Activities

Marriott International is a leading player in the international hotel, timeshare and corporate accommodation markets. The group owns, leases, manages and franchises nearly 2,600 hotels in 65 countries under a wide variety of brands.

Its business encompasses full-service, more mid-scale select-service and extended-stay hotels; luxury timeshare apartments; and corporate accommodation for executives. It also runs 13 Marriott Conference Centres in the USA and operates a synthetic fuel business.

Hotel brands
Marriott Hotels & Resorts (full-service, upper-midscale brand)
JW Marriott Hotels & Resorts (full-service luxury brand)
Renaissance (full-service upper- to mid-scale brand)
Courtyard by Marriott (select-service three-star brand)
Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company (full-service luxury brand)
Fairfield Inn by Marriott (select-service economy brand)
Bulgari Hotels & Resorts (full-service luxury brand in partnership with Italian jewellery firm Bulgari)
SpringHill Suites by Marriott: (select-service, all-suite brand)

Extended-stay hotel brands (five days or more)
Residence Inn (home-away-from-home brand: suites include kitchens)
TownePlace Suites by Marriott (mid-priced, extended stay brand)
Extended-stay corporate accommodation brands (30 days or more)
Marriott Executive Apartments
Marriott ExecuStay 

Timeshare resort brands
Marriott Vacation Club International
The Ritz-Carlton Club (private residences for members in prime resorts)
Horizons (value-for-money brand)
Marriott Grand Residence Club (sited in premier, second-home destinations)

