Behind the Stays Setting the AI Search Bar: How Homes & Villas by Marriott is Outpacing Airbnb, Vrbo, and Booking at Reimagining the OTA
Meet Nitin Sood, Vice President of Innovation at Homes & Villas by Marriott Bonvoy.
Nitin and his team launched the first AI-powered search experience of any travel site so I invited him to come on the show to talk about how they built the tool, how folks are engaging with the experience post-launch, and what they’ve got cooking up behind the scenes to improve the product.
Tune in to hear Nitin and I discuss:
- How Marriott built their Search with AI tool
- What they’ve learned since allowing users to craft a prompt rather than filter to find a stay
- What Marriott has planned next to improve its AI search functionality
- How AI has transformed and will continue to transform the travel industry
- What the future of determining where to go and when to go there will look like
- Why he thinks the next generation of OTAs will be a place where folks come to dream about where to go and not just book a stay
- And so much more
Explore Marriott's AI Search Tool
Connect with Nitin on LinkedIn
This episode is brought to you by our friends at AirDNA
Want to see if a Treehouse resort in Dubai pencils? You can do so in AirDNA.
Want to buy land in Ontario to build a Glamping resort? AirDNA will show you how other, comparable products are performing in the region.
Or maybe you’ve already got your stay up and running and you want a better understanding of how your Airbnb compares to others in the market? You can connect your listing to AirDNA and get accurate nightly pricing recommendations based on real-world, real-time demand.
AirDNA is the key you need to unlock the insight behind what it’s going to take to bring those big dreams you have to life.
Pay just $25/month and access ANY market in the world — AirDNA is cheaper, faster, better, and stronger to use than ever before.
About the Show
Behind the Stays is brought to you twice a week by Sponstayneous — a free, biweekly newsletter that brings subscribers the best last-minute deals and upcoming steals on Airbnb.
You can subscribe, for free, at www.sponstayneous.com.
Behind the Stays is hosted by Zach Busekrus, co-founder of Sponstayneous, you can connect with him on Twitter at @zboozee.