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Now anyone can discover local experiences that match their passions with new, interest-based lists available on Marriott Moments

Research shows consumers increasingly seek out enriching, local experiences when they travel. Now, with summer vacation right around the corner, Marriott is rolling out local-area expert recommendations, bespoke categories, and hand-curated lists of things to do on the substantially expanded Marriott Moments to help all travelers and locals discover experiences that speak to their passions and inspire personal fulfillment.

This summer, Marriott has tapped into the company’s global network of thousands of local-area experts including its hotel associates, as well as global partners and celebrities to recommend their favorite sites to see and must-do activities. Throughout Marriott Moments, expert recommendations from hotel general managers, chefs and mixologists, luminary partners Chefs Daniel Boulud, Eric Ripert and Stephanie Izard, as well as actress Lea Michele, freestyle skier Gus Kenworthy and sports broadcaster Michele Tafoya will be featured, with more local area expertise from Marriott hotel associates to be added regularly. As a complement to the recommendations, Marriott Moments will offer bespoke categories based on passion points, types of travel companions, and personality traits including “Pop-Culture Vulture,” “Exhaust Your Kids and Be the Family Hero,” and “Young, Broke & Fabulous.” All recommendations and categories will feature hand-curated lists of the best things to do from around the world, available for purchase with any major credit card.

Additionally, as an answer to the age-old question “what should we do now,” Marriott has brought the ability to find and book experiences to Facebook Messenger. Now, in addition to visiting the website directly, anyone can chat with Marriott Rewards or SPG on Facebook Messenger to get location based recommendations of close-by Marriott Moments they can purchase on their phone.

“Travel is made up of the places you stay, the activities you do, and the people you meet. With 6,500 hotels located around the world, Marriott is now helping travelers get more out of their trips,” said Stephanie Linnartz, Global Chief Commercial Officer, Marriott International. “Now, with the expansion of Marriott Moments to everyone, whether they are a guest of ours or not, we are building a global culture of adventure seekers who can pursue their passions.”

Currently Marriott Moments features over 100 recommendations from actors, athletes, award-wining Chef’s and others including:

• Actress Lea Michele recommends her favorite museums, shopping areas, hikes and concert venues in LA and NYC.
• Freestyle Skier Gus Kenworthy recommends his favorite off-the-beaten-path museums in Paris, Boston and London, as well as his favorite ways to explore the Matterhorn in Switzerland, Lynn Canyon in Vancouver, British Columbia, San Francisco and beyond.
• Sportscaster Michele Tafoya recommends active experiences including picturesque bike rides along Manhattan Beach, Sydney Harbor or the Loire Valley countryside in France; and thrills like a helicopter ride to a glacier and dog-sledding in Juneau, Alaska.
• Chef Eric Ripert recommends his favorite food markets, restaurants, jazz clubs, spas and hikes around the world from Puerto Rico and Chicago, to Bhutan and Marrakech.
• Chef Daniel Boulud recommends his favorite food markets and restaurants in NYC, San Sebastian, Lyon, Singapore and more.
• Chef Stephanie Izard recommends her sure-fire ways of getting to know the culture and history of cities on three continents.

To help uncover the perfect, personalized ‘moment’ amongst the wealth of experiences, bespoke categories will be featured on the site throughout the year starting with:

• Young, Fabulous, and Broke: For trendy travelers on a budget
• Foodies: Culinary experiences for those with a hunger to see & taste the world
• Exhaust Your Kids & Be the Family Hero: Create lasting memories for you and your family
• History Buffs: Step back in time with history and heritage tours
• The Ultimate Tourist: Must see sites and landmarks in top destinations
• Pop-Culture Vulture: Catch the latest local trends in art, culture and music
• The Romantic: #couplegoal experiences
• The Wolfpack: Activities to do as a crew
• Zen Master: Find inner peace in any time zone
• Super Fans: Stadium tours, sports museums, and adventures with your favorite team
• Casting Call: Experience movie & TV locations IRL

Further personalizing travel experiences, Marriott Moments has added several new partnerships, including a partnership with Eatwith, an online community to find and book culinary experiences with locals in 130+ countries. From an elegant dinner party in a New York loft, to an authentic feast with a Roman family, to a gourmet pastry class in Paris, Eatwith’s experiences with hand-selected hosts are bringing people together through food and enabling travelers to immerse themselves in local cultures.