Timeline

• 1927: John Willard Marriott, aged 27, opens a nine-seat root-beer stand in Washington DC. It adds hot food to become The Hot Shoppe. The business expands over the years to include airline catering (1937), food service management (1939, fast-food and family restaurants, senior living services and accommodation (1989), housekeeping and laundry services (1989) and food wholesaling.
• 1957: The company opens its first hotel, the Twin Bridges Marriott Motor hotel, in Arlington, Virginia.
• 1964: The company name becomes Marriott-Hot Shoppes. JW Marriott Jr takes over as president and, in 1972, succeeds his father as chief executive officer.
• 1967: The group changes its name to the Marriott Corporation and is listed on the New York Stock Exchange the following year. .
• 1969: Marriott makes its first move overseas with a hotel in Acapulco, Mexico.
• 1975: The group opens its first European hotel in Amsterdam, Holland.
• 1982: Marriott buys airport food and merchandise operator Host International.
• 1983: The first Courtyard by Marriott opens near Atlanta, Georgia. Marriott makes its UK debut with the five-star London Marriott in Grosvenor Square, London.
• 1984: Marriott enters the timeshare business with the acquisition of American Resorts Group.
• 1985: Marriott buys the Howard Johnson Company. It keeps the restaurants but sells the hotels to Prime Motor Inns.
• 1987: Marriott acquires the Residence Inn Company, an all-suite extended stay hotel chain. The Fairfield Inn in Atlanta, Georgia, becomes its first economy hotel. The group’s stock is listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
• 1989-1990: Marriott sells its fast food and family restaurants to focus on hotels and contract services.
• 1991: The Cheshunt Marriott in Hertfordshire becomes the group’s second UK hotel. Canadian-based Scott’s Hospitality picks up the sole UK franchise to develop Marriott in the UK through Scott’s Hotels.
• 1993: Marriott splits its business in operating company Marriott International and property company Host Marriott Corporation.
• 1995: Marriott buys a 49% stake in the Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, which it boosts to 99% in 1998. It moves into the UK contract catering market with the acquisition of Taylorplan Services, followed by Russell & Brand the following year. Whitbread buys Scott’s Hotels for £183m from its Canadian parent, gaining the UK Marriott franchise along with 12 Marriott and four Courtyard by Marriott hotels.
• 1996: Host Marriott Corporation splits into Host Marriott (a hotel and real estate owner) and Host Marriott Services Corporation (a concessions and food service businesses). Marriott opens its first economy Fairfield Suites.
• 1997: Marriott launches Marriott Executive Residences and opens its first TownePlace Suites in Virginia. It gains three new brands – Renaissance, Ramada International and New World – from the $1b acquisition of the Renaissance Hotel Group, a deal that doubles its overseas presence.
• 1998: Marriott International is relaunched as a hotel, senior living and food distribution specialist after merging its food service and facilities management business with Sodexho Alliance’s North American division to form the £2.5b-turnover Sodexho Marriott Services. The group introduces Springhill Suites by Marriott.
• 1999: Marriott buys corporate housing business ExecuStay, which goes on to acquire Executive Living of Ohio. Marriott Vacation Club International launches the mid-priced Horizons by Marriott Vacation Club and the luxury Ritz-Carlton Club.
• 2000: Marriott is chosen as the official accommodation supplier for the 2002 Winter Olympics and the 2000, 2002 and 2004 US Olympic teams.
• 2001: Ireland-based Jarvis Hotels signs a 20-year deal to rebrand its 62 hotels under the Ramada banner. Marriott outlines a joint venture with Italian jeweller Bulgari to develop a luxury chain of up to seven hotels designed by Bulgari and run by Ritz-Carlton in partnership with real estate companies.
• 2002: Marriott sells its food distribution and senior living businesses. In April, Marriott Grand Residence Club takes over the management of the 47 Park Street hotel in Mayfair London.
• June 2003: Michelin-star chef Michael Caines opens a fine dining restaurant at the Bristol Marriott Royal.
• 2004: Marriott opens its 500,000th bedroom at the new West India Quay Marriott in London’s Canary Wharf, which is partnered with the UK’s first Marriott Executive Apartments. It sells Ramada International to US franchisor Cendant.
• January-March 2004: Whitbread takes over the management of three former Le Méridien hotels for owner Royal Bank of Scotland. They include Grosvenor House in London (which will become the UK’s first JW Marriott in 2008), the Shelbourne in Dublin (which becomes a Renaissance in 2007) and the Victoria & Albert Hotel in Manchester.
• May 2004: The first Bulgari hotel opens in Milan, with a second due to open in Bali in 2006. Several more are planned.
• November 2004: Whitbread exits the three-star hotel market with the £79m sale of its 11 Courtyard by Marriotts to property owner Chiltern Mondiale and hotel operator Kew Green Hotels.
• January 2005: A group of Irish investors buy the Shelbourne hotel in Dublin, which will continue to be run by Marriott on a long lease.
• April 2005: Whitbread signals its exit from the four-star hotel market when it puts its Marriott hotels up for sale. In May, it transfers its 46 franchised Marriott and Renaissance hotels into a joint venture with Marriott, which will now manage the properties while Whitbread seeks a buyer.
• August 2005: Ritz-Carlton announces its first move into Ireland. From 2006, it is to manage a 203-bedroom hotel for property developer Treasury Holdings within a luxury golf and spa resort near Enniskerry, County Wicklow.
• November 2005: Ritz-Carlton announces a new "above luxury" brand called the Reserve. The first of the new hotels, the Reserve Molasses Reef, opens in West Caicos in the British West Indies in 2007. It will sit alongside branded villas, homes, townhouses and a marina.
• April 2006: The Royal Bank of Scotland pays £951.4m for the 46 hotels in Marriott's joint venture with Whitbread, which receives £237m on top of the £710m it gained from the creation of the interim company. Marriott nets £100m from the sale, repaying the £90m it injected into the arrangement, and regains control of the Marriott franchise for the UK.
• May 2006: Marriott announces plans to expand its mid-market Courtyard brand in the UK, with 50 new properties targeted over the next 10 years. While primarily a management and franchise-based business, Marriott says it will consider buying sites to secure prime locations.

Financial snapshot

The figures are for the year to 31 December, 2004

Group revenues: $10.1b (2003: $9b)
Group pre-tax income: $654 (2003: $488m)

Marriott Lodging: revenues
Full-Service: $6.6b (2003: $5.9b)
Select-Service: $1.1b (2003: $1b)
Extended-Stay: $547m (2003: $557m)
Timeshare: $1.5b  (2003: $1.3b)
Total: $9.8b (2003: $8.7b)

Marriott Lodging: pre-tax income
Full-Service: $426m (2003: $407m)
Select-Service: $140m (2003: $99m)
Extended-Stay: $66m (2003: $47m)
Timeshare: $203m (2003: $149m) 
Total: $835m (2003: $702m)

UK operating data for eight managed hotels
Occupancy: 76.9% (2003: 74.4%)
Average daily rate: $173.48 (2003: $142.47)
Revpar: $133.37 (2003: $106.01)

Operating data

The company has nearly 2,500 properties in 64 countries.

