Marriott International has launched a special program for Europe named Test Bed. This is a six-week long program aimed to help travel startups that can make tourism and travel experience better.
Special microsites for France and Germany are already up. Marriott searches for early-stage services or products that can help tourists, make their travel more rewarding or let hotel visitors enjoy new experiences. Marriott offers support and advice for such startups, and will add selected products and services to their test hotels and, possibly, to the global market.
Everyone is welcome to submit their creative ideas, but only eight startups will make it to the shortlist. After that, Marriott executives together with industry experts will choose two companies that will be given an opportunity to test their products.
In order to be eligible for the Test Bed program, startups must meet some criteria. They must fit hospitality industry or travel in general, provide guests with a service or a tool to explore a city or a region better, or help Marriott to work better and meet desires of guests. Moreover, the product must be in English, and should not require heavy integration into the global system of the hotelier. Selected startups will get not only a possibility to test their services and products in real hotels, but will also get attention of public, including social media, press, and special events. Marriott and leading marketing agencies will provide guidance and support for winning startups, so they can enjoy smoother start and training of top professionals.