One doesn't usually associate girls in thongs, bras and stiletto heels dancing on top of bars and riding in limos with hotel magnate J.W. "Bill" Marriott Jr., a devout Mormon.
But a story in the August edition of GQ magazine, which used a similar spelling of the name of the chairman and chief executive of the hotel management chain, has caused a bit of a stir.
In the seven-page spread, sisters — Frenchie and Dallas Marriot — are described as spoiled party girls whose father, Denver Marriot, is chief executive of Marriot Hotel Inc. It tells of the pair spending big money on shopping sprees and using fake IDs to get into chic watering holes in New York City.
The problem is the "Marriots" don't exist.
The young women in the photo spread are models the magazine hired.
The entire piece, written by Jim Nelson, one of the magazine's executive editors, was meant to be a spoof on the real-life Hilton sisters, Paris and Nicky, granddaughters of the founder of the worldwide hotel chain that bears the family name. The sisters are well-known young socialites who hang out in hip spots in New York and the Hamptons.
Unlike the company, the GQ Marriots' name was spelled with one "t" instead of two. The women in the spread were said to be 17 and 19. Marriott's only daughter, Deborah, is in her 40s.
But some GQ readers thought the Marriots were real-life heiresses.
"It's created a lot of buzz," said Arthur Cooper, GQ editor-in-chief. "The whole purpose of it was as a satire. It was clearly meant to be that."
Not everyone found the story amusing.
"It's a piece of fiction," Roger Conner, a Marriott spokesman, said of the GQ article. "We treasure our good name, and we feel the story is a little offensive to our good name.
"We don't feel it's in good taste relative to our name. The Marriot sisters do not exist," he said. "It's not real."
Conner said the company's corporate headquarters in Bethesda, Md., received calls about the story from some who found it offensive.
Marriott, who runs the chain's 2,000-plus worldwide properties, is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He was not available for comment, but Conner said Marriott was "aware" of the story.
The GQ story said the Marriot sisters are "known to hang out with members of the so-called DAT pack, the Daughters of the Affluent and Tony."
It goes on to say that among the Marriot sisters' best friends are "potato-chip heiress Chloe Utz, hygiene queen Evie Massengill, Jan Dunkin' of Dunkin' Donuts fame and Gwen Tylenol, who curiously isn't the daughter of anyone famous."
Cooper said he had planned to do a spoof on the Hiltons to run in the magazine's September edition. But he said Nelson "leapt" at the story idea.
"(Nelson) started to write it right away," Cooper said. "I read it. I thought it was hilarious. It made me laugh, and so we decided to run it in August."
Cooper said the magazine has received about a dozen calls and e-mails on the piece, including inquiries from movie studios and a book publisher.