Hotels
Marriott: 482 hotels (USA: 312)
JW Marriott: 20 (USA: 8)
Renaissance: 130 (USA: 64)
Courtyard by Marriott: 638 (USA: 583)
Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company: 57 (USA: 35)
Residence Inn by Marriott: 454 (USA: 441)
Fairfield Inn by Marriott: 530 (USA: 527)
TownPlace Suites by Marriott: 112, all in the USA
Springhill Suites by Marriott: 116 (USA: 115)

Timeshare
Marriott Vacation Club International: 52
Horizons by Marriott Vacation Club: two
The Ritz-Carlton Club: four resorts in the USA
Marriott Grand Residence Club: two properties

Marriott ExecuStay: in 37 major markets
Marriott Executive Apartments: 14 worldwide

Marriott in the UK

Marriott has 76 properties in the UK and Ireland.

Up to 2005, when Whitbread gave up its Marriott franchise and hotels, Marriott directly operated just three Marriott and five Renaissance hotels in the UK.

It now manages all the UK properties except for Courtyard by Marriott.

Marriott: 52 in the UK, two in Ireland
Renaissance: seven in the UK
Courtyard by Marriott: 11 in the UK, one in Ireland
Marriott Grand Residence Club: one, 47 Park Street in London
Marriott Executive Apartments: one, West India Quay, London

The Grosvenor House hotel in London and the Shelbourne hotel in Dublin are to become JW Marriott and Renaissance hotels respectively.

Number of employees: about 133,000 worldwide
Number of UK employees: 8,000-9,000

Strategy

"In 2004, business travel rebounded, leisure demand reached new heights, and each of our 17 lodging and timeshare brands benefited from the strong recovery.

The lodging industry is changing rapidly, and Marriott is well-positioned to benefit. Strong owner and franchisee preference, as well as demand for our brands, has allowed us to add strategically to our lodging portfolio with little new Marriott-invested capital. Because of the power of our brands and our ability to generate value for our owners and franchisees, Marriott management contracts are generally among those with the longest terms in the industry."

Source: annual report, 2004

Chief executive

JW Marriott Jr

Key directors

Corporate
President and chief operating officer: William Shaw
Executive vice-president, chief financial officer and president, Continental Europe Lodging: Arne Sorenson
President and chief operating officer, Ritz-Carlton: Simon Cooper
President and managing director, Marriott Lodging, International: Edwin Fuller
President, Marriott Leisure: Robert Miller
President, Marriott Vacation Club International: Stephen Wiesz

UK, Ireland, Middle East and Africa
Executive vice-president: Jurgen Giesbert
Vice-president: Henry Davies
Vice-president sales and marketing: Paul Malcolm
Area vice-president UK and Ireland: Robert Gaymer-Jones

UK headquarters
Barnhard’s Inn
86 Setter Lane
London
EC4A 1EN
Tel: 020 7012 7000
URL: http://www.marriott.co.uk  

Contact

US Headquarters
Marriott Drive
Washington DC
USA 20058

Tel: 001 301 380 3000

Website: http://www.marriott.com

Commentary

Marriott is keen to increase its presence in the UK market. In July 2005, it outlined its intentions of boosting the 11-strong Courtyard by Marriott chain to 40 hotels within a year. It is also poised to introduce two extra Marriott brands to the UK – Grosvenor House hotel in London is destined to become the UK’s first JW Marriott by 2008, while the first Ritz-Carlton will open in the Irish republic in 2006. London is also in the frame for a Bulgari hotel.

Having hired top chef Michael Caines to try and win it a Michelin star at the Bristol Marriott, the group is now seeking a celebrity chef to replace the former Chez Nico restaurant at Grosvenor House hotel

It is not yet clear whether the planned conversion of St Pancras Chambers (the former Midland hotel) into apartments and a hotel by 2008 will transfer to Marriott. Whitbread struck the deal in 2004 with the Manhattan Loft Corporation.