Today we're celebrating the 20th anniversary of the opening of our JW Marriott Hotel in Hong Kong. It was our very first hotel in Asia and has been one of our flagship hotels there for the past two decades. It has always been a beautiful hotel, but now that it has completed its latest renovation, it is more stunning than ever before.
When we selected the site, I was always impressed with the harbor views. Hong Kong has an amazing harbor. The activity in the harbor and the skyline on the other side is something that is unforgettable. It's always been a big thrill to visit . . .
Today I'm blogging from our headquarters in Bethesda, Maryland, where we are holding a huge celebration to welcome our Spirit of Aloha Tour. Anyone who has been to one of the Hawaiian Islands falls in love with the beautiful scenery and the wonderful Aloha hospitality.
Unfortunately, during these difficult times, travel to Hawaii has dropped off. That's why our team in Hawaii put on their thinking caps and decided to embark on the Spirit of Aloha Tour in the continental United States. It is a fantastic, grassroots effort to generate awareness and encourage people to come visit these beautiful islands.
The bus tour began on January 12 in San Diego, California, and they originally planned to stop in eight cities along the west coast, but the tour proved so successful and popular, it was extended across the Midwest and east coast. It ended here today with . . .
I just got back from visiting some of our beautiful hotels and resorts in the Caribbean. One of the stops I made was in Aruba to visit our Aruba Marriott Resort, which has just completed a big renovation. The property looks great, the staff is wonderful and the entire island is a terrific place to vacation. You can actually see for yourselves by watching the video below.
This video was created by Marriott associates and stars Gregory Millard, a bartender at the resort, and was submitted as an entry into Marriott's LAKE Film Festival. LAKE stands . . .
When my executive team started talking with me about carbon offsets, I said, "What's that?" I'm old enough to remember "carbon copies," which is how you made multiple copies before we had computers and printers. I've learned since that carbon offsets are a way to offset the greenhouse gases generated by the energy consumed in our operations.
Almost everything we do - from driving our cars, to turning on the lights - is powered by carbon-based fuels like oil. This creates the greenhouse gas emissions that get trapped in the earth's atmosphere and create global warming or "global weirding" as Tom Friedman describes in his new book,Hot, Flat and Crowded.
At Marriott, we're working hard to reduce our emissions through energy conservation and . . .
This past Sunday as I was reading The New York Times I noticed the huge full-page ad with a letter from John Stumpf, president and CEO of Wells Fargo bank. His bank was taking some heat for an upcoming annual recognition event for their employees in Las Vegas. It was a meeting of their top performing people - not top executives, but rather bank tellers, financial advisers and sales reps. Because of the public outcry over Wall Street's excess, Wells Fargo canceled their event but Mr. Stumpf wanted to put things in perspective.
When business meetings are canceled, he asked, "Who loses besides our team members? [It's] the workers who depend on our business. The hospitality industry. Housekeepers. Restaurant servers. The airlines."
He's exactly right. According to the U.S. Travel Association, in 2008 the travel industry employed 7.7 million Americans and generated more than $115 billion in taxes every year. Last year, 200,000 people lost their jobs in our industry and we're expecting . . .
Today, in China, we celebrated a very special milestone - the opening of the 800th Courtyard by Marriott hotel in Shanghai. It was a wonderful event and featured a dragon dance and was attended by VIPs from all over the country. Back here in the United States, the associates at our headquarters in Bethesda, Maryland, are joining in on the festivities, too, and will be participating in their own lion dance.
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