Marriott

Marriott Hotels traces its roots to 1927, when J. Willard and Alice Marriott opened a nine seat root beer stand in Washington, DC. The business grew into a chain of restaurants before the Marriotts opened their first hotel, the Twin Bridges Motor Hotel, in 1957. Their son, J.W. "Bill" Marriott Jr., took the company forward from 1972, building it into what would become the world's largest hotel company.

The Spirit to Serve

Marriott's culture is built around five core values first put into practice by its founders: putting people first, pursuing excellence, embracing change, acting with integrity, and serving the world. Bill Marriott captured this philosophy in his 1997 book The Spirit to Serve, which remains required reading for new hires and is placed in guest rooms across the brand's hotels to this day.

From one hotel to a global flagship

Marriott Hotels is now the flagship brand of Marriott International, the world's largest hotel company, spanning around forty brands and more than 9,700 properties in some 140 countries and territories. What began as a single Washington hotel now includes a portfolio ranging from The Ritz Carlton and St. Regis to Sheraton, Westin, Courtyard and Moxy. Guests and associates alike benefit from:

• A presence in nearly every major destination worldwide
• Marriott Bonvoy, one of the industry's largest loyalty programmes
• Decades of consistent, family founded hospitality culture
• A single set of shared values across every brand in the portfolio

People first, always

Bill Marriott's best known motto, take care of your employees and they will take care of your customers, remains at the centre of how Marriott operates. Even during the Great Depression, founders J. Willard and Alice Marriott hired a company doctor to look after their staff, an early sign of a people first philosophy that Marriott has carried through nearly a century of growth.

Culture

• Put people first: caring for associates so they can care for guests
• Pursue excellence: consistently raising the standard of service
• Embrace change: adapting while holding onto founding values
• Act with integrity: doing the right thing, always
• Serve the world: giving back to the communities Marriott operates in

Human Resources

Marriott looks for people who share its founding belief that taking care of associates comes first. New joiners are introduced to The Spirit to Serve, the philosophy that has guided the company since 1927, and are supported by one of the hospitality industry's most established training and development programmes.

• Structured career paths across nearly 40 global brands
• A famously low staff turnover for the hotel industry
• Leadership that stays close to associates, exemplified by decades of hotel visits by the Marriott family itself