Two start-ups win chance to run pilots with Marriott

Two technology start-ups out of 150 have won the chance to pilot their offerings in a Marriott hotel for six months. Those behind location-based mobile networking app Jambo and in-room voice activated assistant Dazzle will also gain mentoring and training led by industry leaders. They will be championed by the hotel giant following an accelerator … Continue reading Two start-ups win chance to run pilots with Marriott

Two technology start-ups out of 150 have won the chance to pilot their offerings in a Marriott hotel for six months.

Those behind location-based mobile networking app Jambo and in-room voice activated assistant Dazzle will also gain mentoring and training led by industry leaders.

They will be championed by the hotel giant following an accelerator project to find the most innovative tech start-ups in the hospitality sector.

Judging panel member Elizabeth Varley, founder and CEO of TechHub, a global community for tech entrepreneurs, said: “The dedication of the finalists to advancing how we’ll travel in the future showed through in their innovative products.

“Dazzle excited us because of the rapid developments we’ve seen in voice-activated interfaces and artificial intelligence over the past year, as well as its real potential to enhance the guest experience.

“In Jambo we saw the benefit for travellers who are increasingly looking for opportunities to connect to other people, and the opportunity to view the hotel as that connection platform.”

Marriott International brand marketing and e-commerce vice president Osama Hirzalla said: “We saw some amazing ideas from across Europe from our shortlist of eight start-ups, but Dazzle and Jambo really stood out for all of us.

“We saw that they had the drive and enthusiasm to maximise the opportunity to implement, test and potentially improve their product to help shape the future of hotels.

“This whole process has reminded us of the wealth of talent lying in the start-up community and we are tremendously excited about working alongside these two companies in the months to come.

“I believe that our bespoke mentoring programme combined with the operational experience and feedback from real customers that they will receive will be hugely beneficial to them. Meanwhile, we’re excited to see what we can learn from them as we combine their entrepreneurial spirit with our tools and hospitality expertise.”