September 25, 2019 • 44 mins
Would you let your 14 year old travel to another city without you? Would you let him take all your inventory with him and trust him with a huge sale? Well, that's how J. Willard Marriott Sr. got his start. Times were different then to be sure, but it was that audacious confidence, strong work ethic, and family unity that he passed on to his sons and that formed the cornerstone of one of the world's most well-known and well-loved brands.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
What do you get when you mix a bunch of
thirsty tourists in nine twenties Washington, d C. With a
young man passing through on his way back home to Utah,
the beginning of one of the world's most impressive and
long standing hotel brands. That's what Well, that's what you
get if the young man's name is Jay Willard Marriott.
(00:33):
This is Phisiography, the show where we dive into the
strange but true stories of iconic companies. Whether they're a
current bright star, in the midst of a massive dumpster fire,
or settling into the dust heap of history, they all
have a past worth knowing. I'm Dana Barrett. I'm a
former tech executive and entrepreneur and a TV and radio host,
and over the course of my career, I've interviewed thousands
(00:54):
of business leaders and reported on the bright beginnings and
massive flameouts of the brands we know and love. Most
of their stories are about humble beginnings, some are about
true visionaries, and some are about hard work and taking risks.
Physiography is a production of I Heart Radio and dB
Media and is co hosted as always by my producer,
(01:14):
Nick Bean. Thank you, Dana, always good to be here.
I think Marriott's story is about filling the gap, right,
filling a void, looking at something and going hmm, there's
an opportunity here, We're gonna do it, yeah, and then
doing it really well. Yeah, Yeah, I totally agree. I
was at a conference the other day, the Shadow Summit,
(01:34):
and I heard Michael J. Coles speak, you know, very
well known entrepreneur himself, and he was talking about the
story of David and Goliath and saying that while most
people take away, uh, that the little guy one, that's
what they take away from the story of David and Goliath,
what he takes away is that David had the courage
to get in the game without knowing the outcome. And
in so many ways, that's what the Marriott story is
(01:56):
about for me, the fact that they just kept trying things, um,
and they didn't know if they were going to work
or not, and they just went for it. Yeah. They
jumped two feet into the deep end every time and
it worked. And also a little bit, you know, just
using the David and Goliath thing that they sort of
started as David and now they're Goliath, right, And while
(02:17):
so many of our photography episodes of focus on companies
that came from nothing and became huge. Most of those
companies became the monster in the story instead of remaining
the hero. But I don't think that's true for Marryott.
Of course, we're gonna have to dig in and see.
And of course, if we're going to dig in and see,
the best place to start is always with the founder.
In this case, it was John Willard Marriott. He was
(02:38):
born in nineteen hundred in Marriott Settlement, Utah, on September
He was the second of eight kids. Okay, hang on
real quick, Dana, before we go too far down Jay
Willard's you know, founding story. Let's talk a little bit
about where he's from. You said, Marriott Settlement, Utah. Right, Yeah,
a guy named Marriott born in a place called Marriott. Okay, yeah,
(03:00):
I mean, I know that's not true for everyone. I
was not born in Barrett Town. Were you born in Beantown? No?
I was not, Nor am I from Boston also as Beantown.
All right, so fair enough. I think we do probably
need to explain a little bit about why he was
in a place called Marriott Settlement. And I know the
Marriott family is Mormon. I think a lot of people
probably know that if you have even looked a little
bit at the history of the company. But did all
(03:22):
Mormon families have towns named after the No, not all
of them did, but around that time many of them did.
Write the Marriotts were kind of right place, right time.
With that. To know why, though, you kind of have
to go back to the start of the Mormon Church,
which was founded by Joseph Smith, who was from Western Pennsylvania.
I think most people have heard his name before. He's
(03:44):
the founder of it's the Church of Latter day Saints
to be technical, so Western Pennsylvania where he's from. And
this guy is basically a known scammer. He was a
treasure hunter that never actually found treasure, so no, so
when he did eventually found the church, there was already
a bad stigma around him and the people who followed him.
To make a long story as as short and succinct
(04:06):
as I can, they end up leaving Western Pennsylvania and
going to Ohio because they were being persecuted, for lack
of a better word, in Western Pennsylvania, people just didn't
like the Mormons, so they went to Ohio and things
are working okay till Smith himself gets wrapped up in
a bank scandal where they owe a ton of money
to debtors and an underage sex scandal, and like eighteen
(04:28):
thirty or so, So I didn't know they had sex
scandals back then. They twitter, Uh no, they didn't. But unfortunately,
as humans have been really bad about keeping it in
our pants for centuries. So there's that. So they end
up leaving Ohio and they go to move the Mormon
Church down to Missouri. Now, before they get to Missouri,
Smith goes down to check things out and on the
(04:49):
way he and a friend get essentially knocked unconscious and
literally tarred and feathered. Yeah, that doesn't happen usually when
you're like popular and well loved. Usually not. I also
thought that stuff only happens in cartoons. They have to
do that in real life. But it actually happened and
was left for dead essentially. So then they end up
(05:09):
getting to Missouri and they're like, Okay, we're not getting
tart and feathered. But the Missourians hate the Mormons even more.
They've got more political influence because their numbers are growing,
and there's a lot of religious differences between the Native
Protestant Missourians and the Mormons. Long story short. Here, the
Missouri governor essentially calls for the extermination and expulsion of
(05:32):
all Mormons out of the state of Missouri. It causes
what becomes the Mormon War of eighteen thirty eight. The
Mormons don't win because they're fighting an organized government militia
from the state of Missouri, and they end up fleeing
to Illinois after Missouri. While they're in Illinois, they start
another settlement that starts to gain a lot of political
(05:52):
power and a lot of religious power, and against scandals,
more bank scandal, another sex scandal with founder Joseph Smith,
and the government of Illinois turns against the Mormons. Smith
actually gets imprisoned this time and is killed in prison,
which leaves the Mormon Church again with no real home
and now with no real leader. So the person who
ends up taking over is the leader of what's basically
(06:15):
I think it's called their Council of Twelve. And the
leader is a man you've probably heard this name by
Brigham Young. Indeed, yes, he has a university named after him.
He ends up being the head of the Mormon Church
and goes, okay, we've been to six different states, this
is not working out. We are going to go ahead
and the entire Mormon Church is going to go out
to this really cool place out west I've heard of
(06:35):
called the Salt Lake Valley, and in eighteen forty seven
they establish Salt Lake City, Utah. A couple of years
later in the mid right around eighteen fifty, he tells
all the Mormon families that are gathered, Hey, not all
of you, but most of you. Let's go out and
settle most of the west Arizona, New Mexico. And the
Marriotts were one of these families that headed to northern
Utah and settled. And at that point when they would settle,
(06:58):
they were essentially trying to start their own towns. So
they had the Marriotts Settlement or the Smith Settlement or whatever.
So that's why it has its name. Here's the catch, though,
it actually is now incorporated as the city of Marriott Slaterterville,
so it's still named after the family. Now it's it's
the it's because they're Marriotts, right, it's the modern Marriotts.
(07:19):
That's why it's stuck. Got it all? Right? Well, so
that's interesting because like that whole history of them, you know,
of course America was moving west at the time too,
but essentially, if they were finally all right, we're going
to skip a bunch of states and go further west
because this every like one or two states thing is
not working. It was not working, all right. So that's
how they got there. So let's bring it back and
talk about Jay Willard Marriott, who was known as Bill
(07:42):
by the way um. As a kid in Utah, he
was pitching in with the family. They had a farm.
They were raising sugar beets and sheep, and he was
working from the time he was a little kid. They
were not rolling in the dough. They were homesteaders essentially,
right with their farm, as you said, their settlement. And
he later looked back and credited his father really and
(08:03):
his father's leadership style as instrumental in his own self
reliance and ability to solve problems. Here's a quote from J.
Willard Marriott senior as we know him now quote, my
father gave me the responsibility of a man. He said
he would tell me what he wanted done, but he
never said much about how to do it. It was
up to me to find out for myself, which I
think is interestingly enough still a leadership style that works.
(08:27):
You know, if you just not that you should tell
people not to ask questions. But essentially, if you say
you're smart, figured out and you left, you dealt it,
it's true delegation, right. Absolutely, he kind of left to
his own devices, right and made it work. So to
that end, in nineteen thirteen, and only thirteen years old,
Bill Marriott goes into business for himself. He gets his
younger siblings involved and they raised lettuce on the farm. Well,
(08:50):
that's not a crop that they had been working on.
