Marriott on the Move

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 . . .

I attended my very first professional football game with the Redskins back in 1942. I went to Griffith Stadium in Washington, D.C., and watched the incredible performance of Slinging Sammy Baugh. He's recognized as the greatest Redskin ever. Sammy Baugh was Washington's folk hero of the late 1930's and 1940's. He passed away this past December 17th at the age of 91.

I was only 10 years old back in 1942 and this was my very first big time football game. I was so excited to see Baugh throw those long passes - he was deadly accurate. In fact, the famous Washington Post sportswriter, Shirley Povich, talked about Sammy Baugh's first meeting with the Redskins coach, Ray Flaherty. He said, "You're in the pro leagues now, Baugh, and these receivers in the pro leagues expect their passers to be good. When they go down the field, our eligible pass receivers want the ball where they can catch it. They want to be hit in the eye. Do you understand that?" to which Baugh was supposed to have said, "Which eye?"

The Washington Post reported . . .

On January 10, I traveled to Norfolk, Virginia, for the commissioning of the newest Nimitz class aircraft carrier, the George H. W. Bush. It was a beautiful day and the signal flags that draped the ship were blowing smartly against a very blue sky.

Both President Bushes were in attendance and gave very fitting and touching remarks. But my biggest thrill was seeing over 2,000 Blue Jackets run up the ship's ladder and take their position at attention on the flight deck as the ship was officially commissioned and the first watch was set.

We were reminded that as long as the ship was in service of our great country, the able men and women of the USS Bush would be standing continuous watches, perhaps as long as . . .

There is a lot of excitement and anticipation throughout the United States and the rest of the world about the inauguration of Barack Obama, America's first African-American president. Never in the history of our country has there been such global interest and enthusiasm surrounding the election of our president.

It's fitting that this inaugural falls a day after an important holiday and day of remembrance in the United States when we pay tribute to the many civil rights accomplishments of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Dr. King opened many doors for African-Americans in the United States during the 1960s and laid the groundwork for Obama's election through his efforts to transcend . . .

Each year, Donna and I spend the holidays and part of January at our Harbor Beach Marriott hotel in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. It's right on the ocean, and this year the weather has been terrific.

This January, our hotel was the headquarters hotel for the BCS college football bowl - this was the national championship. I asked the BCS committee chairman if I could meet the University of Florida coach, Urban Meyer, to thank him for his great previous coaching job at my alma mater, the University of Utah.

Coach Meyer established a terrific football program at Utah, allowing them to win eight consecutive bowl games and finishing 2008 as the only undefeated team in college football. This year, Utah finished number two in the national championship AP poll, right behind Urban Meyer's Florida, which was number one.

I had a good visit with the coach and listened to him participate in two press conferences. One before the national championship game with Oklahoma, and one after . . .