EDITOR'S COMMENT
• It will be fascinating to see how Homes & Villas by Marriott Bonvoy [HVMB] unveils its new Generative AI-powered search tool as it steals a march on some of its competitors in the battle for guest loyalty through enhanced personalisation.
The next-gen search will take travellers’ own preferences and offer a curated list of properties from the 140,000 available properties on the HVMB platform. The results will suggest destinations and identify specific properties that meet the criteria entered in the search bar or close alternatives that meet as many of the descriptors as possible, while information related to the weather or local activities can also be curated through the search functionality.
While the AI search functionality is still in its pilot stage, Marriott International is seeking to improve the end-to-end guest experience by unlocking value for customers with "more seamless, personalised and engaging" ways to experience travel. The fact that the functionality will soon apply to both vacation rentals and hotels [bookable through its Bonvoy travel program] underlines Marriott's ambition to build guest loyalty across multiple hospitality segments and attract multi-generational users, both on mobile and desktop.
Given that HVMB started out as a pilot five to six years ago offering minimum three-night stays at 2,000 luxury properties, one imagines that Marriott is confident of taking away market share from Airbnb. This is at a time when the home-sharing platform is going through some uncertainty amid plans to verify 1.5 million listings by the end of the month and to close its Luckey concierge service in France. It also appears to be taking a leaf out of HomeToGo's book, after the German firm debuted its AI mode with highly personalised, trip planning recommendations last summer.
• We're excited to bring you our next 'Pitch to Paul' webinar tomorrow, which returns for its fifth edition on Tuesday 26 March [4pm GMT], as three innovative travel and hospitality startups pitch for potential investment. You can meet the entrepreneurs and learn more about their startups here - book your free virtual seat now at this link.
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