Marriott on the Move

I was recently in Orlando, Florida, for a conference with owners and franchisees of our select service and extended stay brands. Those brands are Courtyard, Fairfield Inn, SpringHill Suites, Residence Inn and TownePlace Suites. It's a great event where we build and strengthen relationships, align ourselves on company initiatives and share good business practices.

We also take the opportunity to recognize our top owner and franchise performers. We handed out over 60 awards and presented 11 owners and franchisees with the Partnership Circle Award, our highest honor given for hospitality excellence.

One of the things I noticed when presenting the awards was many of these companies are run by families. Out of the 11 Partnership Circle winners, more than half are run by families, many that span multiple generations.

One of these companies, JHM Hotels, has a great story. Their chairman and CEO, H.P. Rama founded . . .

This Father's Day, Donna and I want to express our joy in the many accomplishments of our children. We have four kids - a girl and three boys. Our daughter Debbie is the oldest. At age five, she underwent open heart surgery and has survived to raise five beautiful children. She is a very nurturing mother, and is also senior vice president of government affairs at Marriott and doing a wonderful job in her new calling. Her only daughter Kim will be married in November, so Debbie is very busy planning the wedding.

Our second oldest child is Stephen. He is one of the most courageous people I know as he is legally blind and has lost most of his hearing. Yet he comes to work every day and, equipped with his white cane, travels the country teaching Marriott convention sales people how to sell. He also gives multiple PowerPoint presentations about our culture as a family business. He never complains and is always positive and upbeat.

Our son John is our third oldest and manages a family trust that owns 14 Marriott managed hotels. John has had a life long friend, David Fell. They grew up together and when Dave was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis almost 25 years ago, their . . .

It's graduation season, and a few weeks ago, I went to North Carolina to speak at Wake Forest University's commencement. The world is in deep economic turmoil and jobs are hard to find, but I focused my speech on the importance of never giving up and always maintaining an optimistic outlook. While things might look bleak right now, I think it's important to keep your eyes open to the opportunities that will eventually open up to you.

One of the examples I gave them was my father's struggle to earn a college education. When he returned to Utah from completing his Mormon mission in 1921, he only had a 6th grade education and his parents didn't have any money to pay for his schooling. But, a local . . .

It's April 14, 2009, and a very happy day for the Marriott family. My son David and his wife Carrie just had another baby boy. The baby was born this morning around 11 o'clock. We don't have a name for him yet, but he's a big boy at 8 pounds, 1 ounce, 20.5 inches long - the biggest child they've had.

They have four children now and we have . . .

It's the end of March, so that means I'm taking my annual trip to Scottsdale, Arizona. I've come out here for spring break to our JW Marriott Camelback Inn every year for 41 years to celebrate my birthday and spend time with my family. It's always great to have everybody together, particularly in one place - especially a place with such beautiful weather and scenery.

But, like I do on most of my trips, I will be visiting some of our Marriott properties while I'm in the area. I'll even be attending the grand opening ceremony for our newest Residence Inn in the Scottsdale/Phoenix area. This is a very unique hotel as it actually sits on the campus of the Mayo Clinic hospital and caters to patients and their families, as well as researchers and other medical professionals who are visiting the hospital.

Our Residence Inn brand is perfect for many patients of the Mayo Clinic and their families as these hotels are designed . . .

This past Sunday as I was reading The New York Times I noticed the huge full-page ad with a letter from John Stumpf, president and CEO of Wells Fargo bank. His bank was taking some heat for an upcoming annual recognition event for their employees in Las Vegas. It was a meeting of their top performing people - not top executives, but rather bank tellers, financial advisers and sales reps. Because of the public outcry over Wall Street's excess, Wells Fargo canceled their event but Mr. Stumpf wanted to put things in perspective.

When business meetings are canceled, he asked, "Who loses besides our team members? [It's] the workers who depend on our business. The hospitality industry. Housekeepers. Restaurant servers. The airlines."

He's exactly right. According to the U.S. Travel Association, in 2008 the travel industry employed 7.7 million Americans and generated more than $115 billion in taxes every year. Last year, 200,000 people lost their jobs in our industry and we're expecting . . .