Marriott
International takes pride in the fact that each of their employees is required
to understand the company handbook, ‘The Spirit to Serve’. This handbook
explains everything about the company from its roots in root beer to how to
properly run a Marriott brand hotel.
Marriott
International takes pride in the fact that for the last 80 years they have
always taken care of their customers and employees above all else, and so their
slogan of “People First” suits them well.
In
the offices of Marriott’s more than 1200 IT employees is a framed document with
the title ‘Information Resources Operating Values’. This is the core belief
behind their information systems.
This
project will be focused on the Marriott’s website and how it differentiates
them from their competition.
While
most hotels all use a very similar booking site to keep a streamlined level of
simplicity, this allows customers to switch between different hotel chains
almost seamlessly. So what keeps customers coming back to Marriott International?
Marriott
believes that even in the best of times, they should operate as though the
business is at its worst. While this may seem like a negative outlook, it
encouraged Marriott employees to do what was best for both the company and the
customer at all times, while keeping costs low and customer retention and
satisfaction high.
Marsha
is the name of the information system used by Marriott International. It stands
for Marriott Automated Reservation Systems for Hotel Accommodations. Misha
Kravchenko, the senior director of Marsha Systems states that Marsha is more of
a “supply chain system for the hotel
industry." Marsha connects customers to the reservation site and
simultaneously to Marriott’s partners and suppliers.
These partners and suppliers are some of the
major advantages that Marriott attributes to their success. By connecting their
customers to car rental agencies and airlines, customers are able to quickly
book an entire trip through Marriott.
Marriott Rewards takes this already successful system
and allows their loyal customers to earn points for stays and use them towards
Marriott reservations as well as towards any of Marriott’s partners.
Marsha has been upgraded several times since it
was initially implemented in 1997 but its focus has always been the same. Carl
Wilson, Marriott’s Chief Investing Officer focused on taking an already
outdated system and improving it, rather than creating something new. This
would keep the company consistent but at the same time, meet the new needs of a
rapidly changing technology industry.
The Marriott views any available room as
something that only has a shelf life of 24 hours. If the room isn’t sold at the
current price, which they believe is the highest price the room is able to be
sold, they state that profit is lost. In order to better prevent lost profits,
Marriott implements a yield management system which is designed to make sure
they are fitting the appropriate rooms with the best customers for those rooms,
at the best times.
However, Marriott was using two separate systems
for their high end and lower end hotels. And instead of removing either of the
systems, they combined them, utilizing the best components of each and focusing
on reusing before buying anything new.
