How BotForge Built Marriott's Customer of the Future

In March 2024, Marriott hosted Marriottopia, its first major EMEA conference in six years. More than 800 senior hospitality leaders came to chart where the industry goes next. BotForge built Marriott's customer of the future and invited it on stage to be interviewed. Coherence, a fellow Cohaesus agency, also worked on the project.

The Challenge

Marriott's marketing insight research was going stale on file, and the company needed a sharper way to bring the latest trends affecting its EMEA region to its leaders. Marriott Bonvoy's EMEA Consumer Operations team wanted an experience that would show emerging guest expectations, hold a real-time conversation and personify where hospitality is heading, in front of an audience of more than 800.

The Approach

The digital human. BotForge created an AI-powered, voice-enabled avatar representing the Customer of the Future. Trained on Marriott-specific content, it held real-time, contextual conversations during live panel discussions.

The technology. Large language models drive the conversation, natural language processing handles understanding and response, and custom middleware shapes the avatar's tone and personality to the Marriott brand. Response latency came down from 20 seconds to real time. The AV systems were tuned for speech clarity and visual quality across a 20 by 5 metre stage.

Unscripted panels. Panellists were coached to talk naturally with the digital character, so the exchanges on stage were unscripted.

A digital MC. A second avatar, Obaya, hosted the conference: introducing sessions, guiding participants and handling housekeeping announcements throughout.

The Outcome

More than 800 hospitality executives saw the future of guest interaction first hand. The digital humans, trained on Marriott's own content and values, held natural, unscripted conversations in real time, and gave Marriott's leaders a live view of where guest expectations are going.