CASE STUDY
Marriott Enterprise Chat

Marriott sought to modernize its mobile guest experience and pre-empt service issues via AI automation, while unifying loyalty and in-room services across 30 brands.

Role

Director of UX

Team Size

1 UX Director
1 IA Director
4 Engineers
2 Product Managers

Timeline

Q3, 2025

Product Scope

Global Mobile + web guest experience and Native App

Role

As Director of UX, I led the design of Marriott’s enterprise chat ecosystem — an AI-powered assistant integrated across all digital touchpoints — unifying guest support, loyalty, and booking experiences under a single conversational platform.

Pain Points

"I just want one place to talk to Marriott—no more waiting, dead ends, or unanswered messages."

This moment was repeated across thousands of interactions — small frustrations, massive impact.

Inconsistent and Slow Guest Response Times

Bonvoy chat response times vary widely across properties, creating inconsistent service levels that frustrate guests and erode trust in the brand.

Disconnected Communication Channels

Guests can’t reply directly to transactional emails or “Room Ready” texts, causing messages to go unanswered and breaking the natural flow of communication with hotel staff.

Limited Automation for Common Requests

Associates spend valuable time manually answering repetitive guest questions due to the lack of AI or template support for common, high-volume inquiries.

Poor Associate Experience and Tool Optimization

The current messaging platform isn’t optimized for chat workflows or multitasking, leaving understaffed teams struggling to manage high message volumes without streamlined tools or AI support.

Strategy & Approach

Enterprise Chat Transformation: From Human Messaging to AI-Powered Guest Experiences

1. Discover & Align

Partnered with global operations, digital product, and front-desk teams to uncover pain points in guest-to-staff chat interactions and define a unified communication vision.

2. Define the North Star

Established a north star experience centered on effortless, intelligent conversations that anticipate guest needs across every Marriott property and digital touchpoint.

3. Shape the Vision

Envisioned a system that evolves from a basic two-way messaging tool into an enterprise-wide AI assistant capable of handling personalized requests, bookings, and service recovery.

4. Build Scalable Systems

Designed a modular conversational framework and component library aligned with Marriott’s Global Design System to ensure consistency, security, and rapid deployment.

5. Collaborate & Integrate

Partnered with engineering, data science, and brand teams to embed AI, automation, and human hand-off flows across mobile, web, and property systems.

6. Scale & Evolve

Defined a continuous learning loop using behavioral data and guest feedback to refine AI accuracy, expand multilingual support, and scale globally across brands and markets.

Key Design Decisions

My approach blends creativity with systems thinking — connecting strategy, data, and design craft to create experiences that move both people and the business forward.

Eyebrow

Making Guest Support Ubiquitous

Relocating chat from inline content to the main toolbar transformed it from a tertiary feature to a core experience, enabling guests to reach help wherever they are in their journey.