Marriott books in Sapient for AI-driven search revolution

Marriott International’s global home rental division has joined forces with Publicis Sapient to test a “revolutionary” generative AI-powered search tool as part of a wider strategy to unlock value for customers with more seamless, personalised, and engaging ways to experience travel.

This next-gen search will take travellers’ own preferences and offer a curated list of properties from the 140,000 available vacation rentals on the Homes & Villas by Marriott Bonvoy platform.

Both client and agency collaborated to conceive, design, build and now test scheme, tapping into the GPT Large Language Models within Azure OpenAI Service.

Travellers can include as little or as much detail as they like through this search functionality, making it easier to select a vacation property.

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. In addition, the results will include useful information like weather and things to do at the location based on the criteria, such as hiking, sightseeing, or dining. Visitors to the site will have the option to use the new or traditional search functionality.

Homes & Villas by Marriott Bonvoy’s search with AI functionality, powered by Microsoft, is being tested initially as a part of the broader technology transformation at Marriott International to unlock value for customers with more seamless, personalised, and engaging ways to experience travel.

It is expected to become widely available to all visitors first on the website and then on mobile in the coming weeks.

Marriott International executive vice president and chief customer officer Peggy Fang Roe said: “Finding exactly the right vacation home can be hard and time consuming but no longer. Building on our deep focus in understanding how customers think intuitively about finding the right vacation home combined with the power of generative AI changes the game in search for vacation rentals.

“The long-term collaboration with Publicis Sapient has been instrumental in innovating and building the Homes & Villas by Marriott Bonvoy platform. Together, we are revolutionising search enabling our guests to find the hidden gems within our 140,000 curated homes and villas worldwide.”