Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Rene Goetze, the MIS Manager at the Newark Marriott Hotel for all of their help and the information which they provided to us.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the Marriott is a very focus-orientated company when it comes to their customers. Marriott’s number one priority is their customers, which is why the company has developed MARSHA. MARSHA reflects on the aspect of convenience for customers. Marriott demonstrates its desire to keep costs low for themselves by not replacing MARSHA as their information system, but by improving the system by combining the best components of MARSHA from both the higher end and low end chain of hotels.

 The company’s greatest asset is the relationship between their partners and suppliers. Since MARSHA is the connection between Marriott customers and suppliers, customers can easily plan their entire trip through Marriott. As stated before, MARSHA could be improved specifically towards the Marriott Rewards program. Their information system is well-developed, but there is always room for improvements. If the hotels can respond to and better prepare for Reward Members check-in, especially the platinum customers, Marriott will be able to ensure higher quality customer service. Maintaining an information system is the key to success in a highly competitive hotel industry where the bargaining power of customers is strong.

Suggestions

Marriott International currently holds a major portion of the market share within the hotel industry. In order to retain their clients, they need to remain consistent with their service as well as continue to improve their use of the technology. MARSHA has been in use for just a few years short of two decades and changing this system would be difficult. But a change is necessary when the case is that Marriott has received several complaints about the way reservations are handled after booking.

A majority of complaints were received by Marriott Rewards customers. While booking is easy and the use of Marriott Rewards has improved customer retention, it has also resulted in many unsatisfied customers. Some customers holding Platinum status within the Rewards program felt that their reservations should be flagged. By improving MARSHA to automatically identify these Platinum or other high tiered customers, Marriott employees could be better prepared to accommodate them.

One of the major goals of Marriott has been to retain their most valued customers, yet the same valued customers complain about wait times when arriving at their respective properties, a lack of upgrades, and poor customer service overall.   

MARSHA is already integrated with Marriott Rewards, so it should be able to automatically identify Platinum rewards members. On the date of these customers’ check in, their rooms should automatically be upgraded by the system, rather than the customer having to ask for one. By doing this, Marriott will be able to satisfy the customers that use their properties most often.

Marriott should utilize online comment cards with all customers that book rooms through their online booking system. Some customers complained that when requesting comment cards, they were told that the property had run out.

Many businesses which offer some sort of online shopping experience or rewards program automatically sends out an email within a few days of the transaction which gives customers the option to complete a survey. By using this simple tool, Marriott can guarantee that their customers will have the option to leave feedback for their stay. When surveys are completed, high scores can be used to reward hotel employees for being ambassadors for the Marriott brand name. When low scores are received, customers can be contacted by the hotel to discuss the negative aspects of their stay which can in turn be remedied through being offered additional points, free nights, or other incentives to return to Marriott regardless of their poor experience.

Finally, because Marriott already has a smart phone application, they can eliminate or reduce wait times for customers when checking in by adding a feature which will identify more realistic check in times. While all hotels offer a certain check in time, most customers tend to check in later or sometimes earlier than the times listed by the hotel. By allowing customers to send their estimated check in time or using the location services of a smart phone to automatically alert the hotel when a customer is within a certain distance of the hotel, hotel staff can be better prepared to handle arrivals.

These simple measures are all achievable at minimal costs and can greatly improve customer and employee experiences.

Company Analysis

According to Forbes.com, in 2011 Marriott International generated $12.3 billion. Comparatively, Hilton Worldwide only brought in $8 billion. MARSHA has been Marriott International’s reservation system since it was first developed in 1997. Since then it has undergone several improvements but to this day it is the only system that Marriott trusts to link more than 3,000 properties as well as their partners, suppliers and customers. 

Marriott International has more than 2,500 associates trained to assist customers in booking reservations in more than 12 languages including English, Spanish, German, Italian, Arabic, French, Cantonese, Mandarin, Japanese, Hindi, Dutch and Portuguese. On some days, Marriott generates up to $3,500 per second through their automated system online. This adds up to $100 million per day. 

Marriott booked over 52 million room nights across the globe, using Intel based computers with a Windows 7 operating system. All of these systems are connected through any one of Marriott’s fourteen reservation centers located around the globe. They utilize T1 networks in most of their facilities and 100-Mbps Ethernet in their larger facilities. They also use Cisco Systems PIX firewall as their primary firewall system. In the past, Marriott utilized Lotus Notes for their email system, but now use Microsoft Exchange within the United States and still use Lotus Notes for their worldwide database storage. Marriott has its own intranet which allows employees to download documents and training modules within Marriott’s networks to the local hard drives at the properties.

Marriott accounted for 1 in every 5 reservations done online in 2009. Marriott.com is currently the world's largest online hotel booking site. Producing nearly $23 billion in revenue during 2009, Marriot is ranked at #8 in terms of gross revenue for website retail revenue. 

Marriott customers spend nearly 3 million hours per month on Marriott.com booking rooms at many Marriott hotels across the globe. Marriott believes that by providing customers with an easy-to-use interface where customer preferences can be saved, Marriott will be able to increase their eCommerce sales while reducing their costs. 

Marriott's website also utilizes a Guest Satisfaction Survey to fill in their Balanced Scorecard. These surveys are designed to allow customers the opportunity to help Marriott International with maintaining service in terms of their strengths and improving the areas which need development. Once this information has been collected, the Balanced Scorecard utilizes this data to set the company’s goals. 

MARSHA is not only responsible for taking reservations and transferring them to the accurate locations, MARSHA is also in charge of placing supply orders based on the needs of each property either automatically, based on incoming reservations, or manually by hotel staff. MARSHA is tied into the revenue management system, the ecommerce site (Marriott.com), customer loyalty programs (Balanced Scorecard and Marriott Rewards), and the property management aspects of Marriott International.

Marriott Rewards is the award-winning loyalty program of Marriott International. According to Forbes, it is one of the largest loyalty programs in the world with more than 28 million members.

Marriott Rewards serves two purposes. The first is to provide customers the ability to track visits and earn points for stays which can be turned into free nights or other rewards through Marriott’s partners. Other hotels use rewards programs as merely an incentive to stay with their hotel on a more frequent basis. Marriott also uses their program as an RFM system. Based on how often a customer visits the hotels, how long their usual visits are, and the level of hotel they stay at; Marriott will market to each customer appropriately either through email or text. This allows Marriott to find the best properties for the right customers, giving them a huge advantage in terms of marketing, but also giving their customers what they’re looking for before they even look for it.

Customers who use Marriott Rewards are said to nearly double the number of trips they book with Marriott hotels as opposed to when they were booking without the rewards program. These loyal customers also contribute nearly 50% of Marriott’s booked room nights.

Marriott’s focus has been geared towards retaining their most valued customers while appropriately marketing to them. This shows that Marriott utilizes a low cost and focused business strategy.

By utilizing MARSHA’s built in ordering system Marriott is able to make sure that they reuse whatever assets they have before reordering products and buying anything new.

Perhaps one of the most interesting aspects of MARSHA is that it connects to non-hotel related partners, such as Boston Market and up until 2008 Steak and Ale; the two biggest food product suppliers to Marriott within the United States.

Overall, MARSHA has proven to be an amazing system that holds the entire company together on all levels, from how orders are placed within the company to how reservations are made with the customers. By using this uniform system to handle all aspects of business, there is almost no risk of miscommunication; customer information is always current, and hotels are always stocked with supplies. As Jim Rinaldi, Marriott’s Vice President states, MARSHA is “the glue the holds the properties together.”