Marriott International Data Leader on Turning Data and GenAI into Customer Loyalty – CDO Magazine

Events
Topics

Webinar | From Pilots to Production: AI Predictions for 2026

Strategic Predictions for Data and AI Leaders Focused on Reliability, Trust, and Scale
From Data Management to Data Intelligence: What CDOs Must Rethink for AI in 2026 Find out what Data Intelligence really means in 2026, why it’s emerging as a unifying layer across the data and AI ecosystem.
Roundtable Exchange – Dallas – Chamberlain's Steakhouse – Dallas – February 11, 2026 CDO Magazine Dallas Roundtable Exchange: an exclusive evening of bold ideas, expert insights, and top-tier networking. As digital transformation accel…
Webinar | From Pilots to Production: AI Predictions for 2026 Strategic Predictions for Data and AI Leaders Focused on Reliability, Trust, and Scale
From Data Management to Data Intelligence: What CDOs Must Rethink for AI in 2026 Find out what Data Intelligence really means in 2026, why it’s emerging as a unifying layer across the data and AI ecosystem.
Roundtable Exchange – Dallas – Chamberlain's Steakhouse – Dallas – February 11, 2026 CDO Magazine Dallas Roundtable Exchange: an exclusive evening of bold ideas, expert insights, and top-tier networking. As digital transformation accel…
Webinar | From Pilots to Production: AI Predictions for 2026 Strategic Predictions for Data and AI Leaders Focused on Reliability, Trust, and Scale
From Data Management to Data Intelligence: What CDOs Must Rethink for AI in 2026 Find out what Data Intelligence really means in 2026, why it’s emerging as a unifying layer across the data and AI ecosystem.
Roundtable Exchange – Dallas – Chamberlain's Steakhouse – Dallas – February 11, 2026 CDO Magazine Dallas Roundtable Exchange: an exclusive evening of bold ideas, expert insights, and top-tier networking. As digital transformation accelerates across every sector, this dinner allows C-l…
Webinar | From Pilots to Production: AI Predictions for 2026 Strategic Predictions for Data and AI Leaders Focused on Reliability, Trust, and Scale
From Data Management to Data Intelligence: What CDOs Must Rethink for AI in 2026 Find out what Data Intelligence really means in 2026, why it’s emerging as a unifying layer across the data and AI ecosystem.
Roundtable Exchange – Dallas – Chamberlain's Steakhouse – Dallas – February 11, 2026 CDO Magazine Dallas Roundtable Exchange: an exclusive evening of bold ideas, expert insights, and top-tier networking. As digital transformation accelerates across every sector, this dinner allows C-l…
Leadership

Written by:

CDO Magazine Bureau
Updated 1:08 PM UTC, January 23, 2026
Marriott International is one of the world’s largest hospitality companies, operating a global portfolio of hotel brands and one of the industry’s most recognized loyalty ecosystems. In an environment where guest expectations evolve rapidly and switching costs are low, Marriott relies on data science and generative AI to personalize experiences, optimize offers, and strengthen long-term customer loyalty.
In this first installment of a four-part interview series, Nitin Kumar, Director of Data Science and GenAI at Marriott International, joins Ben Blanquera, VP of AI and Sustainability at Rackspace Technology, to discuss how enterprise data leadership has shifted from stewardship to measurable value creation. The conversation explores how modern data leaders translate technical complexity into business outcomes tied directly to loyalty, revenue, and customer experience.
Kumar frames data leadership as an enterprise growth function, not a back-office necessity, especially as personalization becomes the standard rather than the differentiator. He links Marriott’s guest experience directly to data-driven decisioning, emphasizing the role data plays in tailoring journeys and offers at scale: “Data is the fuel to run those things.”
He describes his career as anything but linear, and says that unpredictability becomes an advantage rather than a drawback. Kumar started as a software engineer, only to find himself moved into production support while peers shifted to core development. What feels like a setback became formative.
Looking back, he explains how that experience rewires his definition of innovation: “Sometimes innovation is not about building new products or features. Sometimes it is all about removing friction from the existing systems.”
That lens continues to shape how he approaches transformation, improving what exists, eliminating bottlenecks, and compounding small improvements into meaningful outcomes.
Kumar describes how the tools evolve, even when the underlying goal stays the same: reduce friction, improve processes, and elevate experience.
He frames the shift as a clear sequence:
Kumar emphasizes that beneath each wave is the same mission, improving customer and business outcomes by removing bottlenecks and enabling smarter decisions.
This segment reinforces a key evolution in enterprise data strategy: moving beyond compliance and protection toward revenue impact and competitive advantage.
Kumar grounds the “offensive” posture in an example familiar to Marriott Bonvoy members: “If you stay with us two nights, you may get an additional 3,000 points. That’s run through our platform, finding which customer to give which offers. So that it increases the incremental revenue.”
That example reflects a broader playbook where data science is tied to business outcomes:
Kumar underscores that customer value is not limited to a single stay; it spans multiple products and signals across the Marriott ecosystem. The multi-dimensional view shapes how Marriott prioritizes engagement and retention, and how it measures long-term loyalty.
Next, Kumar positions GenAI as a capability shift that makes certain categories of problems more addressable, especially those that traditional approaches struggle to solve efficiently.
In continuation, Kumar stresses that loyalty is increasingly fragile in today’s attention economy and that brands must meet customers quickly, clearly, and where they already are.
He explains, “Gaining customer loyalty is very critical because of things like social media and other things. The attention span is shrinking day by day.”
“You have to convey your message. You have to provide that experience in a short span of time; otherwise, you’ll be losing that customer,” Kumar further adds.
And he reinforces the operating principle: “You must be able to meet your customers where they are and know what they want, and you’ll be able to provide that.”
Alongside the technical evolution, Kumar highlights an executive requirement: data leaders must translate complex systems into language the business can act on, connecting models and platforms to outcomes like customer experience, loyalty, and revenue.
Kumar keeps the work anchored to the mission: “To be the world’s favorite travel company.”
He closes with a reminder that AI progress is accelerated by shared learning, and that no leader advances alone in a fast-moving landscape.
“There’s no way you’ll be able to do everything by yourself,” says Kumar, and adds, “Everyone is in the learning phase with this technology.”
This conversation is part one of a four-part series exploring how enterprise data leaders are aligning AI, loyalty, and business value. Follow the series to see how Marriott’s approach to data science and GenAI continues to evolve across personalization, automation, and customer engagement.








March 19, 2026
March 19, 2026  |  In Person
Atlanta Leadership Summit
The Westin Atlanta Perimeter North

Elevate Your Personal Brand
Shape the Data Leadership Agenda
Build a Lasting Network
Exchange Knowledge & Experience
Stay Updated & Future-Ready

source
This is a newsfeed from leading technology publications. No additional editorial review has been performed before posting.