Marriott on the Move

Bravo to the United States Senate for supporting a much-needed bill that will spur international travel, boost U.S. hotel stays and help accelerate the recovery of the U.S. economy. My thanks to Senators Harry Reid, Byron Dorgan and John Ensign for their tireless work. The Travel Promotion Act will now move over to the House of Representatives, where Congressmen Roy Blunt and Bill Delahunt are the champions.

The Travel Promotion Act is no cost to taxpayers and the Congressional Budget Offices estimates it will reduce the federal budget deficit by $425 million dollars.

We're really enthusiastic because this legislation would create a public-private partnership to promote the U.S. as a travel destination and educate international travelers on our policies . . .

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 . . .

Today marks the beginning of National Travel and Tourism Week, which is especially important this year given the state of the economy and its impact on travel. I started my day at the Residence Inn Pentagon City in Arlington, Virginia, where our associates were celebrating their brand's culture at their annual RIsolution Day.

It was a lot of fun. Many of the associates were in their native costumes - countries ranging from Ethiopia to the Philippines, Ghana, Morocco and several from Latin America. There were two guests here who had lived in the hotel for three years. They were what we would call very extended stay guests.

I believe our associates are the best at what they do and provide our guests the best travel experiences possible. They're the true faces of the travel industry.

It seems our business has . . .

Today I'm blogging from the great city of New Orleans. I'm here attending a conference we hold every year for General Managers from our Courtyard, SpringHill Suites and Fairfield Inn brands. We held this meeting to promote leadership, teamwork and to drive revenue. When it's over, our GMs will have an advantage over their competition.
They'll learn and share best practices in seminars about how to create sales opportunities in the downturn, improve communications skills that cross generations, as well as reinforce our industry leading corporate culture to General Managers who are new to Marriott.

Hosting corporate meetings is a core business for hotel companies like Marriott. Unfortunately, they have recently been the subject of a lot of criticism in the media and from political leaders in the administration. There is no doubt that times are very tough and many companies, including ours, have had to cut back on travel and to reassess corporate meetings to cut their costs. But the belt tightening that is going on right now is more than just . . .

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 . . .

Like many of you, I have been thinking about the historic nature of the 2008 U.S. presidential election. Nearly 130 million Americans came to the polls on November 4th because they were excited about the choice between two very talented and patriotic candidates.

I was impressed on election night when Barack Obama reached out and said, "To those Americans whose support I have yet to earn, I may not have won your vote but I hear your voices, I need your help and I will be your president, too." He has promised a bi-partisan administration that will unite the country and move us to economic prosperity. I certainly hope and pray that he's very successful.

Most importantly, I salute his historic accomplishment. Never in my lifetime did I imagine that I would see an African-American President of the United States. When my parents . . .