Marriott's meetings and events business was competing for corporate meeting planners with a value proposition that did not clearly stand apart from rival hotel groups. Vivaldi Group redefined the B2B value proposition and redesigned the booking journey, a flexible meeting space framework and a model for faster, more personalized service. Marriott came away with a differentiated offer for planners, and the new booking journey improved both planner satisfaction and conversion efficiency.
Marriott's meetings and events business competed in a market where experience quality and planner relationships were increasingly decisive. Its value proposition to corporate meeting planners was not clearly differentiated from competitors, and the booking journey and meeting experience needed to catch up with what corporate buyers now expected.
Vivaldi redesigned Marriott's B2B meetings value proposition, including the booking journey, a flexible meeting space design framework and a model for more personalization and speed. The work covered both the positioning of Marriott as the premium meetings partner and the practical experience changes that would make that promise credible.
Marriott gained a clearly defined B2B value proposition for meetings and events and an experience design framework that gave corporate meeting planners genuine reasons to choose it over competitors. The redesigned booking journey improved both planner satisfaction and conversion efficiency.
| Client | Marriott International, meetings and events business |
|---|---|
| Industry | Travel and hospitality |
| Audience | Corporate meeting planners and B2B event buyers |
| Region | Global |
| Vivaldi scope | B2B value proposition, booking journey redesign, flexible meeting space design framework, personalization and speed model (experience strategy) |
| Outcome | A differentiated value proposition for planners; improved planner satisfaction and conversion efficiency in the booking journey |
In corporate meetings, the buyer is a professional planner who compares a short list of major hotel groups, often against tight deadlines and with a lot riding on the event going well. At the premium end of the market the properties themselves tend to converge, so the decision turns on the planner’s experience of working with the hotel group: how easy it is to book, how quickly questions get answered and how much risk the planner feels they are taking.
Marriott’s meetings and events offer was not clearly differentiated on those terms. Its value proposition to planners read much like those of its competitors, and the booking journey and meeting experience had not kept pace with what corporate buyers now expected.
Vivaldi started from the planner rather than from Marriott’s internal sales process. The team redefined the B2B value proposition so that it described what Marriott would do for the person organizing the meeting, then redesigned the parts of the experience that had to deliver it.
Three elements carried the work: a redesigned booking journey, a flexible meeting space design framework and a model for elevated personalization and speed in how planners are served. Together they connected the positioning of Marriott as the premium meetings partner to experience changes a planner would actually notice. Vivaldi’s guide to implementing a customer journey sets out how this kind of redesign moves from map to operation.
For the wider principles, see Vivaldi’s B2B brand strategy framework.
Marriott engaged Vivaldi to differentiate its meetings and events business in a market where experience quality and planner relationships had become decisive. Vivaldi redesigned the B2B value proposition, the booking journey, and the flexible meeting space framework, giving corporate meeting planners concrete reasons to prefer Marriott while improving conversion efficiency across the booking process.
Marriott International is the world’s largest hotel company, operating over 9,000 properties across 141 countries under 30 hotel brands including Marriott, Sheraton, Westin, W Hotels, and Ritz-Carlton. Headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, Marriott generates annual revenues exceeding $23 billion and hosts over 165 million guest nights annually. The company’s meetings and events business represents one of the largest B2B hospitality revenue streams in the world.
Vivaldi redefined Marriott’s B2B value proposition for meetings and events and redesigned the booking journey, a flexible meeting space framework and a model for faster, more personalized service. The result gave corporate meeting planners clear reasons to prefer Marriott and improved planner satisfaction and conversion efficiency.
The journey was rebuilt around how planners actually evaluate and book venues, rather than around Marriott’s internal sales process. That focus on the planner’s sequence of decisions, and on the moments where speed and personalization matter, is what improved both satisfaction and conversion efficiency.
At the premium end, the properties offered by major hotel groups tend to converge, so corporate buyers decide on how easy and low-risk the planning experience is. The group that takes friction out of the planner’s job wins the business.
In mature B2B categories where the core product is hard to tell apart, the buying journey becomes part of the product. Redesigning it around the buyer’s real workflow is often where differentiation is easiest to build and hardest to copy.