Marc Miles, operations program manager at TravelCenters of America, a bp brand, was a finalist for tech and loyalty large chain in CSP’s 2025 Category Manager of the Year (CMOY) awards. Here is a Q&A from his conversation with CSP on managing the technology category.
- bp, which owns TravelCenters of America, is No. 5 on CSP’s 2025 Top 40 Update to the 2024 Top 202 ranking of U.S. c-store chains by store count. Watch for the full 2024 Top 202 ranking in the June issue of CSP magazine and in CSP Daily News.
This year's CMOY awards featured 14 winners across seven categories. Winners from both small (99 or fewer stores) and large chains (100 stores or more) were selected for the first time in each category.
What’s a technology or loyalty feature that you haven’t implemented yet but are curious about? Why?
Artificial intelligence (AI) machine learning/recognition technology because I believe we are at the genesis of a major technological revolution that will dramatically change the nature of the travel industry and create many new opportunities.
Have you experimented or adopted AI anywhere in the category? Do you plan to in the future?
I have worked with AI machine learning systems in practice in some instances and plan to continue in the future should the opportunity arise.
What are your goals for 2025?
Stay vigilant on emerging technologies that can help our business.
Are there any recent changes/upgrades you’ve made?
We have added new technology to some of our current programs to significantly enhance them from an operational and customer experience standpoint.
What do you love about your category?
My categories are full of exciting opportunities and have an enormous importance and impact to the customer experience at our locations.
What are the biggest challenges?
Staying on top of new advancements and changes in technology, keeping our systems current.
What is another loyalty program that you look up to, whether it’s in the c-store channel or not? Why do you think it’s a good model?
I am a huge fan of many loyalty models; I think generally speaking any system designed to reward customers and promote a loyal and marketable customer base is a good one.
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