So at the end of the summer, the harvest brings
in two thousand dollars. That's a lot of money, and
Marriott takes the money proudly to dad. Because of that,
his dad now trusts him, and a year later and
trust him literally with the sale of a herd of
three thousand sheep, he puts the fourteen year old Bill
(09:10):
Marriott by himself, well, with the sheep on a train
to San Francisco. Why sent a fourteen year old to
the big city alone? Yeah, yeah, that is not something
you would do in modern times, not at all. Can
you imagine like giving your fourteen year old essentially like
your entire business and being like, here, take this, go
(09:30):
on some kind of transit by yourself to another city
to sell it. I don't want to give my sixteen
year old just my car to go to the store
down the street, no question. Not to mention the fact
that you probably get arrested for like child neglect if
you put your fourteen year old on a train with
all of your business. I think of how pivotal that's
got to be. Only a fourteen year old going, I
can handle this. I got this right. So fast forward
(09:51):
a couple of years to nineteen nineteen. Now Bill is
nineteen years old and he goes off on a two
year mission for the Mormon Church in New England. As
guess they were trying to go back from where they
started and recruit people, right. Uh. So he's there for
two years and in the summer of nine, at the
end of the mission, he starts his travel back to Utah,
where he's going to pursue a college degree. But on
(10:12):
the way home, he passes through Washington, d C. In
the middle of summer. It's hot, it's muggy, it's gross,
and he's touring around and he's seeing all these hot,
thirsty tourists, and he's watching this push cart pedlar go
down the street selling lemonade and soda pop and ice cream,
and in minutes this guy is cleaned out. He's doing
a great business. But then he has to take all
this time to go back where he came from, up
(10:33):
the street, get another cart, lot of stuff, and come back.
And Bill sees an opportunity, but not one he's gonna
do anything about. Right then, it's really just the seed
in his brain. He continues his journey back to Utah
where he goes to college, and he's kind of out
there doing his thing for a little while. So how
does that little seed from that you know tourists stopped
through in Washington, d C. Turn into the Marriott International
(10:57):
that we know now we'll tell you right after this. Alright,
So remember it's when young Bill Marriott travels through hot,
muggy Washington, d C. And gets the seat of an
idea of a business. Maybe there's some way to make
(11:19):
money on these hot and thirsty tourists, but really it's
just the seat of an idea. He goes back to Utah, uh,
and he goes first to Junior College Webber Junior College
in nineteen graduates from there, then in nine graduates from
the University of Utah, so we're talking five years later now.
And then he goes to work for Webber College. So
that's what he's doing. He's working away at Webber College.
(11:41):
But really this guy is an entrepreneur at heart. Remember
he's the guy that started to lettuce business at thirteen
and took a herd of sheep on a train at fourteen.
So all these years later, five six years down the road,
he is still thinking about those thirsty tourists in Washington,
d C. And he's thinking there's a business opportunity there.
Around that same time, he hears about a cousin's A
(12:03):
and W root beer franchise, and he starts thinking about
that in combination with the thirsty tourists, and he decides
to look into his own business side. Note here, do
you remember A and W root Beer? Yeah? They're still
a Really, I don't know are they. I think they've
got like one in Florida last time I was down there.
(12:24):
I mean, and they had you could buy A and
W root beer like in cans at the store. I
don't know if you still can get you Yeah, I
feel like root beer had like a moment of popularity
that that just is over. It's true, and I think
part of that is like the A and W brand.
Maybe we have another photography episode in the works here
could be and like tastes have changed or whatever, like
nowadays you'll see maybe like a an indie root beer
(12:46):
brand that sort of bubbles up and interesting. People want
to try cream soda like some of these old timing
kind of soda flavors. But yeah, root beer was like
the hot ticket back then, so basically he was hopping
on like a version of them's like McDonald's right, early
franchise of an A M W. Root beer stand essentially
is what they were. So in nineteen seven, Bill Marriott
(13:10):
secures the A and W franchise rights for Washington, d C, Baltimore,
and Richmond, and he heads east along with a business
partner named Hugh Colton and his soon to be wife,
Alice Sheets. I feel like I want to do a
whole episode on Alice because I'm sort of fascinated by her.
First of all, Like this is n and she goes
(13:31):
off on a trip across the country from Utah to Washington,
d C. With the man she's not married to yet
like that is bold. For that is bold. So it's um.
And they've got six thousand dollars that they've pulled together,
Hugh and and Bill and Alice and I feel like
(13:52):
there could be a sitcom there maybe. And they rent
this space, this tiny little space to open up their
first A and W root beer lace and um, that
first franchise opens on man On Street in Washington, d C.
Just two weeks later. He you know, Bill is true
to his word. I'm sure he must have promised Alice
(14:14):
before the trip. Uh. So two weeks into it, they
get married and essentially their honeymoon is their drive back
to Washington, d C. Because they got married in Utah,
so they're back and forth. Uh. And they drive back
in wait for it, a Model t Ford. Wow, that's
a long, long road trip. There's no interstate system. There's
(14:35):
no air conditioning in that car, just saying, um, and
it's may they don't have like they can't plug in
their you know iTunes or whatever and do some you
know some singing along. The one thing for sure, Alice
loved this man. She clearly, She clearly did. She also
wasn't really expecting to be an integral part of the business,
(14:58):
but pretty soon she found her herself involved in almost
every aspect of the company. I mean it was a
startup after all, essentially a family business, and we know
how that goes, all hands on deck. Yeah, absolutely, and
I think over the years she really became like a
really major player overall in Marriott, right, Yeah, she did.
She was another woman who was in many ways ahead
(15:21):
of her time, kind of like Brownie Wise weirdly from
our Tepperware episode, um. And like Brownie Wise, her name
is sort of known inside the Marriott company, um, but
her contributions aren't really talked about that broadly in terms
of you know, general purpose young women knowing who she was. Right.
And it's interesting though, the Marriott Corporation now has a
(15:43):
community service award named after her. Yeah. So I mean,
as I said, I feel like inside the company she's beloved,
you know, but I don't know that she got the
broader kind of respect that she would have if she
was in a different era. Absolutely. Yeah. So anyway, it's
and the Marriotts have their the It's weird saying it
like that, but you know, the Mariad family has their
(16:03):
nine seats, just the two of them. They have their
nine seat root beer stand and then fall comes and
you know, it gets called after summer in d C.
And nobody wants a frosty mug of root beer anymore.
So they do what real entrepreneurs do and find a solution.
Alice find some recipes, and they add hot food items
(16:25):
to their menu. This is a first for AMW franchises
because up to that point they were you know, root
beer stands with some seats and that was it. Um.
But to make sure the public will understand, they change
the name to hot shops. Yeah. So um. You know,
Originally I was saying, I think I don't know if
you and I were talking about this, Nick before we
(16:45):
started recording, But I was saying, I don't know if
Bill really Bill sr Um intended to have, you know,
a giant company, or really was just intended to have
one or shoe stores. But does sort of seem like
he all along was trying to grow the business, because
he grows it pretty fat. Well. I think, you know,
the business was kind of in his blood a little bit, right,
like whether he wanted to or not. Yeah. Yeah, So
(17:09):
the family open their second and third businesses, so they
end up opening two more hot shops, including the East
coasts first drive in restaurant? Interesting, well did you do?
Do you want to take a guesses to where the
first drive in in the country was? Not on the
East Coast? We ruled out that side, right, I mean,
(17:31):
I know it wasn't Utah. You're not wrong. They didn't
get the idea from home. No, the first one was
in nineteen one in Dallas, Uh, Texas. It was called
Kirby's Pig. Stand. I kind of love that name, I
really do. And while we're doing fun facts, I have
to say even more fun the largest drive in still
in operation to this day is the Varsity, which is
(17:53):
right down the street from us here in Atlanta's right
all right? In two I keep calling them in the
Marriott family. They were really just to Alison Bill. But
in nineteen thirty two they have their first child, uh,
their son, Jay Willard Marriott Jr. Who they also call
Bill just so could be very confusing. There's two of them.
You're not going crazy, people, that's right. So Junior is
(18:14):
born in nineteen thirty two, and ultimately he becomes the
guy who's really responsible for the hotel empire that we
know today. So we will get to him, but let's
just stick to our timeline here for a moment, because
three years after Bill Jr. Is born, in nineteen thirty five,
Bill Marriott Senior is diagnosed with lymphoma and given between
six months and a year to live. But he this
(18:37):
guy is just to beat the odds. I can take
three thousand sheep on a train when I'm fourteen guy,
And so even with this diagnosis that was giving him
one year, he should have been dead by nineteen thirty six,
but he lives the night five. So I don't know
how he was feeling in the mid nineteen thirties because
he's got this diagnosis, can't be feeling super great. But
(18:57):
he continues to um, you know, do business, and he
continues to see opportunity where others don't. And he actually
sort of invents airline food in the United States. How
does that even happen? So hot shops a k a.
