Marriott Resorts Partner With Boutique Toy Retailer for Kids Clubs

Marriott International is joining forces with a small experiential toy retailer called CAMP, which runs nine activity-based toy stores, to give children staying at its resorts a fun place to play while parents get some time off, according to Forbes.

The major hotel chain turns over $21 billion in annual revenue from 8,700 hotels, and Forbes estimates that CAMP generates under $50 million in revenue, so this might seem like an unusual partnership. In their announcement on Monday, the companies said that they’re going to run the collaboration for five years for an undisclosed licensing fee.

For this fee, CAMP will act as an architect for the kids clubs, guiding Marriott on how to design them and what materials to use. The organization will provide a comprehensive programming schedule, with clear instructions on how they can help kids in their clubs create custom kaleidoscopes, origami lanterns, and homemade spacecraft. CAMP will also provide training to employees at Marriott. However, it’s still down to Marriott to do the crux of the work by building, running, and staffing all of its resorts across the globe.

Jason Nuell, senior vice president at Marriott International, told Forbes, “We want to rapidly get this experience into as many resort destinations and all-inclusive hotels as possible.” He added, “Part of the reason Marriott chose CAMP is because it sees the toy-store chain as a ‘disruptor.’”

The collaboration means CAMP has a great opportunity to boost its business and raise its market positioning by showcasing its offering to guests at Marriott’s prestigious resorts.

A number of chain hotels, including Marriott International, have been trying to grow their all-inclusive businesses for the past few years. In this package, guests pay a fixed price for their room, food, drinks, and other activities. They see the resorts as a way to drive growth after the downturn from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Nuell said, “Leisure travel has dramatically increased. That’s been an impetus for us to really start focusing on our kids’ offerings.”

Marriott has been on the lookout for a suitable partner since 2021, and after Nuell took his kids to CAMP’s flagship store in New York City and saw them happily playing for a couple of hours, he decided to jump on the decision to team up.

The chain has been busy in the past three years, having opened 31 all-inclusive resorts across Latin America and the Caribbean. After a successful five-day pilot test in a Costa Rica resort, all of Marriott’s resorts will have kids clubs integrated within them, “with the first several locations opening in 2024.”