Marriott International and Google at Skift Data + AI Summit 2026
At the Skift Data + AI Summit 2026, leaders from Marriott International and Google discussed the challenges of implementing AI in the travel industry. They emphasized that the main obstacle is not technology but rather the need to re-engineer workflows and improve team skills. The conversation highlighted that many organizations struggle to scale AI solutions beyond pilot projects, despite the potential benefits.
- ▪Colin Coleman from Marriott and Joff Romoff from Google discussed AI implementation challenges.
- ▪They noted that scaling AI to production is hindered by people and workflow issues rather than technology.
- ▪A European hotel company reduced call response time by 75% through automation, illustrating potential gains in the industry.
Opening excerpt (first ~120 words) tap to expand
The Skift Takeaway SKIFT DATA + AI SUMMIT 2026 Ask Me Anything: How Are Leaders Using AI to Solve Real-World Problems? Colin Coleman, SVP – Enterprise Data, Analytics, and AI, Marriott International Joff Romoff, Global Head – Travel & Hospitality, Google Cloud Moderated by Seth Borko, Head of Research, Skift THE ARGUMENT The hard part of enterprise AI isn’t the build. Asked about a study finding 95% of organizations see zero return on generative AI, Romoff disputed the number, and both speakers pushed past it to the real problem: launching a pilot is easy, scaling it to production is not, and what blocks the jump is people and workflow, not technology. Coleman said automating a task as it exists today misses the point, because the worker only does it that way because they have to.
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Excerpt limited to ~120 words for fair-use compliance. The full article is at Skift.
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