hospitality

Marriott Asks Customers To Redefine Travel

Marriott Hotels has selectMarriotted the winner of a contest that invited consumers to help redefine the future of travel.

Anjana Kallarackal of Roswell, Ga. is the grand prize winner of the "Travel Brilliantly" co-creation program, which received more than 700 submissions.

Her winning idea calls upon the travelers’ mindset for healthy and easily accessible quick food options. She will travel to London to partner with industry experts, including Housebites, a sustainable food innovator that delivers fresh and locally sourced recipe ingredients to consumers, to develop her submission further.

Judges for the contest were Shira Lazar, host of “What’s Trending,” Marc Kushner, co-founder of Architizer, and Matthew Von Ertfelda, vice president of innovation at Marriott.

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The winning idea taps into the travelers’ mindset for healthy and easily accessible quick food options that support any travel schedule, but which are delivered in a bold new way. The judges determined Kallarackal’s idea truly reflects the needs of the next generation of travelers who blend work and play, and demand quality, yet easily accessible products. 

As the grand prize winner, Kallarackal will travel to the London Marriott Hotel Grosvenor Square in November to work with Housebites; Jamie Welch, executive chef at the hotel; and other innovators in fields such as design to further develop her winning idea in the next stage of the innovation process.

Ultimately, the brand expects to launch a prototype of the idea at select Marriott hotels. The collaboration among the Marriott brand, its partners, and travel consumers marks the brand’s continued dedication to improving every touch-point so guests can “Travel Brilliantly” at their hotels and beyond.

In addition to collaborating with experts, Kallarackal’s London itinerary will offer inspiration with visits to iconic culinary locations including Brick Lane and local markets.

She will also take part in an Innovation Work Session alongside industry experts from relevant fields including technology (Laurence Holloway, International Business Award Winner at the 2013 British Young Business Awards), design (Jane Penty, practicing designer and educator, currently at  Central St. Martins College, University of the Arts, London), and culinary (Jamie Welch, executive chef at London Marriott Grosvenor Square) to help her think, innovate and bring the concept to life.

Following to trip, Kallarackal’s refined idea, along with a behind-the-scenes video on the development process, will be featured on TravelBrilliantly.com alongside Marriott’s other recent innovations. The winning innovative idea is the first of many submitted to TravelBrilliantly.com that will continue to enable consumers to be a part of designing the future of travel.

“Travel Brilliantly” is more than a mantra for the hotel’s marketing campaign, says Mara Hannula, vice president of global marketing, Marriott Hotels.

“The development process for Anjana’s innovative idea could inspire additional food and wellness initiatives for the brand, elevating what it means to eat and travel brilliantly,” Hannula said in a release. “The possibilities for our ongoing co-creation platform are endless and we are so proud to celebrate Anjana’s concept and all of those that were submitted.”

The submission was selected based on a set of criteria, including how their idea described in the submission would enable “Traveling Brilliantly;” the innovativeness of the submission; feasibility and strategy for execution; and overall impression.

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