Marriott on the Move

I know it's Mother's Day this week, and I thought I'd share some remembrances of my mother who passed away just a few years ago at the age of 92. My mother was one of the founders of Marriott International. She and my dad opened a nine-stool root beer stand back in 1927 here in Washington, D.C.

When the weather got cold, people stopped drinking ice cold root beer, so they put on chili and tamales and hot dogs and hamburgers. But my mother cooked the chili and tamales in her apartment because there . . .

People often ask me, "What is your favorite hotel?" That's hard to say because we've got 3,000 of them and some of them are absolutely spectacular. But, you know, it goes back to, "Where are your roots?" and "Where have you spent your happiest days?" and it always comes back to Camelback Inn in Scottsdale, Arizona.

We've been going to Camelback as a family since 1948 -that's a long time. Camelback's got a great history. It was the first resort hotel built in the Scottsdale area of Arizona back in 1936. It had a dirt road in front of it . . .

It's a girl! This is Bill Marriott. This morning at 10:40 my wonderful daughter-in-law Carrie and son David had a beautiful baby girl, seven pounds, one ounce. They have two boys and now they have a little girl. Her brother Jack, when informed about this wonderful event, said "She'll love me Daddy." Jack is...

Reflecting back on Marriott's 80 years in the hospitality industry, one word summarizes our company's enduring success: opportunity. This weekend in San Francisco, I'm challenging our JW Marriott, Marriott and Renaissance General Managers from around the world to look for opportunities for their associates to grow and build careers within Marriott. When your employees see personal opportunity, the company thrives, and that has helped Marriott get to where it is today. At the recent Residence Inn and TownePlace Suites General Managers Conference in San Antonio, I shared with all the General Managers the following story about an opportunity my father was fortunate enough to receive.

In 1921, my father returned from his mission for the Mormon Church. . .

Hi, this is Bill Marriott. Everybody's asked me about that AstroTurf(r) story. This is one of the great stories of our company.

My dad was a stickler for detail. He wanted everything perfect. He always wanted the guest to have the very best experience they could have. Back in about 1976 or 1977, he discovered AstroTurf, and he decided that this would be a great product to put on ...

Hi, this is Bill Marriott. This week, I'm traveling to Los Angeles for a big hotel developers' conference. We're going to be talking about how the industry's going, and I'll review the plans for our new LA Live hotel - that's going to be a combination Ritz-Carlton, JW Marriott, and Ritz-Carlton Residences - right in downtown LA.

Well let's not talk about that now. Let's talk about what our guests want. We know they want to be comfortable and have the best beds in the world, which I hope you've tried. We also know they want great technology and access in the room and lobby. But I know, like me, they're also looking for ...