2012 is the year of the Dragon. Let the week-long celebrations begin. That’s right, an entire week of brilliant fireworks and colorful parades. It’s truly an amazing spectacle. Think Times Square – but a whole lot bigger!
Our Marriott hotels in Shanghai, Beijing and Sanya, will have ceremonies featuring Chinese drummers and Kung Fu artists. Food is also very important to New Year's celebrations. The Hong Kong SkyCity Marriott Hotel created a unique dim sum dumpling menu in honor of the Dragon. Each dish is a work of art.
Chinese New Year Coconut Pudding and Taro and Turnip Cake.
Loh Hei Chinese Salmon Salad.
Pancake with pan-fried goose liver, sliced pork and chicken liver.
The JW Marriott Hotel in Seoul celebrates with Korean customs. Marriott employees wear colorful Korean costumes and hand out traditional treats like sticky rice cakes.
Marriott hotels are truly apart of the communities they call home. Like the dragon that represents strength, passion and good fortune, Marriott has strength in its brands, passion in its guests and good fortune for continued growth. Recently, we signed our 100th hotel in China and are opening one hotel a month during the next three years. Each Asian hotel opening has its own traditional celebration. I dotted the eye of the lion in 2007 when Marriott opened its 3,000th property, JW Marriott Beijing.
Later this year, I plan on traveling back to China with my family. I’ll be 80-years old and I can’t wait to learn more about its customs and help promote tourism. So, happy New Year to our friends in Asia. Good fortune to everyone.
I’m Bill Marriott and thanks for helping me keep Marriott on the move.
My parents founded our company in 1927, nearly 30 years before the Civil Rights Movement. It didn’t matter to them who or what you were, you were welcome. Back then in the South, here in Washington, D.C., this was a courageous move. But they stuck to their beliefs.
Martin Luther King, Jr. stood up for what he believed in. I'm still amazed at how he was able to change the face of not just our great country, but of the world. His courage and heroism continue to inspire me. (Dr. King's portrait is in our boardroom with a note from Coretta Scott King.)
Sunday October 16 was the official dedication of a memorial to Dr. King. I was really proud Marriott associates were among the throngs of people from across the nation and around the world. His beliefs of protesting using non-violent means for social change are evident today.
Dr. King’s speeches and sermons combined themes of democracy deeply embedded in the American conscience, and reinvigorated these messages with clear and insightful reflections on the true meaning of justice and equality.
Although I never met Dr. King, he is such an inspiration that I was honored to serve on the Martin Luther King Executive Leadership Council to help make this memorial a reality.
I encourage you to visit the memorial to experience more than a monument, but a place dedicated to honoring a great humanitarian.
I leave you with one of my favorite Dr. King quotes: “The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.”
I’m Bill Marriott and thanks for helping me keep Marriott on the Move.
India is truly an incredible country. There’s something old and something new everywhere you turn. It’s experiencing tremendous growth and our hotels are right in the middle of it.
Most people’s impressions of India are not nearly as up to date as the changes taking place there. They may have been formed in school while watching a long, boring documentary.
In an attempt to dispel some myths and stereotypes, our Indian associates took to the streets and produced their own mini-documentaries. The things they do and the places they go … well, let’s just say they know where to have fun.
This “local knowledge” is important to our guests. After checking in, guests want to know the top restaurant or the best yoga class.
So meet our talented, knowledgeable local hotel associates as they take you on a tour across the country to see their new India. You’ll learn why the country’s tourism slogan fits: “Incredible India.”
Click on the links below to view the grand openings of our newest hotels –Pune Marriott Hotel and Convention Centre and the Marriott Jaipur Hotel. We’ll have many more hotel openings in the next few years.
Leave a comment. I’d like to hear about your favorite India video or destination.
I’m Bill Marriott and thanks for helping me keep Marriott on the Move.
When we open the doors to a new hotel, we also open the doors to a world of opportunity for people who may never have imagined that they could work for a company like Marriott.
