Featured Post
Posted: May 15, 2008 3:45:28 PM
Every May, our associates around the world take part in our annual Spirit To Serve Our Communities Day. We give them time off to volunteer in their local communities. In the Washington, D.C. area, for the last 20 years, many of our associates have worked with the Capital Area Food Bank to help alleviate hunger locally.
I was really disturbed several years ago when I learned that many, many young children in the Washington area go to bed hungry every night, and I tried to do what I could to help.
Recently, I attended a Blue Jeans Ball, which was a benefit for the Capital Area Food Bank. Usually, dressing down for me is not wearing a tie, so it was a lot of fun to wear my jeans. While the . . .
Recent Posts
Posted: May 13, 2008 5:21:23 PM
I'm very happy to tell you about a good friend and business partner, Bruce White and his company, White Lodging. White Lodging just reached a huge milestone and opened its 99th and 100th hotels with Marriott. These new hotels are a Residence Inn and a SpringHill Suites that are housed in the same building in downtown Chicago.
Bruce is the Chairman and CEO of White Lodging. Marriott's been partnering with White Lodging for a long time and our companies have very similar family histories. I remember . . .
Posted: May 7, 2008 1:29:30 PM
A group of Wall Street investors came to visit us and their first question to me was, "What is your vision for the future of this company for the next five years?"
There were a lot of ways I could've answered this question. I thought about it for awhile and I said, "I think the future and the vision for this company is to continue to foster, maintain and improve our company culture."
But what does that really mean? Well, our company culture has been stated many ways. Basically, we believe in taking good care of our people and believe that if we do, they'll take good care of the guests and the customers and they'll return.
This has been embedded in the philosophy of our company for over 81 years. It was started by . . .
Posted: May 1, 2008 2:33:45 PM
As you know from reading my blog, I'm a history buff. While many of our Marriott hotels have played a role in making history, the Renaissance brand, which we acquired in 1997, has some of the most storied and interesting hotels in the world.
The Mayflower hotel in Washington, D.C. was the site of Franklin Delano Roosevelt's inaugural ball back in the early 1930s. Also, J. Edgar Hoover used to have lunch at the Mayflower all during his tenure. Eleanor Roosevelt had afternoon tea there, and there have been many other famous people who have stayed there. What a lot of people don't know is that, in addition to being a famous hotel, the Mayflower is one of more than 140 Renaissance hotels around the world.
We have another Renaissance hotel that has a fascinating past and that's The Blackstone in Chicago. This hotel used to be known . . .
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