Marriott & Grab Ecosystem

Last week we promised to look at the 3 steps of building ecosystems on the example of a real company.

Marriott International has signed a partnership agreement with Grab to add Grab’s services into Marriott’s service portfolio. The company wants to integrate GrabFood, GrabPay, Grab transportation, and GrabAds. Marriott customers will earn GrabRewards Points for transactions on the Grab platform, which later can be converted into Marriott Bonvoy points and used for booking Marriott’s premium houses and villas.

The companies will work together to create relevant and personalized marketing campaigns for customers.

We have analyzed their actions and think they went this way:

Step 1. Understanding the reasons for creating an ecosystem.
Booking a hotel and staying there is only a part of the customer’s journey. But on this journey, a loyal customer can book another hotel for the sake of new experiences and booking or logistics convenience. That’s why companies want to enter new markets and simplify processes through digitalization. One of the reasons for the partnership here is expanding the customer base and entering a new market in Southeast Asia as a strong player.

Step 2. Identifying the main players.
The partnership includes divisions from Marriott and services from Grab (GrabFood, GrabPay, GrabAds, and the GrabRewards loyalty program). GrabFood alone represents 600 restaurants and bars from the Marriott Int. portfolio in six different Southeast Asian markets.

Here are the key characteristics of their target audience:

• Asian travelers who prefer a high level of comfort when traveling, and actively use mobile booking (in 3 years, the share of mobile bookings increased by 15%, according to Phocuswright)
• Asian travelers are particularly motivated by the chance to get an expert status. In a survey conducted by Hilton in 2019, among 2,300 travelers from 11 Asian countries, as many as 75% “… strive to become ‘experts’ in their social circle and be the first to discover new places.”
• Younger families are more likely to enjoy the benefits of a personalized hotel entertainment package. They would like to use options for traveling around the city as well as for room entertainment (e.g. video content in a native language).

Step 3. Developing a strategy that describes the benefits for customers.

Customers get the opportunity to pay for their breakfasts via GrabPay at Marriott hotels, as well as earn GrabRewards points for all transactions made through the app, and exchange them for bonuses at Marriot hotels around the world (in more than 100 countries).

Through this partnership, Marriott and Grab are committed to making premium service more accessible, relevant, and profitable for their customers, as well as to presenting it digitally.