Last month there was a TED event at the newly-opened Bangkok Marriott Marquis in Soi Sukhumvit 22. It was only a TED Salon event, which is a smaller type of the seminar, yet it wasn’t even the first of its kind in the city. So why we're excited about it? It was, in fact, something we wouldn’t have expected from the Marriott. Currently the world’s largest hotel chain, the Marriott is more associated with luxurious rooms, fancy restaurants, and elegant bars than a talk event that celebrate the creativity, technology, and good will.
The two worlds, however, have collided.
People these days travel a lot more than our parents did, and they no longer travel just to get a sun tan or to sign a business deal. Today’s globetrotters set sail to another corner of the world to fulfill any of their passions, to discover new discoveries, to learn about different cultures to embrace diversity, and to generate creative ideas to change the world. And Marriott would like to be the one – the best travel companion – to support them. Since 2016, the hospitality giant has befriended TED to bring s series of TED Talks to in-room screens so every Marriott guest could always be inspired throughout their stay. Also, Mariott and TED join hands to bring TED Salon, a smaller size of TEDx talk, to Marriott hotels around the world, and Bangkok was the first city in Southeast Asia following previous events at Marriott hotels in Seattle, London, and Abu Dhabi.
On stage the TED Salon in Bangkok were forward-thinking TED fellows whose innovation and ideas have made traveling more meaningful: Indian multimedia artist Aparna Rao, founder of Shanghai-based online farmers’ market, Yimishiji, Matilda Ho, and French-Japanese hi-tech startup founder Cesar Jung-Harada from Hong Kong, who discussed how robots could help clean up the ocean for the future generation.
Check out more information regarding their collaboration at marriott-hotels.marriott.com/marriott-hotels-ted