Marriott on the Move

I'm sure a lot of you have seen that commercial for Apple with the silhouettes dancing around, listening to their iPods.  One of the dancing guys is a man named David Elsewhere and he's been quite an Internet sensation.

Ernest Hemingway and Graham Greene are two great authors who write often about the ex-pat experience.  That's the target for one of our lesser known brands.  It's called Marriott Executive Apartments, or MEA, and it's designed for so-called executive ex-patriates.  These are people whose companies are relocating them for a long period of time to complete different work assignments.  These "super-travelers" are away from home an average of 100-170 nights and some even stay away for years!

As you all have seen on television, our upper Midwest region has been struck by a terrible natural disaster.  Huge rains have fallen in Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, Michigan and Wisconsin.  The rivers have been overflowing their banks and the levees are breaking.  There's been massive flooding and thousands of people in the region have been evacuated from their homes.

I'm a movie buff. Donna and I recently went to Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. What great fun and wonderful entertainment. As we sat together in the movie, chewing on our popcorn and holding hands, it was great to hear that wonderful soundtrack come back from Indiana Jones of the past.

It was wonderful to see an older performer do gymnastics, jump through the air and go on chases through the jungle. He's a humble guy, this Harrison Ford, but he's taking risks and enjoying what he's doing.

We're all aware that there was a terrible earthquake in China on the 12th of May.  My heart goes out to the victims and the families.  But I'm so proud of how our hotels responded.  True to our Spirit To Serve, our associates, owners and franchisees rushed to action to help the community and their peers affected by the quake.

I want to tell you what I learned when I visited our Salt Lake City Downtown Marriott Hotel.  You know, I just love to hear stories like this.

Back in March, Pamela Daley took her four year old daughter Sahara to Salt Lake City, Utah, for tests at Primary Children's Hospital.  They stayed in our Salt Lake City Marriott Downtown Hotel.  To get Sahara excited about the trip, Pamela told her daughter she'd get to see some real snow in Salt Lake City.  Since she was from warm, sunny Arizona, Sahara was thrilled she was going to see snow and immediately thought about Santa Claus.

It's that special time of year again here at Marriott.  I'm blogging directly from our annual Awards of Excellence ceremony held at the Bethesda North Marriott Hotel and Conference Center right near our headquarters in Bethesda, Maryland.

We hold this ceremony every year to honor the best of the best within Marriott.  This year, we honored nine individuals with the J. Willard Marriott Award of Excellence for consistently providing outstanding service.  It's the highest honor a Marriott associate can receive.  This year's recipients come from all over the world - from Turkey to London and throughout the United States.

June 5 marks a very important day to encourage environmental awareness - it's called World Environment Day.  I've told you before about many of our global initiatives like our partnership with the Brazilian state of Amazonas and our efforts to reduce fuel and water consumption globally.  While efforts like these are in place at our properties, many of our Marriott hotels around the world have taken it upon themselves to create their own local initiatives to help protect the environment.  Let me share some of these fantastic efforts.