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30 minute interview
'Marriott culture resides within our people'
Dave Townshend
Senior Vice President (Global Sales) Marriott International
Dave Townshend speaks to Savio Rodrigues about
the company's success formula it has adopted for the Indian market
Marriott International has introduced Marriott Rewards
for its Indian guests. What is the programme all about?
Marriott Rewards helps guests get to their dream destination 30 per cent faster
than other hotel programmes. Members can earn points towards free hotel stays,
airline miles, etc every time they stay at any one of Marriott's hotels. It
is our endeavour to enroll all our current and prospective Indian clients into
this programme.
Given that Marriott will now have its presence in many
more cities in India, are there different strategies for different cities?
We do not adopt different strategies for our various offices in India. Currently,
we have the market sales team servicing our Indian hotels with offices in all
major cities. Additionally, Marriott International has three global sales offices
in India located in Mumbai, New Delhi and Bangalore and service the lodging
needs of Indian travellers in over 2,700 of our hotels worldwide. Recently,
we added two more sales offices in Kolkata and Karachi and would soon be opening
a third one in Chennai.
What would you attribute to Marriott's success in India?
Marriott's core values drive our success. These values, have been around for
nearly 80 years, have not changed over time. If you take good care of your associates,
they will take care of your customers. The Marriott culture does not reside
in the company nor in our hotels but in our people, irrespective of the location.
How has innovations such as the new Marriott beds helped
sales?
Our research shows that the bed is the heart of a hotel room. The recently introduced
luxurious bedding is the new brand standard making Marriott's bedding the cleanest
and the freshest of any major hotel chain. The new bedding has been now introduced
into the JW Marriott Mumbai and we have received positive feedback from our
customers.
Are there any other such innovations that Marriott plans
to implement?
We have recently unveiled the New Full Service Guestrooms in all Marriott properties.
The new look is clean, crisp with simple forms and uncluttered surfaces. The
guestrooms will incorporate state-of-the-art technology and entertainment elements
that include a 32" flat-panel LCD television with 30 watt speaker systems
and greater channel selection.
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