A voice activated personal assistant and a mobile professional networking platform have been championed by Marriott Hotels in Europe to lead the way in the future of travel technology. Marriott TestBED, an accelerator programme created to find the most innovative tech start-ups in the hospitality sector, saw almost 150 budding companies whittled down to two in a thorough judging process culminating in a live pitch day in front of a panel of industry experts.
The program gives two start-ups the opportunity to pilot their product in a Marriott Hotel for six weeks, in addition to benefitting from a mentoring program and training led by industry leaders.
The two winning start-ups were Dazzle, an in-room voice activated personal assistant that uses a hybrid of Artificial Intelligence and human brain to answer guest queries and services, and Jambo, a location-based mobile platform that enables business professionals to connect and network.