Traveling for business and traveling for pleasure used to be miles apart. Not anymore.
Consumers now increasingly demand flexibility to balance professional duties with personal well-being.
In fact, 22% of travelers would decline a business trip if there were no ability to extend it for personal travel, according to the SAP Concur Bleisure Report. Navan “bleisure” travel statistics also show that more than 70% of business travelers feel that leisure time adds value to their jobs and benefits them as employees.
Travelers want to remain in the same hotel for both the corporate and leisure portion of their trip to make the trip more convenient, according to the latest industry data from Arrivia.
When traveling for work, many travelers also prefer to earn points they can later use for personal trips. Until now, when staying at luxury hotel giant Marriott, this was hard to achieve, since outdated technology prevented the hotel from showing loyalty data within corporate booking tools.
Marriott’s latest move directly addresses this business traveler sentiment, answers the needs of employees and businesses, and finally fixes a major pain point for members when booking business travel.
Marriott upgrades its business travel planning, booking
Marriott International has expanded its partnership with corporate travel platform Spotnana to enhance how corporate travelers shop for, book, and manage hotel stays.
Through a direct API integration, Spotnana’s platform connects to Marriott’s reservation system, bypassing legacy travel distribution networks and streamlining how business travel is booked.
“The integration gives corporate travel executives seamless access to real-time pricing, inventory, and detailed property content across 10,000 Marriott properties worldwide,” Marriott stated in a press release.
“Our direct integration with Spotnana represents a significant step forward in modernizing corporate hotel distribution, giving business travelers seamless access to our global portfolio of hotels and tailored corporate offerings,” Chief Revenue & Technology Officer Drew Pinto said.
Marriott finally fixes corporate booking for Bonvoy members
Marriott’s most powerful tool for attracting business travelers is its loyalty program, but the hotel chain has historically struggled to display points and perks inside mandatory corporate booking portals, reports Skift, a leading travel industry outlet.
Spotnana’s new partnership directly fixes this disconnect.
Employees prefer earning points on business trips that they can redeem for vacations, so a traveler choosing between similar hotels might pick Marriott based on its Bonvoy program. However, outdated technology prevented Marriott from reflecting any of that loyalty information inside corporate booking tools.
This direct integration with Spotnana technology now eliminates the long-standing friction between corporate travel compliance and personal rewards, according to Skift Senior Hospitality Editor Sean O’Neill.
Why the Marriott, Spotnana direct integration matters for travelers
This integration deepens Marriott’s partnership with Spotnana, following the 2024 launch of Business Access by Marriott Bonvoy, which aimed to simplify travel management for small and mid-sized businesses.
For business travelers, this partnership makes booking hotel stays faster and more accurate. Instead of dealing with outdated travel booking tools, employees gain direct access to Marriott’s full portfolio of hotel properties and negotiated business rates.
Key benefits for business travelers include:
- Real-time rates and inventory: Enables access to live room availability and negotiated company rates updated in real time across 10,000 Marriott properties worldwide.
- Verified loyalty account linking: Travelers can connect their accounts to view live points balances, apply elite status recognition, and access Marriott Bonvoy credit card perks.
- Direct-channel property content: Room descriptions, photos, and amenity details displayed on Spotnana match what appears on official Marriott channels.
- Self-service reservation management: Travelers can directly modify or cancel hotel bookings within the Spotnana platform without having to call or wait for a travel agent.
The direct integration between Marriott International and Spotnana aligns directly with these consumer preferences by fixing long-standing pain points in corporate travel technology.
Industry data cited by HotelTechReport suggests that 82% of travelers prefer staying in the same hotel throughout an extended trip. That preference aligns with what the integration offers: real-time room availability data and the ability to modify bookings without going through a travel agent.
Spotnana’s platform includes a feature called split payments, which specifically handles paying with two different cards for a single trip.
As long as the employer’s travel policy permits it, a traveler can extend their stay for pleasure and pay on their own through the platform.
Many large hotel chains have recognized the need to enhance their offerings for corporate travel over the past few years. Marriott competitors Hilton and Omni Hotels & Resorts have improved their offerings with Hilton for Business and Omni Select Business.
This partnership is similar to the one recently launched by Hilton and Navan, although with the Marriott-Spotnana integration, Spotnana is a technology and content provider rather than a travel management company, according to Business Travel News Europe.
Here’s some of my other recent travel news coverage:
- TSA finally lifts an annoying airport restriction after 25 years
- Delta Air Lines CEO signals major shift in what travelers pay
- Americans losing more protection over delayed flights
Marriott recently fixed an annoying part of hotel rooms
The luxury hotel giant frequently updates its offerings to maintain its loyal member base and attract new guests. I recently reported for TheStreet on Marriott’s latest move to fix an annoying part of hotel rooms: TV.
For years, unwinding after a long day of travel meant wrestling with clunky remotes, locked HDMI ports, and inputting streaming passwords one tedious letter at a time.
That frustration is widespread. A J.D. Power study found that demand for seamless smart TV features has nearly doubled from 2019, making it a top “need-to-have” amenity for 40% of hotel guests, with 60% actively using smart TVs during their stay.
To eliminate these headaches, Marriott partnered with LG Electronics to overhaul its in-room entertainment systems. The hotel chain is replacing legacy cable setups with a new cloud-based platform designed to match a guest’s living room experience, offering access to over 40 streaming applications, more than 250 free channels, and built-in controls for guest room settings.
The upgraded displays also allow hotel engineering teams to monitor device health and make software updates remotely.
“A prime goal is to make the TV part of a connected guest room experience rather than a standalone device,” stated LG Electronics Senior Vice President John Won.
Travelers can test the new system first through a 40-hotel pilot program across select properties in the United States and Canada, ahead of Marriott’s planned global rollout across participating brands worldwide.
