i have been a preferred contractor for the marriott app 17 years on hhi sc.lately most of my jobs bidded have been awarded to a mexican contractor with mexican employes.i cannot bid low enough to get jobs anymore.ihave dedicated my buisness to work for nobody but the marriott and have tried to work within there budget and have always performed quality workmanship and have stayed on call for the marriott,have attended several seminars to get qualified for the systems the marriott prefers to be applied.im confused when you say you need the mexican manpower when it leaves me and my american crew without hope of work.to me it looks like the mexicans have set the wage/standard and we americans have to work less than they do.im confused about my future with the marriott.i can only say as of now that the past 17 years has been great and that the future looks dim as i approach my 47th birthday! sad and confused about my future retirement plans!

You are losing long time platinum members like me due to your recent change in govt. rate policy. Thousands of us do contract work for govt. agencies and can only get reimbursed at federal per diem rates. While I support immigration reform, it seems that loyal customers like me paying higher hotel room rates while you push for more labor to be available at lower labor rates, smacks of corporate greed. I am not happy to leave the Marriott hotel chain after years as a platinum member but your recent policy change leaves me no choice.

Your blogs are very insightful and I enjoy reading each one. Thank you for having your secretary call me. I look forward to reading each new blog.
T Powell

Mr. Marriott, I appreciate your guts as a corporate leader stating your opinions on immigration -- very few want to be publicly engaged in the discussion. My concern is safety -- post 9/11. Everyone in America, including immigrants, want to know that terrorists are stopped at our borders. We must be able to know who is entering our country. As to Mr. Berg's comments about rude Marriott staff -- I have never encountered rudeness in Ireland, England, Italy, Greece, St. Thomas, Aruba, Japan, Germany or anywhere in the USA! (P.S. I am not a Marriott employee)

Your claims of worker shortages are unbelievable. The total U.S. unemployment rate is not high, but it is high among low-skilled workers, the young, minorities, and the uneducated. These people could easily be tapped to perform the low level service jobs the hospitality industry requires. Even if there was a shortage of such labor, what economic sense does it make to import people with few skills or education? These people will always consume more in public services than they contribute in taxes or economic growth.
If there were truly labor shortages in the U.S., real incomes would be climbing. Instead, we see the real incomes of most people stagnanting or even falling. You know the truth of this matter but it is profitable for you to state otherwise.

Mr.Marriott. I am a huge fan of Marriott, stockholder, timeshare owner, and advocate of the company. I applaud the company for its growth and its amazing products, on a worldwide basis. I do believe however, that you have your priorities a bit messed up. As much as I enjoy the fruits of the company, I have travelled around the world and found far too many of your employees to be illiterate, uncaring, cold and inconsiderate to the guests of the company, those very people that your company what it is today. With that said, you do as so many large corporate CEO's and executives do, and that is ignore the concept of legality and illegality to the immigrants. No one claims, or should claim, that the illegal immigrants are uneducated, not interested in working hard, but the fact remains that they have bypassed the very laws and regulations that the rest of the law abiding citizens have adhered to, and obeyed. By giving in to the greed of having these ILLEGAL immigrants taking the jobs of those legally in the country, you sadly create an entire different set of welfare citizens-those legal immigrants who will be out of the jobs taken by those illegally having entered the country. Should these illegal immigrants choose to follow the process that every other legal immigrant has done, and they do become a legal citizen of the country, all the more power to them and their families. The deserve just as much as every other american. Until such time arises, however, your approach will have a very negative backlash to the economy and the very structure of our society.
I urge you to rethink your perspectives and views and maybe consider what the other legal immigrants have had to do to succeed in this wonderful country.

With teenage unemployment the highest it has been in 50 years and over 12 - 20 million non citizens taking a toll on welfare, emergency rooms and public schools. I have little sympathy for your corporations difficulty hiring service staff. The way to fix our disfunctional immigration system is not to legalize the people who have disregarded our laws but, to deny them jobs and have them reenter our country legally. The kind of amnesty program that is being promoted will not solve the problem but, lead to a financial crisis for all Americans.

