How Amtrak Is Moving From Transportation to Hospitality With CCO Eliot Hamlisch

A legacy transportation brand transforming into a modern hospitality experience? It’s happening at Amtrak.

In this episode of Marketing Vanguard, host Jenny Rooney sits down with Eliot Hamlisch, EVP and chief commercial officer at Amtrak, to explore their bold new “Retrain Travel” campaign, strategic shift toward younger audiences, and innovative brand partnerships. 

“We’re very focused on transforming the company from what has historically been known as a transportation company to one that will increasingly be known as a hospitality company and providing hospitable experiences and an enhanced customer experience overall,” he says on the podcast.

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With a background in psychology and behavioral economics, and previous executive roles at American Express, Starwood Hotels, Wyndham, and AMC Theaters, Eliot brings a unique customer-centric approach to rail travel.

Under his leadership, Amtrak achieved record-breaking success with 33 million riders and $2.5 billion in ticket revenue, while overseeing 700 capital improvement projects worth $4.5 billion.

Tune in to discover how Amtrak is reimagining train travel for the next generation through enhanced amenities, sustainability initiatives, and experiential marketing.

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Key takeaways:

[02:17] Transforming to a Hospitality Experience — Eliot explains Amtrak’s transformation journey: “We’re very focused on transforming the company from what has historically been known as a transportation company to one that will increasingly be known as a hospitality company and providing hospitable experiences and an enhanced customer experience overall.” He shares how Amtrak is reimagining the entire customer journey, from booking to destination, focusing on experiences rather than simply getting passengers from point A to point B.

[14:15] Balancing Awareness and Lower-Funnel Marketing — Discussing Amtrak’s marketing strategy shift, Eliot notes: “We’ve actually shifted the way we think about this a bit to be more focused this year on awareness as opposed to lower funnel. Historically, we adopted a more lower funnel consideration and conversion focused media buy. With Retrain Travel, we shifted that to be more balanced on awareness because we were trying to attract new riders.” This approach has already increased the percentage of new travelers.

[16:33] Empowering Agency Partners — Eliot shares his philosophy on agency partnerships, emphasizing the importance of “good people” first and foremost. When discussing Mekanism, he reveals: “Amtrak has been, for a very long time, safe. We’ve taken a very safe approach to the way in which we’ve messaged train travel… and I’ve really pushed our team and the Mekanism team to help us to think differently.” This partnership is helping Amtrak move beyond its comfort zone.

[24:49] Leveraging Brand Collaborations — Discussing Amtrak’s approach to brand collaborations, Eliot admits: “We’ve historically done very little in the brand collaboration space. I love it, and I’ve been pushing the team really hard actually.” He reveals they have three to four collaborations in active development, including partnerships focused on engaging kids and families and potential accessories for train travel.

[20:31] Investing in Product Innovation — Eliot details the significance of the next-gen Acela launch: “These trains are coming at exactly the right time. From a business traveler perspective and a leisure traveler perspective, the customer experience overnight will become better in a host of different ways.” The new trains will be more reliable, faster (160 mph vs. 150 mph), more comfortable, and offer improved accessibility.

[27:29] Positioning Sustainable Travel Options — When asked about positioning against air travel challenges, Eliot explains their principled approach: “We’ve essentially kept our marketing and messaging the same. We’ve actually chosen proactively to pause marketing in and around some of the tragedies that we’ve seen, obviously, out of respect for the circumstances.” He highlights Amtrak’s sustainability advantages without attacking competitors.

[30:03] Integrating AI While Staying Human-Centric — Addressing AI’s role at Amtrak, Eliot shares: “I am a very firm believer in the opportunity for us to leverage generative AI to transform our business in an interestingly and increasingly human-centric and customer-centric way.” He emphasizes that AI implementation will focus on “how we leverage this technology to serve customers better.”

[31:46] Balancing Government Oversight with Innovation — Eliot candidly discusses the unique challenges of Amtrak’s governance model: “This is the first time Congress has been my boss in any role that I’ve had. It’s actually been a fascinating transition for me.” He explains how decision-making differs from private companies, balancing profitable growth initiatives with “political or people interest” to serve underserved communities.