Bill Senior, And again I don't know who else was
sort of helping manage at the time, So there may
(19:19):
have been other people that get some credit for this,
but we're going to give it to Bill Senior. He
sees hungry people about to get on a plane much
in the same way he saw thirsty tourists in d C.
Because now, you know, airline travel starting to become a thing,
and he starts delivering box lunches from hot shops to
passengers at Hoover Airport, which was near Washington, d C.
(19:39):
At the time. And interestingly, the airline catering part of
the business became a huge part of Marriott Corporation and
really was integral up until then. You know, you would think,
especially with the origin of restaurant and then moving into hospitality,
obviously food would remain a big part. But yeah, that's
interesting to know us till the nineties we were near
(20:00):
line food. Yeah. Well, the thing is they were, and
they started out as a restaurant business, right and if
you think about it, they really started out as a
business to serve tourists. That's what they were about. They
started in Washington, d C. Serving cold beverages to thirsty
tourists and these were additional tourists getting on an airplane.
So they were seeing their customer um in all of
(20:20):
his or her different iterations and and figuring out what
they needed and how to serve them, which is a
classic business example. Honestly that I've gone back to you
many many times because I know back in the day
when you and I were doing business radio and we
would talk all the time about go Pro and how
they sort of had this interesting idea. But what they
thought they were a camera company. And this might still
(20:40):
be true for Goper. I havn't really kept up with
them in a while, but they thought they were a
camera company, so they would try to invent new gadgets,
new cameras, new ways of doing camera stuff, instead of
realizing that they were a company that was serving you know, adventurers, right,
extreme sports folks. You have a new Year clientele, Right,
that's a rule number one, because those where their brand loyalists. Yeah. Uh.
(21:01):
In any case, we digress, as we often do on
this show. It's the nineteen thirties. They've got this airline
catering business. They've got several hot shops, restaurants, and even
though Bill may not be feeling great after that lymphoma diagnosis,
he and Alice have their second son, Richard. Now Richard
is definitely the lesser known son, but you don't need
to feel too bad for him because he worked in
(21:22):
the business as well, taking over a huge chunk of
it later on, which we'll get to. And in his
net worth was listed at over two billion. Yeah. So
even though he's not as famous as his older brother Bill,
he did all right. Um. In any case, as the
boys are growing up, Bill Senior and Alice continue to
grow the Hot Shops restaurant chain and actually take it
(21:44):
public in nineteen fifty three. In nineteen fifty three, so
that means Bill Juniors about twenty one at that point, right, Yeah,
And he had always been interested in the family business.
He was working, you know, in the different Hot shops
in different positions through out high school and college. Um.
And of course he was born and grew up in Washington,
d C. But the ties to Utah and the Mormon
(22:07):
Church and all of that we're strong. So he ends
up going to Utah for college, goes to the University
of Utah, gets his bachelor's degree in finance. So he
was always a business guy. He was always interested. He
was kind of he was listening, he was learning when
his dad was, you know, coming home at dinner and
talking about work. Right. He also went off and served
in the military, actually on an aircraft carrier before really
(22:28):
taking his place in the Hot Shops company. Okay, so
if I can jump in real fast. An interesting little
side note is in nineteen fifty four, two years before
Bill Jr. Even got into working at Hot Shops, he
says that he learned a lifelong management lesson from then
President Dwight D. Eisenhower when he and his wife Mamie
(22:50):
were guests at his parents house. Okay, so when Eisenhower
was given the option to either go outside and shoot
quail in the cold or just stand by the fire,
Apparently President Eisenhower turned to twenty two year old Bill
and said, what do you think we should do? And
with that one statement, Bill says he tried to adopt
(23:11):
that style of management as he progressed in life, by
asking his people simply, what do you think. Actually found
an interesting clip from where he talks about that lesson
that he learned. I was assigned to be the ward
room officer on an aircraft carrier and I had a
bunch of stewards who were doing the food preparation. I said,
here are the recipe cards. Follow them and they gave
(23:33):
me this glassy stare and they said when we had
follow him, and I didn't know what to do, so
I let them do their own thing. But I realized
that I did not get buy in from them before.
Most important words in business or what do you think?
And I didn't ask the stewards in the navy what
do you think? I said, here, do this, and I
found out it done worked very well. I love that
Bill Jr. Was sort of picking up management lessons in
(23:56):
odd places, if you will, before he even really became
the head of the company. I mean, at this point,
he's barely just getting started in the company, and he
ultimately does, as we keep alluding, become the guy. So
we'll get to him growing the hotel side of the business.
We haven't even opened a hotel yet. We'll get to
that right after this. So it's nineteen fifty six and
(24:25):
Bill Senior is still running the company. He's the man,
but now Bill Junior officially joins the hot Shops Corporation.
And fast forward just a little bit of time. The
family opens their very first hotel in January of seven.
So this is still with Dad Bill Bill Senior in charge,
but Bill Jr. Now also a part of the company,
(24:46):
and that first hotel was in Arlington, Virginia, which, if
you don't know. The area is essentially a part of
the d C metro area. It's sort of right there,
right on the same metro line as DC and all
of that. And it was called the Twin Bridges Motor
Hotel at the time if you were somebody who was
around that area in those years. That later became the
Twin Bridges Marriott, but at the time it was the
(25:09):
Twin Bridges Motor Hotel. And so once again you have
the family expanding and innovating, and you would think it
was just going to go swimmingly well, like all of
their other decisions. Yeah, because they knew what they were doing.
They went from root beer to hot food and one
hot shop to multiple hot shops and multiple hot shops
to airline food. So why not a hotel to our
(25:31):
earlier point right there, still serving that tourist, they should
know what they're doing. But alas the hotel business is
not quite as easy of an of an entry for them,
so it's not going super well. And I ended up
finding a clip of Bill Marriott actually talking about that too. Yeah,
this Bill Marriott did a lot of speeches and interviews
(25:54):
for a span of years. Here's just a little clip
of him talking about taking over the hotel business. And
three months after, I mean, the hotel was struggling and
I asked my dad if I could take over this
latest venture. He said, what do you know about the
hotel business? I said, not very much, but I know
as much as anybody else around here. I love that
so much because I cannot tell you the number of
(26:16):
conferences I've been to and uh, you know, panel discussions
and training sessions where entrepreneurs are getting taught how to
pitch their idea. And can you imagine if an entrepreneur
in modern times like went to an executive. No, granted
this is his dad, so it's a little different, but
can you imagine if an entrepreneur went to an investor
(26:36):
and said, I want to open a hotel business. I
don't know much about it, but I know as much
as anybody else here, but they would get the money.
It's a big funding for you. Yeah, I mean it's look.
Family businesses obviously are a different animal, because you know,
you give your your kids a choice or a chance
rather that you might not give a stranger, because you
(26:58):
know what they're capable of. The different thing too, is
he kind of had a right to go to his
dad and say that, because isn't that kind of what
they've been doing this whole time? Dad didn't have like
a background in food, and they opened a N and
W shop and then the hot shops, So it was
kind of winging it the whole time, right, Well, I
think that's the way things were. I mean, I think
the business world was much more like that. I mean
(27:19):
even just think about Bill Senior as a kid deciding
to start a lettuce business, his dad letting him take
the sheep and get on the train. I mean, I
don't you know. I just think things were different. You
did what you had to do, and if you didn't
know how to do something, you have to go get
four degrees in it to be able to execute it.
Figured it out. You figured it out. I kind of
like that. Actually, That's always been more of my mentality, um,
(27:39):
rather than going and getting years of education on something,
learn as you go. In any case, Essentially, from nineteen
fifty seven, when that first Twin Bridges now Marryott Twin
Bridges Marryott opened, through the nineteen eighties, over the next
twenty five years, Marriott grows and becomes as we know
(28:00):
it a diverse global enterprise, and Bill Jr. Becomes that
visionary CEO whose leadership really transformed the hospitality industry. I mean,
he's written books, He's come up with, you know, philosophies
of business that have transformed not only his business but
business in general. Very well respected. Um and you know,
we can sort of go through a little bit of
(28:20):
a bit by bit. You know, they opened their second
Marriott hotel, the Keybridge Marryott in nineteen fifty nine. I
think that's the first one that actually was called a
Marriott right off the bat. And uh, by then Bill Jr.
Has his first child, uh, Debbie Marriott. She was two
years old at the time, and she uh snipped the ribbon.
I'm sure she had helped, you know, but in any case, Uh,
(28:43):
fast forward four Bill Jr. Becomes executive vice president of
the company h then ultimately becomes its president. Finally we
get the renaming. Hot Shops Incorporated becomes the Marriott Corporation
in nineteen sixty seven. Okay, so Marryott kind of sort
of as we know it, officially became Marriott in nineteen
(29:04):
sixty seven. Yeah, Now keep in mind they still had
hot shops of course, so the Marriott Corporation now owned
you know, Marriott hotels and hot shops, restaurants, and the
airline catering business, and you know whatever else they were into.
