Our Marriage to Gaylord & My Best Man Shrek

If you’re going to stay on top of your game, you’ve got to keep growing, but you must grow responsibly. In our industry, we either grow by opening new hotels or attract existing properties. Our development team is always analyzing potential partnerships. A few years ago, we joined forces with...

Raising a Family of Brands

One of our Middle Kids Turns 25 - Fairfield Inn & Suites Just imagine having a family of 18 kids. Well, at Marriott International, that’s the number of brands we have. Each has its own personality, its own voice, its own friends that we call customers. As we celebrate the...

The Buzz Around Europe's Green Efforts

I recently returned from a cruise through Europe. As always, I had a tough time separating work and leisure. I can’t come into a port or a city without resisting the impulse to stop by some of our hotels and visit some competitors. What struck me on this trip is...

Don't Outkick Your Coverage

The Challenge of Growing Globally - Recruiting Great Talent In a recent blog, I indicated that in the next two years we would be opening one hotel per month in China. This, of course, represents a huge challenge to hire and retain some 40,000 new associates. We are working closely...

Marriott in the Limelight

This past month, I was excited to see Marriott make its mark on both the big and small screens. The Pitch is a reality show in which two advertising agencies fight it out to represent one of our newest brands, Autograph Collection. At the movies, The JW Marriott and The...

Beautiful Bathrooms

There’s been some great buzz about our hotel bathrooms, so much so, one of them was a “Best Restroom in America” top ten nominee. CNN came out and did a feature. The restrooms just off the lobby at the Renaissance Arlington Capital View near Washington, D.C. are just gorgeous and...

Living Well

When we launched the JW Marriott brand, which is named after my father, we envisioned something really special. We like to describe the brand’s unique personality as “quiet luxury” – a first class experience that lacks pretense, but strives to enhance the guest experience with art, nutrition, culture and overall...

ExecuStay on the Move

You may have heard that Marriott recently announced it was selling its corporate housing brand, ExecuStay, to Oakwood Worldwide. That transaction became effective May 1 and represents yet another step we’ve taken to ensure our company can focus entirely on managing and franchising our lodging brands. The move was good...

This Isn't Your Dad's Courtyard Anymore

If you haven’t been to a Courtyard hotel lately, check out the slide show of photos below. As one magazine described it, “This isn’t your dad’s Courtyard.” A few years ago, we started our “refreshing business” project. Now, we’ve reached a milestone of five hundred hotels with a new look...

I'm Blown Away, Thanks to our GM's

I recently attended our full service General Manager's conference in Los Angeles at L.A. LIVE. With hotels in 73 countries, our general session was like a United Nations general session. We were all there to learn about the innovative things being developed by our brands, to share best practices and...