Expert believes AI is likely a factor in Marriott slashing jobs – WTOP News

Maryland-based hotel brand Marriott recently announced it’s slashing nearly 1,000 jobs. A business expert believes those cuts could be related to developments in artificial intelligence technology.

The hotel chain, which is headquartered in Bethesda, said it will lay off 833 employees effective Jan. 3, 2025.

In a statement, the company said the decision came after a “strategic review” on how to enhance the company’s “effectiveness.”

“While always difficult, these job reductions at our corporate and continent offices will reshape the way we work,” the company added.

Marriott is the world’s largest hotel operator with more than 8,000 hotels. The jobs being cut are mostly corporate jobs and are not in individual hotels.

“It looks to me that what they’re doing is looking into the future and saying, ‘What does our workforce have to look like?’” said Roland Rust, a professor at the Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland.

Rust said corporate jobs at a huge company in the hospitality industry, such as Marriott, often involve collecting data, analyzing it and generating reports.

And those just so happen to be the same type of tasks that can now be done more efficiently using AI.

“What all industries are concluding is that there’s going to be a whole lot more AI,” said Rust. “The latest developments in AI make it possible for even higher level managerial jobs to be taken away.”

While the hospitality industry has largely recovered from the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic, Rust said business travel is down and will likely continue on a downward trend.

“They need fewer people or they won’t be able to compete,” Rust said, referring to Marriott. “You’re seeing smart companies everywhere realize that AI is the real deal and is really going to change things.”

The layoffs come just two years after Marriott completed a move into its new headquarters in downtown Bethesda, which is 21 stories tall and has 785,000 square feet.

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