A little interesting fact. You know, we've talked about a
lot of our bhisiography companies that we've examined about sort
of their attitudes towards race and gender and all of
(29:26):
those things. In you know, maybe sometimes early uh eight,
the Junior hot Shop in Philadelphia's Progress Plaza becomes the
first African American owned shopping center in the United States.
It's interesting, it's they put it. They did business essentially
putting in a hot shop in this African American plaza,
(29:46):
and everybody wasn't doing that in those days. I'm sure
that was controversial. Yeah, so it's worth noting. I think
that they were trying even then to sort of have
an open mind and be welcoming to all, and I
know that to this day, diversity is a huge part
of Marriott's model how they operate. Yeah, so there you go. Um,
kind of interesting, just a little tidbit there. Um. Marriott
goes international in nineteen sixty nine, opening their first international
(30:10):
hotel in Acapulco, Mexico, Acapulco. I feel like it used
to be it's a fun word to say, but it
used to be sort of like the hot spotted in Mexico.
And then yeah, but still right, they were bleeding edge
a little bit in the sixties. That was definitely when
the international travel was getting big. Yeah. So basically what
(30:30):
starts to happen in the nineteen seventies, and this is
the same era when Bill becomes the CEO of Marriott,
is that they start um branching out, they start, you know,
um starting to get into other businesses, they get into
the cruise business. This is also the time that Bill Sr.
Jay Willard as he later became known, Um, I guess
(30:50):
just to differentiate was really it was time for him
to retire the nineteen seventies. He was born in nineteen hundred,
so he's seventy two years old in nineteen seventy two,
and he's it's time. But he was such a hands
on guy that he couldn't really do it. So he
kept on, you know, going around and visiting employees and
and you know, visiting the different properties. And you know,
(31:13):
it was Alice that finally had to say, like, all right,
dude turned the business over to Bill. He's got this.
Why is that not surprising? Yeah, I mean these are
this is a family that really they weren't going to
be like the retire and put your feet up kind
of people, you know. Um. In any case, it's the
seventies when really I would say, maybe this is when,
(31:35):
if anything, Marriott makes some mistakes, nothing that was earth shattering,
but this is maybe when they began to um diversify
into too many sort of odd lines of business in
this you know, um motive of expansion and growth, and
a lot of companies were doing it at the time.
When we saw that again with a lot of companies
we've been covering over the season of Phisiography with our
(31:58):
c A, with Sears, you know, with a lot of them,
they just started diversifying and trying to become these massive,
you know, big umbrella companies, big conglomerates. Yes. Absolutely. And
so for example six Mariott tries to go to Disney
route a little bit and opens to theme parks. Who knows,
I know, who knew Maryott had too theme parks, one
(32:20):
outside Chicago, one outside San Francisco. They were called Marriott's
Great America. Interesting yeah, I know. Anyway, they weren't overly successful.
Both properties were sold in nineteen four, but they also
got into a whole bunch of other stuff in and
around that time. And I think Bill Jr. Even talks
(32:41):
about that era, uh in that Forbes interview that we've
already listened to a little bit of. Right, Oh, yes
he did. In fact, here it is, well, we started
at as a root beer stand, and then the weather
got cold, he put on food because people stopped drinking
ice school root beer, and we called it a hot shop.
And we've expanded that in the airline catering into a
group of hot shop rests, Ferrell's ice cream parlors, Big
(33:01):
Boy coffee shops. And then we followed the conglomerate rule
of Harold Jannine back in the seventies and early eighties
when the analysts wanted to know what new businesses you're
gonna be in this week. So we got into cruise ships,
we got into theme parks, we got an airline, uh security,
airport security, we got into doing all kinds of different businesses,
and then we finally figured out, let's make money in
(33:23):
the hotel business. Must focus on that. So we've spun
off everything except the lodging side of the business. We
even got rid of our time share business because we
felt that that was not as important to us as
a lodging business. I mean, I think right there, you
see something happening that a lot of our other phisiography
will call them fails, didn't get right. It's like they diversified,
(33:44):
and then then that's when they sort of lose control
of their companies and try to cling too hard to
the everything they were getting into. Yeah, and here it
seems like he sort of was following the rules um
that were popular at the moment, that conglomerate of way
of doing business. And when he stepped back, he said, no,
that's not who we are. You know we we were
(34:06):
were a hotel company, and let's be a hotel company.
And it was smart because I think if they had
continued going down that road, they would have gone the
way of Sears. Yeah, this would be a flame out story.
I really think it would. And I think the fact
that they were able to regroup and refocus then in
the you know, late seventies, early eighties, is what saved
the company from the fate of so many of the
(34:27):
other uh like former icons if you will, that we've
talked about. So I think that was really important. And
I wonder too, you know, we we've been talking about
sort of the family culture, Um, how much that helped
the having you know, dad to go back and talk
about all of this with UM and the brother involved
and you know, mom is involved, and so everybody's a
(34:47):
part of this. And by the way, this is a
family still that you know, I'm gonna say it this
way kept the faith because their Mormon faith was a
big part of who they were the whole time too.
So they were you know, religious and thoughtful, and they
weren't you know, greedy. It wasn't about as much money
as they could get no matter what. It wasn't about
on the backs of employees without you know, treating the
(35:08):
employees right, those kinds of things. It wasn't what I
think most millennials like me would call a a traditional
corporate mentality. It was very much about service and and
doing nice things for people. And yeah, you get money
in exchange, but it's about the service you're providing more
than like the business profit aspect of it. Yeah, I
think it sort of kept them. I mean, look, I
don't sometimes I think we tend to we you and
(35:30):
I or me maybe tend to sugarcoat some of this
because when you're looking back it all seems rosy. Um.
But at the same time, I mean, you know, at
the end of the day, they grew methodically and slowly,
and they did ultimately after they made that decision to
focus on hotels, um start to acquire other hotel brands
and add different levels of hotel brands and all of that.
(35:51):
I think it's also worth noting that the first J. W.
Marriott was opened, and of course that was in honor
of Dad. Yeah, that was in downtown Washington, d C.
Also also, I think, you know, speaking about the religious
aspect of the Marriotts. In the nineteen seventies, Bill Jr.
Devoted twenty five hours a week as a Mormon bishop,
(36:13):
on top of the seventy hours a week he was
spending CEO of Marriott. Oh my gosh. Yeah, it's it's
almost a hundred hours a week of of like dedicated
working time. You know, he did a lot of stuff
at home, a lot of reading, a lot of phone
calls that probably work clocked. Yeah, that's a lot to
commit to. So yeah, just an interesting kind of note
(36:34):
about who he was and his work ethic and and
all of that. In any case, the company, of course
continues to grow and acquire new hotel brands and and
ultimately becomes what it is now. We'll talk a little
bit about that growth and whether or not Marriott will
continue to be an icon into the future right after this.
(36:59):
All right, So we were mentioning that the J. W.
Marriott Hotel opened in nineteen eighty four and Washington, d C.
As a tribute to uh, Bill Senior J. Willard Marriott. Well,
it was kind of uh timely because he passed away
just one year later in nineteen eighty five, and that
same year Bill Jr. Became chairman of the board. And
(37:21):
really it's in the late eighties and moving into the
nineties that Marriott becomes the Marryott we know now. In
n seven, uh, with the opening of the first fair
Field in and Marryott Sweets Hotels, Marriott really becomes the
first hospitality lodging company to offer what we now think
of as a portfolio of brands, different stars, yeah, and
(37:44):
all the like, different brand names where if you didn't
really know, you wouldn't necessarily know that's Marriott, and I
feel like all of the hotel companies do that now
they acquire other brands, or they just start brands with
sort of different commercial feels to them, different prices. Front.
They don't necessarily say that by Marriott on it exactly,
you don't necessarily know that it's Marriott, but it is
(38:06):
all owned by them. But they're all doing the same thing.
Hilton Hotels does the same thing now, um I h
G does the same thing, now Hyatt. They all do it.
But Marriott really started that trend in the late nineteen eighties.
By the way, they're also going you know global at
that time, they're going international, opening hotels all over the world. Um.
It's when the company kind of takes what's left of
(38:28):
their conglomerate nous because they still, by the way, have
the food business. Hot shops has long gone. Um they
last hot shops finally died in the round. But overall,
like the brand had been kind of big and sort
of narrowed down and down and down really after McDonald's
became a thing that couldn't compete. Um. But they decided
(38:50):
to split off. So they split from one big company
into Marriott International, which is the company headed by Bill
and Host Marriott, which they are a company called Hosts
along the Way, so that's where that name comes from.