Mr Marriott
Thank you for supporting the immigration issue. I have three small children who are all half hispanic and it really bothers me when American people act as though hispanic people are animals and should be locked in a cage with no chance to make themselves better. We are America- land of the free and home of the brave- why wouldnn't anyone from a poorer country want to come here to make a better life? Anyway, I just wanted to say thank you for the support.

We need a reverse immigration policy and get rid of the lazy USA citizens that don't work. Look around you and you can see who they are. If they see a work ethic coming into the country it may force them out.

U.S. Immigration Policy is not broken - Congress is broken. Congress is too bent on appeasing big business and kowtowing to race based interest groups to have ever enforced U.S. Immigration Policy. Lawful immigration and illegal immigration are not the same word. U.S. Immigration Policy supports the needs of the United States. It can be flexed if need be. But, why fiddle with legal procedure? Illegal immigration supports the need for cheap labor even better than the law. When I hear Bill Marriott talk of the need for immigration reform, I can only imagine that his company has an ongoing need for cheap labor and that to date his company is more than guilty of hiring illegal immigrants in droves. Any one with a brain knows that once legal - counter to their self serving claims, former illegals will seek all the jobs, scholarships, and college placements that Americans do want. What will Bill Marriott do then? Tap the Chinese hinterland? More Mexicans have crossed the U.S. border illegally in the last twenty years than all the Europeans who came to America legally through Ellis Island in 60 years. You can see the scope of the problem. It seems likely there are sectors of the economy where we may need unskilled or semi-skilled labor on a contract basis, but it is just plain wrong morally and legally to reward claim jumpers with citizenship - while others wait in line.

God Bless you, Mr. Marriott. Some people here says that we Hispanics are a bunch of illiterate Spanish speaking people and these people here call themselves as professionits (this person says she's a doctor, what I doubt), but a person with a career in medicine should read more and critisize less. The illegal immigrants do not bring drugs to America, only the Narcos, not the hard working employees that only want a better life for them and their children. Did this person know that many of these people have brilliant, intelligent children who are making it great at schools, even better than caucasians? did this person know that many of these illiterate Spanish speaking people are not that illiterate and they study hard every night ? Did this person knows that Immigrants are not only from Latin America? Surely didn't.
This kind of discrimination it's what causes this tremendous confusion in this country.Personally, I think that there are a lot of jobs here that Americans refuse to do. I personally know this man who prefers living from his Social Security check every month than grabbing a mop at a Hospital and clean the floors and have a job that can bring him back some dignity.
Thanks to the Marriott chain many immigrants have jobs and a honest way of living. I'm also a doctor, but my mission is help people to heal, no matter what their immigration status is, not judging them. Humans are humans. Thanks so much, Mr. Marriott, I hope somebody in the White House finally listens.

Thanks for sharing your efforts on immigration reform. I have a slightly different perspective. My position is that immigration has evolved into a foreign policy issue that needs assertiveness and boldness from our political leaders to confront. It brings even greater accountability to Congress and the Heads of States of the immigrating population and it brings into play a critical examination of all international programs with organizations including the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), USAID, and the United Nations. Consequently, assisting in meeting the economic and social needs of immigrants, and encouraging persons to remain in their home country and assist in its well needed development. Many leave their native country because of economic reasons due to ineffective and or inefficient practicing government policies. "Are our political leaders thinking out of the box?"
Mr. Marriott, people will move where they perceive empowerment and a better life. Many sacrifice a higher standard of social living in their home country. It is innate, as stated in Darwin's theory "survival of the fittest" even though their ways may not be as sophisticated as others.
Maybe we need to hold our elected officials to greater accountability in "thinking out of the box," for there to be sustained alleviation to the immigration issue, as it has a strong national economic perspective. There is too much animosity at the citizen level because of erroneous information given to citizens in the name of politics. Please also note that the national unemployment rate is obtained from a survey called the Current Population Survey (CPS).
The US was built on immigrants, and its infrastructure lies in strong immigration policies. I trust non- governmental leaders like you will be successful to convey this issue for immediate assertive action of our political leaders.
Thank you for allowing me to share my opinion and helping to keep Marriott on the move.

