Marriott International launches...

Marriott’s new division will develop technologies and products for hotels

Marriott International has unveiled a 10,000-square-f00t space at its new US headquarters for the development and testing of new technologies and products.

The lab is billed as a research and development division for all aspects of the hotel industry, from construction to in-room amenities.

According to Marriott International senior vice president of global design Jeff Voris, the Design Lab had been in development prior to the onset of the pandemic, and Covid-19 further motivated the company to get the division up and running.

As well as tackling short-term issues such as improving cleanliness and the efficiency of housekeeping, The Design Lab will also explore bold ideas, concepts and technologies, including ways of making hotel construction more efficient and sustainable.

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Voris said: “Marriott has a long history of innovation, and this is baked into our DNA. As a company, we want to always keep evolving, and the pandemic caused us to accelerate that to make sure we stayed engaged with customers when they weren’t traveling and to help transition them back into traveling.”

One of the initial partners for this initiative is LG, which is working on operational solutions with Marriott.

Voris added: “With LG we are looking at taking tasks that are dangerous, dirty or repetitive and finding ways to do a better job of those, and that just makes the world better for everybody; not necessarily the most visible things, but those important to how we operate on behalf of our associates, our owners, and our guests.”

For more information, visit www.marriott.com