Marriott Adapts To The New Normal By Partnering With Verizon

Marriott hit the reset button on its media strategy last year as the COVID-19 pandemic brought the travel industry to a halt and forced the world's largest hotel company to find dynamic ways to reach a new type of traveler.

Marriott International saw its occupancy demand - and revenue per available room - plummet 90% at the height of the pandemic last April.

Andy Kauffman, Marriott's senior vice president of marketing channels and optimization, described the impact of the pandemic on the company's business as greater than the effects of 9/11 and the Great Recession combined. The company reported a net income of $100 million in Q3 2020, compared to $387 million in Q3 2019.

"As we started to re-engage our recovery plan, we actually activated a number of new marketing strategies and … looked at who we worked with and how we could deepen some of our existing partnerships," he said. "We looked for partners that could engage the new traveler as travel behavior changed … and target across mobile, social, digital, and that could enable us to measure the effects that our efforts had in really driving business in an agile way."

Like other advertisers, Marriott had to rethink how it spent its marketing dollars during a prolonged shutdown and business travel plunge. Later, as some markets saw gradual re-openings, travelers - mainly drivers - looked to stay closer to home.