No longer content with selling just hotel rooms, Marriott International yesterday announced its investment in PlacePass, an online tours and activities metasearch platform based in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
With this partnership, all 100 million members of Marriott’s loyalty programmes – Marriott Rewards, The Ritz-Carlton Rewards and Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG) – will now have access to over 100,000 local experiences in 800 destinations worldwide when they book direct on Marriott.com or SPG.com or their respective apps.
Marriott now offers VIP guided tours to the filming locations of Downton Abbey
“The addition of PlacePass activities and tours beginning later this year reflects Marriott’s commitment to giving our guests a complete travel experience, whether they are in planning mode, staying in our hotels and even in-between stays when they’re thinking about travel,” said Stephanie Linnartz, global chief commercial officer, Marriott International.
Some of the in-destination experiences offered include visiting the filming locations for the hit series Downton Abbey on a VIP guided tour from London; wrestling with a retired sumo wrestler in Tokyo; getting a taste of desert life in the dunes outside Dubai with a camel or 4×4 ride and a traditional Bedouin-style dinner; and exploring Cambodia’s iconic Angkor temples on a sunrise mountain biking tour; among others.
