Marriott on the Move

I've found in all these years that the most important thing in success in life and in business is communication. Marriott is a very diverse company and our employees speak a lot of languages. Having hotels in almost 70 countries means our guests speak many languages too.

We're trying to bridge that gap, so we're rolling out several new tools to make sure nothing is lost in translation. Last year I blogged about Sed de Saber when it was originally rolled out. It's a computer program that helps our associates in the United States who speak Spanish learn how to speak English. It was such a success we now have a new version which will teach English-speaking associates how to speak Spanish. Maybe I ought to sign on and do it myself.

Now we're launching the Global Language Learning tool online. It was developed by Rosetta Stone and recreates . . .

As you all know, fuel prices have been on the rise for many months, and many Americans are feeling the squeeze on their family budgets. However, if any of you tried to make holiday travel plans lately, you know the rising cost of fuel is hitting the airlines hard also.

They've raised ticket prices and added fuel surcharges to cover their costs. Airline fuel expenses usually range from 10-15 percent of their operating costs. But today, that's more than doubled to between 30 and 50 percent of those costs.

Of course, airlines are really strapped. We've already seen small or medium-sized carriers cease operations in the last year. We're hearing . . .

The other night, NBC Nightly News did an interesting report about corporate blogging. My blog, Marriott on the Move, and Coca-Cola's were featured as a way to communicate openly and honestly with our customers and stakeholders.

In the story, they showed that I sometimes handwrite my blogs because I don't know how to type. But they didn't show how the rest of the process works, so I thought you might be interested in learning a little bit more behind the scenes. . .

For over 60 years, our family's been spending our summers at a lake house in New Hampshire and we've always taken a dog with us. The past few years, we've taken our favorite golden retriever named Murphy. Murphy's eight years old now - he's getting a little gray in the face.

His DNA, of course, gets him really excited about chasing ducks. He loves to see those green mallards go by. He used to jump off the dock and race after those ducks and swim as hard as he could with all his strength, but he . . .

I know the daily headlines about the economy are causing some jitters. I'm as concerned as you are about the declining stock market, distress at mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and all the turbulence in the airline industry.

The high price of oil, airline capacity cuts and the current economic malaise present real challenges for Marriott and for the hotel industry. However, I've been through seven or eight of these downturns in my career -- most recently in 1990 to 1992 and 2001 to 2003 -- and I have terrific confidence in our business strategy, the strength of our management team and spirited associates to weather this storm and come out ahead.

We just posted our second quarter earnings, which . . .

I recently visited Charlotte, North Carolina, to celebrate the 100th birthday of Bill Werber. Bill is the oldest living ex-Major League Baseball player and the last remaining ex-teammate of Babe Ruth.

Boy, what a guy he is. When I was 13 and 14 years old, he took me hunting here in Washington, D.C., around the Eastern Shore of Maryland and out in Virginia. We shot quail and we went duck hunting on the Chesapeake Bay. He was a real friend and mentor and a hero of mine for many, many years.

I enjoyed the celebration a great deal. We told stories and talked a lot about all the things he'd . . .