Inside Marriott’s data-driven path to ‘love-based loyalty’
Across the hospitality industry, marketers are rethinking how to connect with travelers in a world where loyalty is as much emotional as it is transactional. Marketing today is less like a campaign and more like a concert tour — a carefully orchestrated experience that meets people where they are, emotionally and geographically. Marriott is aiming to tap that same energy, turning data into meaningful moments of connection.
From insights to impact
Today’s marketers sit at the crossroads of data and human connection. Every brand has access to more insights, tools and technologies than ever — yet the real challenge lies in using them to create ad experiences that matter.
“The best marketers today aren’t just storytellers — they’re system builders,” said Patrick Albano, vice president of business development at The Trade Desk, during Advertising Week New York. “They’re designing organizations that start from the customer and work backward.”
That approach is increasingly evident across industries, including hospitality. At Marriott International, Senior Vice President and General Manager Chris Norton has led an overhaul of the company’s marketing operations, culminating in the launch of Riott Media — a commerce media network built from Marriott’s own customer data. The initiative aims to create more relevant, privacy-conscious advertising experiences, both online and within the company’s properties.
“Our goal was to take the data we already know about our customers and make it useful — for them and for our partners,” Norton said. “It’s a real differentiator that enables marketers to come along with us in creating more meaningful moments of connection.”
System design drives agility
When Marriott began its marketing transformation roughly four years ago, Norton’s team realized the biggest barrier to innovation wasn’t technology — it was process.
“We analyzed why it took 110 days to get a campaign out the door,” Norton said. “We discovered 46 distinct processes.”
By rearchitecting from the ground up, Marriott condensed those workflows into one unified system. Today, the brand can launch complex omnichannel campaigns in as little as seven hours — fast enough to ride the wave of a cultural moment, whether it’s a global tour announcement or a viral travel trend.
The new structure has created a marketing organization designed for speed and consistency, oriented around programmatic activation, stronger audience focus and more cohesive orchestration.
“Orchestration is an overused term,” Norton said. “But for us, it means showing up with one voice to our customers — in a way that’s consistent and meaningful across every touchpoint.”
A human approach to data and personalization
Marriott’s approach to data reflects a growing industry truth: Personalization is most powerful when it’s helpful.
With the launch of Riott Media, the company is turning its first-party data into a service — giving brand partners a privacy-conscious way to reach travelers with contextual and relevant messages throughout their journey. “We don’t want to just show you an ad,” Norton said, adding, “We want to be helpful.”
That could mean surfacing a golf experience for an avid player, highlighting a nearby restaurant for a foodie traveler or even curating travel opportunities around cultural moments. “If Taylor Swift is on tour and tickets are sold out in the U.S. but available in Cologne, Germany, we can help [customers] realize the opportunity and get them there and staying at a great property.”
The approach of connecting data to passions helps Marriott deliver what Norton calls “love-based loyalty,” relationships built on understanding, not on transactions.
Measuring the impact of connection
Modern marketing success depends on proving impact, not just activity. To that end, Marriott has implemented robust measurement capabilities that equip clients with incrementality, audience response and outcome-based metrics.
“Measurement is a huge differentiator for Riott Media,” Norton said. “We don’t just talk about performance — we prove it. Incrementality measurement has become our greatest sales tool.”
This approach links marketing spend tied to tangible business results — like loyalty, retention and revenue — while helping partners measure the full impact of their media investments.
The marketer as an architect
Norton’s story and Marriott’s transformation illustrate a broader truth: Today’s most effective marketers are architects of growth. They align systems, technology and creativity around a customer-centric blueprint.
As Albano noted, “The brands that win are the ones designing for orchestration, ensuring every part of the system works together to serve the customer better.”
The Current is owned and operated by The Trade Desk Inc. Patrick Albano’s and Chris Norton’s perspectives stem from a panel titled, “Growth Architects: How Marketing Leaders Are Future-Proofing the Brand Blueprint,” at an Advertising Week New York event on October 7, 2025.