But Host Marriott is run by younger brother Richard. Okay,
the one that was that we forgot about a little bit,
right he In fairness to Richard, he was involved. He
(39:12):
just wasn't the boss, so and you know, he's not
the one who gets a lot of credit. But in
any case, he was a big part of it, and
he uh, you know, took over the Host Marriott part
of the business, which has gone through a couple of
name iterations. It was Host Hotels and Resorts and by
the way, Host Hotels and Resorts or Hosts Marriott, however
you want to call it. Um Owns Hotels and Properties also,
(39:34):
but it's also the largest lodging reat in the world,
which is a real estate UM investment trust. I believe
that's what it stands for. And UM that's a real
estate you know, basically they're buying a property real estate investment. It's,
like you said, like a real estate company than it
is a lodging hotel hospitality company. Yeah, it's so funny
(39:57):
because I've had you know, I went to school for
hospital lality management. And I've had lots of friends who
have worked in riets, and every time I want to
talk about riets, I have to make sure I'm getting
it right so I don't embarrass my friends. Kind of
what's going on there. Um. I think it's also worth
noting before we wrap up that in Marriott also brought
(40:19):
a historic brand into its portfolio when it acquired interest
in the Ritz Carlton Hotel company. Um. And so it
was a big buy for them, and they really saved
the Ritz Carlton company. I almost feel like we could
do a whole other episode on Ritz Carlton because they
were on the struggle bus. They were, and they have
a really fascinating history, and you know, Ritz Carlton obviously
(40:41):
a whole other level of service to your point earlier.
You know, if you go to a rich you don't
necessarily know that it's owned by Marriott. I think Marriott
was smart enough at the time too, when they made
the acquisition in the early nineties to say, the Ritz
brand is the Ritz brand, and that's not where we're
not going to get in the way of that. We're
gonna let it's be Rits and and and they really
(41:02):
still have. I think a lot of people don't realize
that it's owned by Mary unless you're in the biz.
I I think I had known that and totally forgot
until we went to research this episode and I was like,
oh right, like totally forget. Yeah, they really did save
Save the Ritz Carlton and Uh, it had a whole
new life after Marriott bought it. Uh. And there's many
more Rits properties around because of that. Also, just just
(41:25):
to note, Marryott also has the Renaissance Hotel Group, town
Place Suite, Spring Hills Suites. I mean, you know, you
basically name a hotel brand, it's a good chance that
it's a Merryott brand. We have to like tend just
on the episode alone. And I know that we didn't
name them all. We did not name them all. And
I also think it's it's worth noting, and I looked
this up right before we started recording today, that the
(41:46):
Marriott Rewards program is the number one best rated rewards
program for hotels in the country as of this year.
And so they're still sort of innovating and redoing. They
just renamed the program I think it's called Bonvoy now um,
and they're doing commercials for it and all of that.
So they haven't you know, sat back and rested on
(42:07):
their laurels. They're continuing to sort of try to stay
on the forefront of their industry and to innovate. Uh,
they're still buying up companies. I mean, they're not slowing down.
And I got to tell you, when we look at
company histories overall, we've seen a lot of bad CEOs
come in um, bad decisions being made over expansion, scandal, greed.
(42:31):
And I think you know, now looking back on the
eleven or twelve Phisiography episodes that we've already done, the
family businesses tend to fare better. This is true, and
it's got to be that tighten it because your family
in general kind of has shared values and ethics and morals.
I think having that is the basis has to help.
I mean, we've certainly in the world. I don't know
(42:52):
if we've covered too many of them, but seeing family
businesses where the family spats have gotten ugly and the
business gets torn apart as a result. But when it's
a strong, solid family, I think that really does lend
itself well to succession plans. You know, two generational continuation
of a business which seems to be continuing for Marriott.
If I have to get out the Phisiography crystal ball,
(43:13):
I think we should have one of those made by
the way. But if I might have to be like
a magic eight ball, but we'll make it happy. That's
a better idea. See I start with an idea, you
make it better. But yes, if I had to get
out of the Phisiography magic eight ball, I would say
it would land on. Yes, Marriott will live on as
an icon for another hundred years. I really think it's
(43:35):
it's a strong business and people are going to continue
to be tourists and it's not going anywhere. Innovation has
been the way for Marriotts since the start. I don't
think it's going to change anytime soon. Dittoh, that is
our episode for today. We've got some more to come
this season. We'll be back. Hizography is a production of
(43:56):
I Heart Radio and dB Media. I'm your host Dana Bart,
My co most is Nick Bean, our producer is Tory Harrison,
and our executive producer is Jonathan Strickland. Have questions I
want to give us feedback or have a company you'd
like us to cover. Email us at info at physiography
dot Show or contact us on social I'm at the
Danta Barrett on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, or just search
(44:18):
for me on LinkedIn. Thanks for your support.
What do you get when you mix a bunch of
thirsty tourists in nine twenties Washington, d C. With a
young man passing through on his way back home to Utah,
the beginning of one of the world's most impressive and
long standing hotel brands. That's what Well, that's what you
get if the young man's name is Jay Willard Marriott.
(00:33):
This is Phisiography, the show where we dive into the
strange but true stories of iconic companies. Whether they're a
current bright star, in the midst of a massive dumpster fire,
or settling into the dust heap of history, they all
have a past worth knowing. I'm Dana Barrett. I'm a
former tech executive and entrepreneur and a TV and radio host,
and over the course of my career, I've interviewed thousands
(00:54):
of business leaders and reported on the bright beginnings and
massive flameouts of the brands we know and love. Most
of their stories are about humble beginnings, some are about
true visionaries, and some are about hard work and taking risks.
Physiography is a production of I Heart Radio and dB
Media and is co hosted as always by my producer,
(01:14):
Nick Bean. Thank you, Dana, always good to be here.
I think Marriott's story is about filling the gap, right,
filling a void, looking at something and going hmm, there's
an opportunity here, We're gonna do it, yeah, and then
doing it really well. Yeah, Yeah, I totally agree. I
was at a conference the other day, the Shadow Summit,
(01:34):
and I heard Michael J. Coles speak, you know, very
well known entrepreneur himself, and he was talking about the
story of David and Goliath and saying that while most
people take away, uh, that the little guy one, that's
what they take away from the story of David and Goliath,
what he takes away is that David had the courage
to get in the game without knowing the outcome. And
in so many ways, that's what the Marriott story is
(01:56):
about for me, the fact that they just kept trying things, um,
and they didn't know if they were going to work
or not, and they just went for it. Yeah. They
jumped two feet into the deep end every time and
it worked. And also a little bit, you know, just
using the David and Goliath thing that they sort of
started as David and now they're Goliath, right, And while
(02:17):
so many of our photography episodes of focus on companies
that came from nothing and became huge. Most of those
companies became the monster in the story instead of remaining
the hero. But I don't think that's true for Marryott.
Of course, we're gonna have to dig in and see.
And of course, if we're going to dig in and see,
the best place to start is always with the founder.
In this case, it was John Willard Marriott. He was
(02:38):
born in nineteen hundred in Marriott Settlement, Utah, on September
He was the second of eight kids. Okay, hang on
real quick, Dana, before we go too far down Jay
Willard's you know, founding story. Let's talk a little bit
about where he's from. You said, Marriott Settlement, Utah. Right, Yeah,
a guy named Marriott born in a place called Marriott. Okay, yeah,
(03:00):
I mean, I know that's not true for everyone. I
was not born in Barrett Town. Were you born in Beantown? No?
I was not, Nor am I from Boston also as Beantown.
All right, so fair enough. I think we do probably
need to explain a little bit about why he was
in a place called Marriott Settlement. And I know the
Marriott family is Mormon. I think a lot of people
probably know that if you have even looked a little
bit at the history of the company. But did all
(03:22):
Mormon families have towns named after the No, not all
of them did, but around that time many of them did.
Write the Marriotts were kind of right place, right time.
With that. To know why, though, you kind of have
to go back to the start of the Mormon Church,
which was founded by Joseph Smith, who was from Western Pennsylvania.
I think most people have heard his name before. He's
(03:44):
the founder of it's the Church of Latter day Saints
to be technical, so Western Pennsylvania where he's from. And
this guy is basically a known scammer. He was a
treasure hunter that never actually found treasure, so no, so
when he did eventually found the church, there was already
a bad stigma around him and the people who followed him.
