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Posted: May 7, 2008 1:29:30 PM
A group of Wall Street investors came to visit us and their first question to me was, "What is your vision for the future of this company for the next five years?"
There were a lot of ways I could've answered this question. I thought about it for awhile and I said, "I think the future and the vision for this company is to continue to foster, maintain and improve our company culture."
But what does that really mean? Well, our company culture has been stated many ways. Basically, we believe in taking good care of our people and believe that if we do, they'll take good care of the guests and the customers and they'll return.
This has been embedded in the philosophy of our company for over 81 years. It was started by . . .
Recent Posts
Posted: May 1, 2008 2:33:45 PM
As you know from reading my blog, I'm a history buff. While many of our Marriott hotels have played a role in making history, the Renaissance brand, which we acquired in 1997, has some of the most storied and interesting hotels in the world.
The Mayflower hotel in Washington, D.C. was the site of Franklin Delano Roosevelt's inaugural ball back in the early 1930s. Also, J. Edgar Hoover used to have lunch at the Mayflower all during his tenure. Eleanor Roosevelt had afternoon tea there, and there have been many other famous people who have stayed there. What a lot of people don't know is that, in addition to being a famous hotel, the Mayflower is one of more than 140 Renaissance hotels around the world.
We have another Renaissance hotel that has a fascinating past and that's The Blackstone in Chicago. This hotel used to be known . . .
Posted: April 28, 2008 10:30:27 AM
I just completed an exciting week in the Middle East visiting Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Doha, which is in Qatar, and Bahrain. We now have 29 hotels here in the Middle East and we have an exciting plan to add 35 more in the next three years.
I met with many owners, developers and political people over here, and I could not believe the tremendous amount of development that's going on. Dubai has the largest amount of construction of any city in the world, as far as I can tell. Thirty-four percent of all the construction cranes in the world are located in Dubai. Everywhere you look, there's a new . . .
Posted: April 23, 2008 10:49:42 AM
In Dubai they say, "If you build it, they will come." The skyline and development in this city is absolutely mind-boggling and the hotel scene is really booming. Dubai is now a top tourist destination and thirty percent of Dubai's GDP comes from travel and tourism. They really get it when it comes to understanding the importance of travel and tourism.
I was in Dubai 35 years ago and it was a sleepy Arab town on the Gulf. I remember meeting with the ruler, who was a wonderful man. His office was very sparse and simple, but I do remember vividly . . .
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