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 travellers discover new experiences.

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 favourite 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 travellers 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 Chefs and others: 
• Actress Lea Michele recommends her favourite museums, shopping areas, hikes and concert venues in LA and NYC
• Freestyle Skier Gus Kenworthy recommends his favourite off-the-beaten-path museums in Paris, Boston and London, as well as his favourite 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-sledging in Juneau, Alaska 
• Chef Eric Ripert recommends his favourite 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 favourite 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, personalised ‘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 travellers on a budget
• Foodies: Culinary experiences for those with a hunger to see and 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 favourite team
• Casting Call: Experience movie & TV locations IRL

Further personalising 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 travellers 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 travellers 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 guests. - TradeArabia News Service