Marriott on the Move

Thousands of you have been reading my blog, and hundreds of you have written to me with your ideas. I am really excited about this new communication tool.

Thirty percent of our hits have come from readers outside of the United States, which shows the growing recognition of our global brands.

But, like others in the travel industry, we're all worried about some of the barriers to global travel. The world travel market is really growing fast. In fact, in the last several years, since the Berlin wall went down, there have been three billion more people that have come into the world's economy - especially from China, India and Eastern Europe.

Hi, this is Bill Marriott. Everybody's asked me about that AstroTurf(r) story. This is one of the great stories of our company.

My dad was a stickler for detail. He wanted everything perfect. He always wanted the guest to have the very best experience they could have. Back in about 1976 or 1977, he discovered AstroTurf, and he decided that this would be a great product to put on ...

Hi, I'm Bill Marriott.

Today we witnessed the cruel hand of terrorism once again. According to Pakistani authorities, our hotel in Islamabad was the target of a lone suicide bomber. The explosion occurred by the loading dock in the afternoon local time.

No guests were hurt but a hotel maintenance worker was hospitalized and sadly, one of the hotel's security guards was killed as he tried to stop the suicide bomber from approaching the hotel. He is a great hero and he represents the true spirit to serve of our associates; to go above and beyond, which he certainly did.

Hi, this is Bill Marriott. This week, I'm traveling to Los Angeles for a big hotel developers' conference. We're going to be talking about how the industry's going, and I'll review the plans for our new LA Live hotel - that's going to be a combination Ritz-Carlton, JW Marriott, and Ritz-Carlton Residences - right in downtown LA.

Well let's not talk about that now. Let's talk about what our guests want. We know they want to be comfortable and have the best beds in the world, which I hope you've tried. We also know they want great technology and access in the room and lobby. But I know, like me, they're also looking for ...

Hi, this is Bill Marriott. As the CEO of a global lodging company with more than 2,800 hotels around the world, I'm a big fan of removing barriers to global travel. I think having Americans visit other countries and having people visit the USA is our very best form of diplomacy. You just can't shake hands with an email or a fax.

Tomorrow, January 23rd, the United States Government implements new passport requirements, part of the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative, or what we call WHTI. It means that everybody traveling by air between the United States, Canada, Mexico, Central and South America, the Caribbean, and Bermuda must have a valid passport to enter or re-enter the United States.

Hi, this is Bill Marriott, and I'm talking to you from my office at Marriott International Headquarters in Maryland. You know, I've had a lot of great comments on that first blog. Thank you for participating and for letting me know how you feel.

We have a great anniversary this week. It's our 50th year in the lodging business. It was 50 years ago on about January 18th that we opened the first Marriott Motor Hotel at the 14th Street Bridge in Washington. It was just a big motel - 365 rooms. We had an outside check-in so we could see who was in the car. We got $8 a night for those rooms, and if there was an extra person in the car, we got $1 for every extra person. So when we were busy, we got as much as $12 for a room.

Every room had...