Additionally, Moments now offers newly developed on-property activities for guests looking to take part in unique experiences from the comfort of their hotel, starting with experiences in Miami like the private Champagne Sabering or Mediterranean Cooking Class at The St. Regis Bal Harbour, with plans to grow these unique hotel experiences globally in the future.

Last month, Marriott announced the expansion of Marriott’s Moments eco-system which now includes over 110,000 new must-see attraction and top-rated activities open to anyone, and 8,000 exclusive Moments for members of Marriott Rewards and Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG) that can only be redeemed with points. Members who purchase a Moment using a credit card will earn points.

Marriott Moments was created in partnership with PlacePass, a pioneering provider of travel technology solutions offering travelers a leading online meta-search platform for in-destination experiences.  The company’s investment in PlacePass is just one example of how Marriott is innovating by working with startups to bring great new solutions to our guests.

Marriott Rewards, which includes The Ritz-Carlton Rewards, and SPG are all free to join by visiting members.marriott.com.

In the spirit of giving during the Holy Month of Ramadan, Rove Hotels will provide Rovers (guests) with a voucher worth an additional Iftar meal, following every purchase of a full price Iftar at every The Daily restaurant.

With the given voucher, Rovers can decide to visit again another day, or ‘pass it on’ by sharing it with family, friends or those whom they feel deserve a good deed.  Additionally, Rove Hotels has partnered with Mawaheb, a Dubai-based art studio who work with adults and teenagers of determination. Mawaheb’s aim is to bridge the gap between society and the determined ones in a creative manner by providing the artists with an opportunity to develop life, social, and communication skills through the medium of art.

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Dubai based entrepreneur Ghassan Aboud was awarded as the “Leading Hospitality Investor” during the Leaders in Hospitality Awards event organized by BNC Publishing on April 29^th, 2018 at the St Regis Hotel, Dubai. Ghassan Aboud is the promoter of the multi-business conglomerate, the Ghassan Aboud Group that was established 25 years back with the UAE as the headquarters.

The annual event is hosted by the leading regional publication Hotel News Middle East to recognize and honour leading regional and international players in the hospitality sector. The winners were judged by a panel of renowned experts drawn from the hospitality industry.

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Meliá Hotels International has announced the signature of an agreement to operate the Desert Palm Dubai Hotel under its Meliá brand. The hotel is an exclusive 160-acre urban oasis only 20 minutes from the centre of Dubai, providing 39 spacious rooms, suites and villas in an elegant retreat for the most discerning travellers, with an exclusive and authentic setting and a wide range of dining and wellness facilities as well as a variety of equestrian activities secluded amongst class polo fields.

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 Today, Marriott International announced it will introduce one set of unified benefits across Marriott Rewards, The Ritz-Carlton Rewards and Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG) for its members in August 2018. This will create an incredibly rich hospitality loyalty program in which members will earn more points faster than under the prior programs — on average 20% more points for every dollar spent. For the first time, members will have access to book stays and earn or redeem points among 29 participating global brands comprising 6,500 hotels in 127 countries and territories. Additionally, the Moments experiential platform is expanding, with more than 110,000 experiences in 1,000 destinations from must-see attraction tickets and tours for purchase with cash by all guests, to once-in-a-lifetime events only available to members using points, including the new bespoke Moments Live event series.

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The Queen Elizabeth 2 (QE2) will open its doors to the public on the 18thof April 2018 following highly anticipated international interest.

PCFC Hotels – part of the Dubai government’s Ports, Customs and Free Zones Corporation – has reinvented the legendary vessel as the latest must-see tourism destination, in a city renowned for its world-class attractions.

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Marriott International (NASDAQ: MAR) today announced ambitious growth plans for its Middle East and Africa region following signings for more than 30 properties and over 5,000 rooms in the last 12 months. The signings put Marriott on track to increase its portfolio in the region to nearly 370 hotels – an increase of more than 50% over the next five years. This will amount to more than 80,000 rooms across 21 brands, including the introduction in the region of brands such as EDITION, Element and AC Hotels by Marriott.  Also in line with its development plans, the company and its property owners expect to add 30,000 new jobs across the region in the next five years.

Marriott International’s planned growth over the next five years underscores the substantial emphasis that regional governments are placing on growth and investment in the travel and tourism sector.  The company estimates that the 30 projects signed in the last 12 months will drive investment of about $1.8 billion by the property owners.

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