To make a long story as as short and succinct
(04:06):
as I can, they end up leaving Western Pennsylvania and
going to Ohio because they were being persecuted, for lack
of a better word, in Western Pennsylvania, people just didn't
like the Mormons, so they went to Ohio and things
are working okay till Smith himself gets wrapped up in
a bank scandal where they owe a ton of money
to debtors and an underage sex scandal, and like eighteen
(04:28):
thirty or so, So I didn't know they had sex
scandals back then. They twitter, Uh no, they didn't. But unfortunately,
as humans have been really bad about keeping it in
our pants for centuries. So there's that. So they end
up leaving Ohio and they go to move the Mormon
Church down to Missouri. Now, before they get to Missouri,
Smith goes down to check things out and on the
(04:49):
way he and a friend get essentially knocked unconscious and
literally tarred and feathered. Yeah, that doesn't happen usually when
you're like popular and well loved. Usually not. I also
thought that stuff only happens in cartoons. They have to
do that in real life. But it actually happened and
was left for dead essentially. So then they end up
(05:09):
getting to Missouri and they're like, Okay, we're not getting
tart and feathered. But the Missourians hate the Mormons even more.
They've got more political influence because their numbers are growing,
and there's a lot of religious differences between the Native
Protestant Missourians and the Mormons. Long story short. Here, the
Missouri governor essentially calls for the extermination and expulsion of
(05:32):
all Mormons out of the state of Missouri. It causes
what becomes the Mormon War of eighteen thirty eight. The
Mormons don't win because they're fighting an organized government militia
from the state of Missouri, and they end up fleeing
to Illinois after Missouri. While they're in Illinois, they start
another settlement that starts to gain a lot of political
(05:52):
power and a lot of religious power, and against scandals,
more bank scandal, another sex scandal with founder Joseph Smith,
and the government of Illinois turns against the Mormons. Smith
actually gets imprisoned this time and is killed in prison,
which leaves the Mormon Church again with no real home
and now with no real leader. So the person who
ends up taking over is the leader of what's basically
(06:15):
I think it's called their Council of Twelve. And the
leader is a man you've probably heard this name by
Brigham Young. Indeed, yes, he has a university named after him.
He ends up being the head of the Mormon Church
and goes, okay, we've been to six different states, this
is not working out. We are going to go ahead
and the entire Mormon Church is going to go out
to this really cool place out west I've heard of
(06:35):
called the Salt Lake Valley, and in eighteen forty seven
they establish Salt Lake City, Utah. A couple of years
later in the mid right around eighteen fifty, he tells
all the Mormon families that are gathered, Hey, not all
of you, but most of you. Let's go out and
settle most of the west Arizona, New Mexico. And the
Marriotts were one of these families that headed to northern
Utah and settled. And at that point when they would settle,
(06:58):
they were essentially trying to start their own towns. So
they had the Marriotts Settlement or the Smith Settlement or whatever.
So that's why it has its name. Here's the catch, though,
it actually is now incorporated as the city of Marriott Slaterterville,
so it's still named after the family. Now it's it's
the it's because they're Marriotts, right, it's the modern Marriotts.
(07:19):
That's why it's stuck. Got it all? Right? Well, so
that's interesting because like that whole history of them, you know,
of course America was moving west at the time too,
but essentially, if they were finally all right, we're going
to skip a bunch of states and go further west
because this every like one or two states thing is
not working. It was not working, all right. So that's
how they got there. So let's bring it back and
talk about Jay Willard Marriott, who was known as Bill
(07:42):
by the way um. As a kid in Utah, he
was pitching in with the family. They had a farm.
They were raising sugar beets and sheep, and he was
working from the time he was a little kid. They
were not rolling in the dough. They were homesteaders essentially,
right with their farm, as you said, their settlement. And
he later looked back and credited his father really and
(08:03):
his father's leadership style as instrumental in his own self
reliance and ability to solve problems. Here's a quote from J.
Willard Marriott senior as we know him now quote, my
father gave me the responsibility of a man. He said
he would tell me what he wanted done, but he
never said much about how to do it. It was
up to me to find out for myself, which I
think is interestingly enough still a leadership style that works.
(08:27):
You know, if you just not that you should tell
people not to ask questions. But essentially, if you say
you're smart, figured out and you left, you dealt it,
it's true delegation, right. Absolutely, he kind of left to
his own devices, right and made it work. So to
that end, in nineteen thirteen, and only thirteen years old,
Bill Marriott goes into business for himself. He gets his
younger siblings involved and they raised lettuce on the farm. Well,
(08:50):
that's not a crop that they had been working on.
So at the end of the summer, the harvest brings
in two thousand dollars. That's a lot of money, and
Marriott takes the money proudly to dad. Because of that,
his dad now trusts him, and a year later and
trust him literally with the sale of a herd of
three thousand sheep, he puts the fourteen year old Bill
(09:10):
Marriott by himself, well, with the sheep on a train
to San Francisco. Why sent a fourteen year old to
the big city alone? Yeah, yeah, that is not something
you would do in modern times, not at all. Can
you imagine like giving your fourteen year old essentially like
your entire business and being like, here, take this, go
(09:30):
on some kind of transit by yourself to another city
to sell it. I don't want to give my sixteen
year old just my car to go to the store
down the street, no question. Not to mention the fact
that you probably get arrested for like child neglect if
you put your fourteen year old on a train with
all of your business. I think of how pivotal that's
got to be. Only a fourteen year old going, I
can handle this. I got this right. So fast forward
(09:51):
a couple of years to nineteen nineteen. Now Bill is
nineteen years old and he goes off on a two
year mission for the Mormon Church in New England. As
guess they were trying to go back from where they
started and recruit people, right. Uh. So he's there for
two years and in the summer of nine, at the
end of the mission, he starts his travel back to Utah,
where he's going to pursue a college degree. But on
(10:12):
the way home, he passes through Washington, d C. In
the middle of summer. It's hot, it's muggy, it's gross,
and he's touring around and he's seeing all these hot,
thirsty tourists, and he's watching this push cart pedlar go
down the street selling lemonade and soda pop and ice cream,
and in minutes this guy is cleaned out. He's doing
a great business. But then he has to take all
this time to go back where he came from, up
(10:33):
the street, get another cart, lot of stuff, and come back.
And Bill sees an opportunity, but not one he's gonna
do anything about. Right then, it's really just the seed
in his brain. He continues his journey back to Utah
where he goes to college, and he's kind of out
there doing his thing for a little while. So how
does that little seed from that you know tourists stopped
through in Washington, d C. Turn into the Marriott International
(10:57):
that we know now we'll tell you right after this. Alright,
So remember it's when young Bill Marriott travels through hot,
muggy Washington, d C. And gets the seat of an
idea of a business. Maybe there's some way to make
(11:19):
money on these hot and thirsty tourists, but really it's
just the seat of an idea. He goes back to Utah, uh,
and he goes first to Junior College Webber Junior College
in nineteen graduates from there, then in nine graduates from
the University of Utah, so we're talking five years later now.
And then he goes to work for Webber College. So
that's what he's doing. He's working away at Webber College.
(11:41):
But really this guy is an entrepreneur at heart. Remember
he's the guy that started to lettuce business at thirteen
and took a herd of sheep on a train at fourteen.
So all these years later, five six years down the road,
he is still thinking about those thirsty tourists in Washington,
d C. And he's thinking there's a business opportunity there.
Around that same time, he hears about a cousin's A
(12:03):
and W root beer franchise, and he starts thinking about
that in combination with the thirsty tourists, and he decides
to look into his own business side. Note here, do
you remember A and W root Beer? Yeah? They're still
a Really, I don't know are they. I think they've
got like one in Florida last time I was down there.
(12:24):
I mean, and they had you could buy A and
W root beer like in cans at the store. I
don't know if you still can get you Yeah, I
feel like root beer had like a moment of popularity
that that just is over. It's true, and I think
part of that is like the A and W brand.
Maybe we have another photography episode in the works here
could be and like tastes have changed or whatever, like
nowadays you'll see maybe like a an indie root beer
(12:46):
brand that sort of bubbles up and interesting. People want
to try cream soda like some of these old timing
kind of soda flavors. But yeah, root beer was like
the hot ticket back then, so basically he was hopping
on like a version of them's like McDonald's right, early
franchise of an A M W. Root beer stand essentially
is what they were. So in nineteen seven, Bill Marriott
(13:10):
secures the A and W franchise rights for Washington, d C, Baltimore,
and Richmond, and he heads east along with a business
partner named Hugh Colton and his soon to be wife,
Alice Sheets. I feel like I want to do a
whole episode on Alice because I'm sort of fascinated by her.
First of all, Like this is n and she goes
(13:31):
off on a trip across the country from Utah to Washington,
d C. With the man she's not married to yet
like that is bold. For that is bold. So it's um.
And they've got six thousand dollars that they've pulled together,
Hugh and and Bill and Alice and I feel like
(13:52):
there could be a sitcom there maybe. And they rent
this space, this tiny little space to open up their
first A and W root beer lace and um, that
first franchise opens on man On Street in Washington, d C.
