Marriott on the Move

I was recently in Orlando, Florida, for a conference with owners and franchisees of our select service and extended stay brands. Those brands are Courtyard, Fairfield Inn, SpringHill Suites, Residence Inn and TownePlace Suites. It's a great event where we build and strengthen relationships, align ourselves on company initiatives and share good business practices.

We also take the opportunity to recognize our top owner and franchise performers. We handed out over 60 awards and presented 11 owners and franchisees with the Partnership Circle Award, our highest honor given for hospitality excellence.

One of the things I noticed when presenting the awards was many of these companies are run by families. Out of the 11 Partnership Circle winners, more than half are run by families, many that span multiple generations.

One of these companies, JHM Hotels, has a great story. Their chairman and CEO, H.P. Rama founded . . .

This Father's Day, Donna and I want to express our joy in the many accomplishments of our children. We have four kids - a girl and three boys. Our daughter Debbie is the oldest. At age five, she underwent open heart surgery and has survived to raise five beautiful children. She is a very nurturing mother, and is also senior vice president of government affairs at Marriott and doing a wonderful job in her new calling. Her only daughter Kim will be married in November, so Debbie is very busy planning the wedding.

Our second oldest child is Stephen. He is one of the most courageous people I know as he is legally blind and has lost most of his hearing. Yet he comes to work every day and, equipped with his white cane, travels the country teaching Marriott convention sales people how to sell. He also gives multiple PowerPoint presentations about our culture as a family business. He never complains and is always positive and upbeat.

Our son John is our third oldest and manages a family trust that owns 14 Marriott managed hotels. John has had a life long friend, David Fell. They grew up together and when Dave was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis almost 25 years ago, their . . .

Back in March, the U.S. Travel Association launched a contest to find the face of the travel industry. They were looking for someone who embodied the character and hard working spirit of our industry. I'm proud to announce that this extremely prestigious honor went to one of our Ritz-Carlton associates, Paco Saldana.

Paco grew up in Mexico and came to the United States 13 years ago and has become an American citizen. After arriving in the U.S.A., he got a job at our Ritz-Carlton on Amelia Island in Florida, where he worked his way up to become a Guest Services Manager.

His wife also worked at the hotel, which has . . .

When I started blogging more than two years ago, I got a lot of "high-fives" from other bloggers for embracing this era of technology and trying out a new form of communication. Since then, there have been many advancements and I've learned about Facebook, YouTube and Flickr. There are probably more but it's tough to keep up with them all!

While I may not exactly be up to speed on the latest trends, I do understand and appreciate the value of social media and so does our company. And now I'd like to welcome Simon Cooper, who heads our Ritz-Carlton brand, to social media. He has started his own Twitter feed. He'll be updating all of his followers with the latest news from Ritz-Carlton hotels around the world, sharing his . . .

You may remember a blog I did awhile ago about getting slimed when Marriott announced we would be working with Nickelodeon. While it was a pretty messy experience, it was an honor and something I'll never forget. Since then, many people have asked me what it felt like, and now, everyone can find out for themselves!

Working with Nickelodeon, we've created a family-friendly entertainment program called Nickelodeon Getaway that will be rolled out at some of our hotels and resorts this summer. The program offers lots of fun activities for families like evening "dive-in" movies by the pool and breakfast with popular Nickelodeon characters like Dora the Explorer and SpongeBob SquarePants!

Our first two hotels to offer the program are . . .

It's graduation season, and a few weeks ago, I went to North Carolina to speak at Wake Forest University's commencement. The world is in deep economic turmoil and jobs are hard to find, but I focused my speech on the importance of never giving up and always maintaining an optimistic outlook. While things might look bleak right now, I think it's important to keep your eyes open to the opportunities that will eventually open up to you.

One of the examples I gave them was my father's struggle to earn a college education. When he returned to Utah from completing his Mormon mission in 1921, he only had a 6th grade education and his parents didn't have any money to pay for his schooling. But, a local . . .