Philip Papadopoulos is the general manager of the Jordan Valley Marriott Resort & Spa and recently told me the inspiring story of how his hotel helped poor farmers and herdsmen in Jordan break out of the bounds of poverty.
Since it opened in 2002, the Jordan Valley Marriott Resort has looked for dedicated people to successfully run the 250-room hotel. They recruited associates from the capital city of Amman, but they also took a bold step to source employees from two local villages.
The idea of working at a resort was only a dream for those villagers who depended on the land for their livelihood. They endured below-poverty conditions with family members living in one room, no plumbing, thin walls, and dirt floors on which they placed their blankets to sleep.
When the hotel’s human resources team reached out to these farmers, many locals questioned the wisdom of such a move. But they soon found that a number of farmers were eager to work for the resort. The hotel training team first offered them hygiene, grooming and etiquette classes. Then they taught them hospitality skills. And finally the farmers and herdsmen were offered English lessons so they could talk to our guests.
Philip said the team went on to do even more for these associates. For example, rather than discard used, but still very useful items like furniture, mattresses and linen, they donated them to the associates, who had little more than a ragged blanket, a few chickens and some sheep.
The risk of hiring these villagers has really paid off. Nine years later more than half the associates working at the hotel are from that same little village. Philip says, “They come to work eager to serve, their shoes polished and their smiles wide.”
I can’t tell you how happy I am to hear stories like Philip’s. I’m Bill Marriott and thanks for helping me keep Marriott on the move.
I recently received a few questions from The Connection by SpringHill Suites, an exclusive online community of the brand’s most passionate guests. I’m delighted to be able to interact with this loyal group of supporters and thank them for being so enthusiastic about this wonderful brand.
Brian Earley asked, “If I had five to seven nights to spend at any Marriott in the world, which would I choose?”
When I’m on vacation, I love to walk along the beach and look back to see the footprints I’ve left in the sand. I know that companies can’t literally leave footprints, but all companies leave evidence of their activities.
Marriott recently released its 2008-2009 Sustainability Report. It is a record of our progress and ongoing commitment to social responsibility, global diversity and inclusion, sustainability, being an employer of choice and our “Spirit To Serve” culture.
July marks the 20th anniversary of the signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, something our company has supported with all our heart and soul. After all, we are in the hospitality business and we welcome everyone.
That’s why last night I attended a very special event we hold each year, the annual fund raising dinner in Washington, D.C., to support Bridges from school to work. It’s a program that is run by the Marriott Foundation for People with Disabilities and is chaired by my brother Richard. The purpose of the program is to help young people with disabilities, ages 17-22, make the tough transition from school into satisfying and rewarding jobs and careers.
Today, I’m blogging about two things that are very important to me -- opportunity and families. When my mother and father started our company as a root beer stand 83 years ago, they represented the great entrepreneurial spirit. They worked hard to build the business and were able to expand because they impressed other people and businesses who bought their products and services. As a result, I’ve always been fascinated with people who have the courage to start their own business and try to make it grow.
That’s why I was so impressed when I heard about Allison Costa and Amy Feldman, two entrepreneurs who appeared on the TV show Shark Tank. On the show, start-up business owners try to convince a panel of judges, who are venture capitalists, to invest in their small companies.
One of my very favorite spots in the world to vacation is the Arizona desert. Since I was 16 years old, I have spent time with my family at our Camelback Inn Resort, just outside of Phoenix, Arizona, first with my parents and now with my great grandchildren. We love the climate and the great Native American culture.
Last night, not far from our Camelback Inn, members of our Marriott development team celebrated a huge milestone for our company. We signed our first ever Marriott-branded hotel owned by Native Americans and built on tribal land in the United States. It’s a Courtyard by Marriott that will be situated in the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community just outside of Scottsdale.
Today, we celebrated a momentous occasion at our headquarters in Bethesda, Maryland. We were joined by the Mexican Ambassador to the United States, Arturo Sarukhan, and representatives from the Pulso Hotelero ownership group in Mexico for the signing of a monumental development deal for our Fairfield Inn & Suites brand.