Just two weeks later. He you know, Bill is true
to his word. I'm sure he must have promised Alice
(14:14):
before the trip. Uh. So two weeks into it, they
get married and essentially their honeymoon is their drive back
to Washington, d C. Because they got married in Utah,
so they're back and forth. Uh. And they drive back
in wait for it, a Model t Ford. Wow, that's
a long, long road trip. There's no interstate system. There's
(14:35):
no air conditioning in that car, just saying, um, and
it's may they don't have like they can't plug in
their you know iTunes or whatever and do some you
know some singing along. The one thing for sure, Alice
loved this man. She clearly, She clearly did. She also
wasn't really expecting to be an integral part of the business,
(14:58):
but pretty soon she found her herself involved in almost
every aspect of the company. I mean it was a
startup after all, essentially a family business, and we know
how that goes, all hands on deck. Yeah, absolutely, and
I think over the years she really became like a
really major player overall in Marriott, right, Yeah, she did.
She was another woman who was in many ways ahead
(15:21):
of her time, kind of like Brownie Wise weirdly from
our Tepperware episode, um. And like Brownie Wise, her name
is sort of known inside the Marriott company, um, but
her contributions aren't really talked about that broadly in terms
of you know, general purpose young women knowing who she was. Right.
And it's interesting though, the Marriott Corporation now has a
(15:43):
community service award named after her. Yeah. So I mean,
as I said, I feel like inside the company she's beloved,
you know, but I don't know that she got the
broader kind of respect that she would have if she
was in a different era. Absolutely. Yeah. So anyway, it's
and the Marriotts have their the It's weird saying it
like that, but you know, the Mariad family has their
(16:03):
nine seats, just the two of them. They have their
nine seat root beer stand and then fall comes and
you know, it gets called after summer in d C.
And nobody wants a frosty mug of root beer anymore.
So they do what real entrepreneurs do and find a solution.
Alice find some recipes, and they add hot food items
(16:25):
to their menu. This is a first for AMW franchises
because up to that point they were you know, root
beer stands with some seats and that was it. Um.
But to make sure the public will understand, they change
the name to hot shops. Yeah. So um. You know,
Originally I was saying, I think I don't know if
you and I were talking about this, Nick before we
(16:45):
started recording, But I was saying, I don't know if
Bill really Bill sr Um intended to have, you know,
a giant company, or really was just intended to have
one or shoe stores. But does sort of seem like
he all along was trying to grow the business, because
he grows it pretty fat. Well. I think, you know,
the business was kind of in his blood a little bit, right,
like whether he wanted to or not. Yeah. Yeah, So
(17:09):
the family open their second and third businesses, so they
end up opening two more hot shops, including the East
coasts first drive in restaurant? Interesting, well did you do?
Do you want to take a guesses to where the
first drive in in the country was? Not on the
East Coast? We ruled out that side, right, I mean,
(17:31):
I know it wasn't Utah. You're not wrong. They didn't
get the idea from home. No, the first one was
in nineteen one in Dallas, Uh, Texas. It was called
Kirby's Pig. Stand. I kind of love that name, I
really do. And while we're doing fun facts, I have
to say even more fun the largest drive in still
in operation to this day is the Varsity, which is
(17:53):
right down the street from us here in Atlanta's right
all right? In two I keep calling them in the
Marriott family. They were really just to Alison Bill. But
in nineteen thirty two they have their first child, uh,
their son, Jay Willard Marriott Jr. Who they also call
Bill just so could be very confusing. There's two of them.
You're not going crazy, people, that's right. So Junior is
(18:14):
born in nineteen thirty two, and ultimately he becomes the
guy who's really responsible for the hotel empire that we
know today. So we will get to him, but let's
just stick to our timeline here for a moment, because
three years after Bill Jr. Is born, in nineteen thirty five,
Bill Marriott Senior is diagnosed with lymphoma and given between
six months and a year to live. But he this
(18:37):
guy is just to beat the odds. I can take
three thousand sheep on a train when I'm fourteen guy,
And so even with this diagnosis that was giving him
one year, he should have been dead by nineteen thirty six,
but he lives the night five. So I don't know
how he was feeling in the mid nineteen thirties because
he's got this diagnosis, can't be feeling super great. But
(18:57):
he continues to um, you know, do business, and he
continues to see opportunity where others don't. And he actually
sort of invents airline food in the United States. How
does that even happen? So hot shops a k a.
Bill Senior, And again I don't know who else was
sort of helping manage at the time, So there may
(19:19):
have been other people that get some credit for this,
but we're going to give it to Bill Senior. He
sees hungry people about to get on a plane much
in the same way he saw thirsty tourists in d C.
Because now, you know, airline travel starting to become a thing,
and he starts delivering box lunches from hot shops to
passengers at Hoover Airport, which was near Washington, d C.
(19:39):
At the time. And interestingly, the airline catering part of
the business became a huge part of Marriott Corporation and
really was integral up until then. You know, you would think,
especially with the origin of restaurant and then moving into hospitality,
obviously food would remain a big part. But yeah, that's
interesting to know us till the nineties we were near
(20:00):
line food. Yeah. Well, the thing is they were, and
they started out as a restaurant business, right and if
you think about it, they really started out as a
business to serve tourists. That's what they were about. They
started in Washington, d C. Serving cold beverages to thirsty
tourists and these were additional tourists getting on an airplane.
So they were seeing their customer um in all of
(20:20):
his or her different iterations and and figuring out what
they needed and how to serve them, which is a
classic business example. Honestly that I've gone back to you
many many times because I know back in the day
when you and I were doing business radio and we
would talk all the time about go Pro and how
they sort of had this interesting idea. But what they
thought they were a camera company. And this might still
(20:40):
be true for Goper. I havn't really kept up with
them in a while, but they thought they were a
camera company, so they would try to invent new gadgets,
new cameras, new ways of doing camera stuff, instead of
realizing that they were a company that was serving you know, adventurers, right,
extreme sports folks. You have a new Year clientele, Right,
that's a rule number one, because those where their brand loyalists. Yeah. Uh.
(21:01):
In any case, we digress, as we often do on
this show. It's the nineteen thirties. They've got this airline
catering business. They've got several hot shops, restaurants, and even
though Bill may not be feeling great after that lymphoma diagnosis,
he and Alice have their second son, Richard. Now Richard
is definitely the lesser known son, but you don't need
to feel too bad for him because he worked in
(21:22):
the business as well, taking over a huge chunk of
it later on, which we'll get to. And in his
net worth was listed at over two billion. Yeah. So
even though he's not as famous as his older brother Bill,
he did all right. Um. In any case, as the
boys are growing up, Bill Senior and Alice continue to
grow the Hot Shops restaurant chain and actually take it
(21:44):
public in nineteen fifty three. In nineteen fifty three, so
that means Bill Juniors about twenty one at that point, right, Yeah,
And he had always been interested in the family business.
He was working, you know, in the different Hot shops
in different positions through out high school and college. Um.
And of course he was born and grew up in Washington,
d C. But the ties to Utah and the Mormon
(22:07):
Church and all of that we're strong. So he ends
up going to Utah for college, goes to the University
of Utah, gets his bachelor's degree in finance. So he
was always a business guy. He was always interested. He
was kind of he was listening, he was learning when
his dad was, you know, coming home at dinner and
talking about work. Right. He also went off and served
in the military, actually on an aircraft carrier before really
(22:28):
taking his place in the Hot Shops company. Okay, so
if I can jump in real fast. An interesting little
side note is in nineteen fifty four, two years before
Bill Jr. Even got into working at Hot Shops, he
says that he learned a lifelong management lesson from then
President Dwight D. Eisenhower when he and his wife Mamie
(22:50):
were guests at his parents house. Okay, so when Eisenhower
was given the option to either go outside and shoot
quail in the cold or just stand by the fire,
Apparently President Eisenhower turned to twenty two year old Bill
and said, what do you think we should do? And
with that one statement, Bill says he tried to adopt
(23:11):
that style of management as he progressed in life, by
asking his people simply, what do you think. Actually found
an interesting clip from where he talks about that lesson
that he learned. I was assigned to be the ward
room officer on an aircraft carrier and I had a
bunch of stewards who were doing the food preparation. I said,
here are the recipe cards. Follow them and they gave
(23:33):
me this glassy stare and they said when we had
follow him, and I didn't know what to do, so
I let them do their own thing. But I realized
that I did not get buy in from them before.
Most important words in business or what do you think?
