORM: Develop unified data platform to enable AI applications
  • PARTNERSHIPS: Strategic AI tech partnerships to accelerate capabilities
  • EXPERIENCE: Prioritize customer-facing AI applications for differentiation