In 1964 J. W. "Bill" Marriott Jr. took over the Marriott Corp. from his father, J. Willard Marriott Sr. Today, the global corporation manages more than 1,500 hotels under 10 different brand names and more than 3,400 food and facility service contracts. Marriott is one of the most recognized names in the hospitality industry.
The family's philanthropy has also made the name readily recognized in Utah, where the family traces its roots and Bill Marriott attended the University of Utah. Joel Campbell, Deseret News associate business editor, talked to CEO Bill Marriott about his business and personal philosophy, management style and future of his company this past week. Marriott was in Salt Lake City to promote his new book, "The Spirit to Serve; Marriott's Way."DN: Why did you write this new book?
Marriott: I've been sitting on the 50-yard line of this great company watching it come from a little tiny root beer stand to a $12 billion company.
I have been part of it, and I have experienced certain things I thought might be helpful to our people and to those business people who want to learn what we think is important in the service industry.
It is a chance to take a look at where we come from and examine our core values and make sure they are still in place. I write about our mistakes and the things we have learned.
DN: What does this "spirit to serve" mean to you and your company?
Marriott: I think it means enthusiasm for the customer. We encourage servant-leaders. We don't like big shots in our company. Everyone needs to be out there serving the customers and serving the employees and doing the best they can for the business. They're not there to put themselves up as an icon in a fancy office and never see anybody. (Executives) need to be out on the floor and see and be seen and be enthusiastic about the company.
DN: How do you keep employees happy and willing to stay with you during good economic times such as we're now experiencing?
Marriott: They have to know they are important to you. You have to respect them. You have to provide opportunities for them to get better jobs. One of the main reasons for the growth of our company is that we provide opportunities for our people.
They've also got to know that you will train them, teach them and help them do better so they can get ahead. They've also got know when they have a personal family problem that you can help them. Today, you have to reach out a lot more to your people to retain good people.
With 225,000 (employees) it becomes a bit more demanding than it did when my father could visit every restaurant every day.
For example, we have set up an associate resource line. If you have a problem with child care, elder care, spousal abuse, substance abuse or whatever we have an 800 number where you can call and talk to a counselor. The service is offered in 15 languages. The line has reduced our turnover. It cuts back on absenteeism and tardiness.
DN: In the book it talks about your goal of reaching 2,000 hotels by the year 2000. What about that?
Marriott: "2,000 by 2000" we think is attainable. We have been opening roughly 200 hotels a year. We'll be at 1,500 hotels this year and if we open 200 hotels in the next 30 months we should be there. We are pretty confident we can achieve that goal.
DN: Talk about the company's direction. Along with lodging, you're expanding your food services and going into senior assisted living centers.
Marriott: (Our food services are) moving into colleges, universities and hospitals. We do over 800 hospitals and a lot of school systems. We continue to grow the business.
We are much more global now with our hotels than we were in the past. We were pretty much a domestic company until about eight or nine years ago, and we started expanding. Today, we are in 50 countries and over 100 units overseas.
We've recently pushed into the senior living centers. We decided that taking care of the elderly, not in nursing homes, but in assisted-living was a wave of the future. A lot people are not sick enough to go to nursing homes, but they will live longer and stay healthier if they are in an assisted-living environment.
DN: Your book talks about getting back to basics.
Marriott: Basic things work. If you treat people right they will respond accordingly. If the customer gets great service they'll come back. That is not brain surgery. This is being good to people and they'll return the favor.
DN: Does corporate America spend too much time worrying about the latest management fad?
Marriott: I think so. They're helpful, but you really need to focus on the customer and listen to what the customer is telling you. Try to work with your customers to give them what they want.
Most of our growth and product innovation has come by listening to our customers. When they tell us they want a hotel in Paris, then we've got a hotel in Paris for them. They want a hotel in Beijing and Shanghai. We've got those under way.
DN: Many old-line companies are closing their doors (Woolworths comes to mind). How do you keep a company from that fate?
Marriott: You have to keep fresh. You have to keep on the leading edge of innovation. You have to continually evolve your business.
DN: Your rigorous schedule of personal inspections of hotels is legendary. Are you obsessed with details?
Marriott: I guess it is part of my culture. It is my blood. I started following my father around going into kitchens when I was a little kid. I have never stopped. I enjoy it. I enjoy seeing the people.
DN: Does such an intense concern with details mean you miss the broader vision for the company?
Marriott: No. Getting into the details provides you with the openings to find the opportunities. If you find, for instance, that your customers are saying you can only build so many full-service hotels in each given city, then you go to your customers and ask, "What do you want?" (Based on our customer input) we were the first chain to develop a new chain of moderate- and economy-priced lodging (Courtyard and Fairfield Inn). Others have done it since. We are the only company to put our name on those other chains.
DN: Were some critical of your move to put a brand name on those lower-priced chains?
Marriott: It was a scary thing to do. People said you'll ruin the core brand. They were wrong.
DN: The Marriott name is well known in Utah for its gifts at the University of Utah and Brigham Young University. Will your philanthropic activities continue in Utah?
Marriott: We'll I don't know. This is certainly where our roots are. We continue to be enthusiastic and excited about the people who live here and the potential they have to become, in many cases, world leaders. That's the reason that my father and I have been anxious to contribute to the educational part of the state. All of what we have done in the state has been in the educational area.
DN: You are a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Has there ever been a conflict between your faith and your business? For example, serving alcohol in your hotels?
Marriott: The alcohol thing is something we struggled with. Our first three hotels were opened in what were then dry states so we didn't have to face that issue. Then we started building a hotel in Philadelphia, and we knew we had to put in a bar. We said we're going to have to sell liquor. It was a tough decision for us. We learned we can be in the world but not of the world, and we decided if we did it we would do it in good taste and would have places people felt good about staying in.
I am very proud of the fact that last year we gave out 50,000 Books of Mormon. (Marriott hotels provide them in rooms along with the Bible). I think we can do some good for the LDS Church and we could do more, but we are a public corporation and we have to be careful we don't cross over too many lines.
DN: You've been called as an LDS Area Authority/Seventy. How does being a keen-minded businessman as well as a spiritual leader fit into who Bill Marriott is?
Marriott: I mention in the book (LDS Church) President Spencer W. Kimball's adage to "decide to decide." I think it is true in business. I think it is true in life. Decide when you are young or even when you are old that you are going to live a good life, going to be a good parent and a good child, that you are going to be a faithful member of the church. Once you make that decision, stay with it. It comes to "enduring to the end."
The same thing is true in business. If you decide you are going to build the best hotel in any city you are going to go into then decide to do everything you can to make it the best. . ..Don't ever except a compromise in your quest for excellence - and eternal life.