Marriott Launches Free Mobile Travel Game - Xplor

Marriott has launched Xplor, a mobile travel game.

Available for free in the App Store, Xplor lets virtual adventurers hone travel skills while visiting New York City, Paris, Beijing, Dubai, and São Paulo.

To begin, Xplor gamers select an identity from five different traveler types, ranging from backpacker to jetsetter, and can individualize avatars from a variety of different interchangeable physical and style attributes, resulting in millions of possible character combinations. From there, players travel to top tourist destinations where they collect items and get their passports stamped. Players can friend one another, chat live and closely collaborate to solve Xplor’s many challenges.

“Social gaming is part of our innovation strategy to engage customers and attract the next generation of social, mobile travelers and employees to Marriott,” said David Rodriguez, Executive Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer, Marriott International. “With more than half a billion people playing social games globally - this is an exciting new channel for our company to promote travel and engage with people.”

Throughout the intuitive game, travelers can experience unique cultural variations native to the region they are visiting including food, customs, and architectural design. Each city “Xplored” will offer mini-games that are designed to keep both serious and recreational gamers excited and engaged. For social adventurers, Xplor successes can be shared on Facebook and other social networks.

“I applaud the entrepreneurial spirit behind this game, which was conceived by a group of employees from various departments, age groups and levels across the company,” said David Grissen, Group President, Marriott International. “They observed guests playing games to decompress between meetings, while waiting to board a flight, or even lounging by the pool, and convinced us to test a new way of engaging with guests.”

Xplor was developed by Marriott International in partnership with Evviva Games, a division of Evviva Brands. It is the second social game offered by Marriott. In 2011, Marriott launched a social game with My Marriott Hotel. The game was designed to attract potential employees to careers in hospitality by engaging them in the virtual experience of operating a hotel kitchen and attracted players from 138 countries in the first year alone.