Helping Those Who Help Others

Group meetings, conferences and conventions are a very important part of our business and account for over 35 percent of our total sales. One group that often holds their annual conference in one of our hotels is the National Association of School Nurses (NASN). They are terrific people who take...

Good Training Leads to Service Excellence

When we talk about service at The Ritz-Carlton, we talk about the Gold Standards. So I’m excited, that our Ritz-Carlton brand recently received the tremendous honor of being one of only 40 companies named to the elite J.D. Power Customer Service Champion list for service excellence. To determine which companies...

Take a Minute . . . and Relax

About every March, I head to Camelback Inn, our Marriott resort in Scottsdale, Arizona, for a vacation with my family. It’s usually spring break for the kids and I celebrate my birthday there and have every year since 1967. I’ve been going to Camelback since I was 16 and love...

Our Culture Sustains Us Through Challenging Times

Winston Churchill, one of my heroes, once said, “If you’re going through hell, keep on going.” It certainly describes the challenge our Marriott associates have faced over the past several weeks, as Egypt, Bahrain, Libya and other countries in the region have experienced a great deal of political turmoil and...

Marriott Opens Doors to a World of Opportunity

People often ask me what motivates me every day to go to the office, when other business leaders at my age have long retired. The answer for me is simple. I know that every hotel that Marriott opens, whether it's in Indianapolis or India, is opening doors to a world...

Lending a Hand in Haiti

It’s been a year since a devastating earthquake struck Haiti, killing more than 230,000 people. Although we don’t have a Marriott property in Haiti, this tragedy affected many of our associates who originally came from Haiti. Our South Florida hotels alone employ more than 1,000 associates from Haiti, most of...

Taking a Trip Down Memory Lane

When a company has been around for a long time, it’s only natural that there are a lot of historical mementos, keepsakes and records that have accumulated. We keep a lot of these items from the past in our company archives at our headquarters in Bethesda, Maryland. We recently refurbished...

Climbing Up Marriott's Ranks

I was recently in Atlanta to visit our hotels and hold a town hall meeting with our associates, including two very interesting and successful women. I’d like to share their stories with you because their journeys up the ranks of our company are great examples of where hard work and...

More Than 300 Hotels Visited in 2010

I’ve blogged many times about my travels and the many visits I make to our hotels around the world. Every year, I try to make it to about 250 hotels, but this year, I worked extra hard and got past the 300 mark. It’s a lot of fun getting out...

Fairfield Inn & Suites Associates Provide "Hospitality at Home"

One of the things I’m most proud of about our company is our strong culture and our Spirit To Serve Our Communities program. It’s so important that all of us give back to the communities where we live and work. Our Fairfield Inn & Suites brand has a long history...