Congratulating the Fairfield Inn & Suites Small Business Challenge Winner: ecycler

A few months ago, I mentioned a great contest our Fairfield Inn & Suites brand was doing called “The Small Business Challenge.” The owners of ten small businesses stayed for free at our Fairfield Inn & Suites hotels as they traveled around the country, trying to grow their businesses and...

Freshness Is the Key Ingredient at AMP 150

One of my favorite things to do is to eat and one of my very favorite meals is a big, juicy hamburger – I like them pink, and rare if I can get them that way. And it’s very hard for me to pass up a good dessert, especially rice...

Mapping Marriott's Global Footprint

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...

Enjoying a Smooth, Quiet Ride in the New Chevrolet Volt

I love cars. I collect a few – I’m a real aficionado. I used to go to car races when I was a kid and I’ve been to a lot of car shows. So I’ve really been a car enthusiast. We just finished test driving the brand new Chevrolet Volt,...

Marriott Guests Can Give Back with New Voluntourism Package

The people and businesses along the Gulf Coast and New Orleans have sure endured a lot over the past five years -- between Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and now the oil spill -- but I want to focus on the resilience of that wonderful community. Earlier this summer, some of...

Supporting Critical Water Conservation in China

For the past two weeks, I’ve been traveling throughout China visiting our hotels in the region. We’re just about ready to open a brand new Ritz-Carlton hotel in Pudong, a suburb of Shanghai. It is truly an amazing hotel – very tall and very beautiful. But we’re opening an even...

Marriott Celebrates Green Initiatives this Earth Day

Today is Earth Day and in honor of this day of environmental awareness, I want to share with you some of our “green” news. First, I am excited to tell you that earlier this month, our headquarters building in Bethesda, Maryland, was certified as LEED-Gold, which is the U.S. Green...

Discussing Climate Change in Copenhagen

The United Nations Climate Change Conference, also known as COP-15, opened in Copenhagen on December 7th. Fifteen thousand delegates are expected to attend, including 110 heads of state and government from 192 countries. Their objective is to establish a binding global climate agreement, to include as many countries as possible,...

Two Courtyard Hotels Make Eco-History

They say you can't be in two places at once, but I learned today you can, thanks to technology! Today we celebrated two big milestones with one big event. First, the Courtyard Portland City Center in Oregon, which opened just a few months ago, officially received its LEED-Gold certification from...

Our Commitment to the Brazilian Rain Forest

Our company has joined the worldwide effort to save the Brazilian Amazon Rain Forest from the deforestation that contributes to climate change. It is something I have blogged about before. We have contributed money to build a middle school, a dormitory and a health clinic in the Juma Sustainable Development...