I agree with you we need to fix the immigration system. I know many people that would make fine productive workers if they could get into the USA easier. We have many job openings at our facility and just can't find good hard working people. The people in our area are not hard workers so we must go South to find our resources.

Illegal immigration is destroying my community.
The unemployment rate is a report of the numbers of people who are eligble and are filing for unemployment,and is not a reflection of the TRUE rate of unemployment in this nation. The large corporations such as Marriott do not want to pay a competitive living wage to American citizens- that is why they can't get enough workers.In my community, there are lots of unemployed people who ARE NOT on the unemployment roster. We have a big problem with murder on the rise. People have too much time, and not enough work to keep them out of trouble.
Illegal aliens come into this country and live in large groups in single family dwellings very cheaply. Then, they carpool to work with their illegal immigrant boss. How is the American worker supposed to compete with that?
Companies like the Mariott are undercutting the American worker.
Furthermore, the large numbers of illiterate Spanish speaking people who are coming to our country are placing a burden on our health care and education programs, as well as a tremendous burden on our prisons. I know this firsthand, because I am in the health care system- I am a doctor.
We are asking for trouble if we do not reign in the skyrocketing numbers of illegals who are coming into our country. Mr. Marriott, stop undercutting the American people!!!!!
Illegal aliens bring drugs into our country. Terrorists come through our unguarded border. This is all an outrage and affront to the American citizen.
Lisa

Dear Bill:
You are the typical example of a mooching corporate welfare CEO. You people whine that you cannot operate your hotels without your beloved illegal aliens. Frankly, if you care going to blatantly discriminate against American teenagers, and high school graduates, then you deserve to be out of business!
Why is it that you multinational CEO's are so hell-bent on turning the country that gave you so much into a Third World welfare state?

The INS needs to be modernized and taken out of the messed-up Homeland Security Department. I personnaly know of a case where honest individuals have waited 10 years to immigrate from Europe to be with an adult child. The system is broken and overburdened. Mr. Marriott, please focus on this aspect, too.

Mr. Marriott
You bring about some good points. Hope the lawmakers recognize and act on this business-focus.
In addition, I only hope and pray that Lawmakers also focus on the challeng of spouses of Legal, Taxpaying Permanent Residents (LPRs). Few people realize that spouses of LPRs are not Welcome in the country when Green Card holders are required to stay and work.

This is the 400th anniversary of the founding of Jamestown. How many of the immigrants were undocumented? All of them. How many of them learned the existing language, and tried to fit in? None of them. How many of them imposed a severe strain on the existing infrastructure? Enough that 90% died of starvation.
Historically, 8-9% of the US population has been immigrants. It's currently less than 4%. Immigrants, much more so than native-born Americans, found small businesses - and small businesses are the engine of our economy, creating 80% of all new jobs.
The problem isn't that people are immigrating. The problem is that our bureaucracy isn't making them legal residents and citizens.

Bill Marriott, you're quite right about the system being broken. On eof the first things that needs doing is to staff the agency with competent people. An FBI source of moine says that the people who end up in INS are peoplle who cannot work in any other agency.
Secondly, for an issue that has the potential for widespread effect, localised laws should not, and cannot, be enacted without reagrd for the national good. Local lawmakers and pressure groups, are, however, likely to press on with local legislation that serves there own narrow puposes.
As an immigrant I see America as a nation that, in fostering States' Rights, individual rights, protection of criminals rights, etc., and all the other rights that are deemed so important, a nation of me-firsts has been created - no-one wants to help anyone else, just themselves.
So good luck with your plans. If I can be of help, please let me know.
David C. Berry
Writer/photographer
and sometim activist.
(North Sea Divers' Action Group, UK)