And I didn't ask the stewards in the navy what
do you think? I said, here, do this, and I
found out it done worked very well. I love that
Bill Jr. Was sort of picking up management lessons in
(23:56):
odd places, if you will, before he even really became
the head of the company. I mean, at this point,
he's barely just getting started in the company, and he
ultimately does, as we keep alluding, become the guy. So
we'll get to him growing the hotel side of the business.
We haven't even opened a hotel yet. We'll get to
that right after this. So it's nineteen fifty six and
(24:25):
Bill Senior is still running the company. He's the man,
but now Bill Junior officially joins the hot Shops Corporation.
And fast forward just a little bit of time. The
family opens their very first hotel in January of seven.
So this is still with Dad Bill Bill Senior in charge,
but Bill Jr. Now also a part of the company,
(24:46):
and that first hotel was in Arlington, Virginia, which, if
you don't know. The area is essentially a part of
the d C metro area. It's sort of right there,
right on the same metro line as DC and all
of that. And it was called the Twin Bridges Motor
Hotel at the time if you were somebody who was
around that area in those years. That later became the
Twin Bridges Marriott, but at the time it was the
(25:09):
Twin Bridges Motor Hotel. And so once again you have
the family expanding and innovating, and you would think it
was just going to go swimmingly well, like all of
their other decisions. Yeah, because they knew what they were doing.
They went from root beer to hot food and one
hot shop to multiple hot shops and multiple hot shops
to airline food. So why not a hotel to our
(25:31):
earlier point right there, still serving that tourist, they should
know what they're doing. But alas the hotel business is
not quite as easy of an of an entry for them,
so it's not going super well. And I ended up
finding a clip of Bill Marriott actually talking about that too. Yeah,
this Bill Marriott did a lot of speeches and interviews
(25:54):
for a span of years. Here's just a little clip
of him talking about taking over the hotel business. And
three months after, I mean, the hotel was struggling and
I asked my dad if I could take over this
latest venture. He said, what do you know about the
hotel business? I said, not very much, but I know
as much as anybody else around here. I love that
so much because I cannot tell you the number of
(26:16):
conferences I've been to and uh, you know, panel discussions
and training sessions where entrepreneurs are getting taught how to
pitch their idea. And can you imagine if an entrepreneur
in modern times like went to an executive. No, granted
this is his dad, so it's a little different, but
can you imagine if an entrepreneur went to an investor
(26:36):
and said, I want to open a hotel business. I
don't know much about it, but I know as much
as anybody else here, but they would get the money.
It's a big funding for you. Yeah, I mean it's look.
Family businesses obviously are a different animal, because you know,
you give your your kids a choice or a chance
rather that you might not give a stranger, because you
(26:58):
know what they're capable of. The different thing too, is
he kind of had a right to go to his
dad and say that, because isn't that kind of what
they've been doing this whole time? Dad didn't have like
a background in food, and they opened a N and
W shop and then the hot shops, So it was
kind of winging it the whole time, right, Well, I
think that's the way things were. I mean, I think
the business world was much more like that. I mean
(27:19):
even just think about Bill Senior as a kid deciding
to start a lettuce business, his dad letting him take
the sheep and get on the train. I mean, I
don't you know. I just think things were different. You
did what you had to do, and if you didn't
know how to do something, you have to go get
four degrees in it to be able to execute it.
Figured it out. You figured it out. I kind of
like that. Actually, That's always been more of my mentality, um,
(27:39):
rather than going and getting years of education on something,
learn as you go. In any case, Essentially, from nineteen
fifty seven, when that first Twin Bridges now Marryott Twin
Bridges Marryott opened, through the nineteen eighties, over the next
twenty five years, Marriott grows and becomes as we know
(28:00):
it a diverse global enterprise, and Bill Jr. Becomes that
visionary CEO whose leadership really transformed the hospitality industry. I mean,
he's written books, He's come up with, you know, philosophies
of business that have transformed not only his business but
business in general. Very well respected. Um and you know,
we can sort of go through a little bit of
(28:20):
a bit by bit. You know, they opened their second
Marriott hotel, the Keybridge Marryott in nineteen fifty nine. I
think that's the first one that actually was called a
Marriott right off the bat. And uh, by then Bill Jr.
Has his first child, uh, Debbie Marriott. She was two
years old at the time, and she uh snipped the ribbon.
I'm sure she had helped, you know, but in any case, Uh,
(28:43):
fast forward four Bill Jr. Becomes executive vice president of
the company h then ultimately becomes its president. Finally we
get the renaming. Hot Shops Incorporated becomes the Marriott Corporation
in nineteen sixty seven. Okay, so Marryott kind of sort
of as we know it, officially became Marriott in nineteen
(29:04):
sixty seven. Yeah, Now keep in mind they still had
hot shops of course, so the Marriott Corporation now owned
you know, Marriott hotels and hot shops, restaurants, and the
airline catering business, and you know whatever else they were into.
A little interesting fact. You know, we've talked about a
lot of our bhisiography companies that we've examined about sort
of their attitudes towards race and gender and all of
(29:26):
those things. In you know, maybe sometimes early uh eight,
the Junior hot Shop in Philadelphia's Progress Plaza becomes the
first African American owned shopping center in the United States.
It's interesting, it's they put it. They did business essentially
putting in a hot shop in this African American plaza,
(29:46):
and everybody wasn't doing that in those days. I'm sure
that was controversial. Yeah, so it's worth noting. I think
that they were trying even then to sort of have
an open mind and be welcoming to all, and I
know that to this day, diversity is a huge part
of Marriott's model how they operate. Yeah, so there you go. Um,
kind of interesting, just a little tidbit there. Um. Marriott
goes international in nineteen sixty nine, opening their first international
(30:10):
hotel in Acapulco, Mexico, Acapulco. I feel like it used
to be it's a fun word to say, but it
used to be sort of like the hot spotted in Mexico.
And then yeah, but still right, they were bleeding edge
a little bit in the sixties. That was definitely when
the international travel was getting big. Yeah. So basically what
(30:30):
starts to happen in the nineteen seventies, and this is
the same era when Bill becomes the CEO of Marriott,
is that they start um branching out, they start, you know,
um starting to get into other businesses, they get into
the cruise business. This is also the time that Bill Sr.
Jay Willard as he later became known, Um, I guess
(30:50):
just to differentiate was really it was time for him
to retire the nineteen seventies. He was born in nineteen hundred,
so he's seventy two years old in nineteen seventy two,
and he's it's time. But he was such a hands
on guy that he couldn't really do it. So he
kept on, you know, going around and visiting employees and
and you know, visiting the different properties. And you know,
(31:13):
it was Alice that finally had to say, like, all right,
dude turned the business over to Bill. He's got this.
Why is that not surprising? Yeah, I mean these are
this is a family that really they weren't going to
be like the retire and put your feet up kind
of people, you know. Um. In any case, it's the
seventies when really I would say, maybe this is when,
(31:35):
if anything, Marriott makes some mistakes, nothing that was earth shattering,
but this is maybe when they began to um diversify
into too many sort of odd lines of business in
this you know, um motive of expansion and growth, and
a lot of companies were doing it at the time.
When we saw that again with a lot of companies
we've been covering over the season of Phisiography with our
(31:58):
c A, with Sears, you know, with a lot of them,
they just started diversifying and trying to become these massive,
you know, big umbrella companies, big conglomerates. Yes. Absolutely. And
so for example six Mariott tries to go to Disney
route a little bit and opens to theme parks. Who knows,
I know, who knew Maryott had too theme parks, one
(32:20):
outside Chicago, one outside San Francisco. They were called Marriott's
Great America. Interesting yeah, I know. Anyway, they weren't overly successful.
Both properties were sold in nineteen four, but they also
got into a whole bunch of other stuff in and
around that time. And I think Bill Jr. Even talks
(32:41):
about that era, uh in that Forbes interview that we've
already listened to a little bit of. Right, Oh, yes
he did. In fact, here it is, well, we started
at as a root beer stand, and then the weather
got cold, he put on food because people stopped drinking
ice school root beer, and we called it a hot shop.
And we've expanded that in the airline catering into a
group of hot shop rests, Ferrell's ice cream parlors, Big
(33:01):
Boy coffee shops. And then we followed the conglomerate rule
of Harold Jannine back in the seventies and early eighties
when the analysts wanted to know what new businesses you're
gonna be in this week. So we got into cruise ships,
we got into theme parks, we got an airline, uh security,
airport security, we got into doing all kinds of different businesses,
and then we finally figured out, let's make money in
(33:23):
the hotel business. Must focus on that. So we've spun
off everything except the lodging side of the business. We
even got rid of our time share business because we
felt that that was not as important to us as
a lodging business. I mean, I think right there, you
see something happening that a lot of our other phisiography
will call them fails, didn't get right. It's like they diversified,
(33:44):
and then then that's when they sort of lose control
of their companies and try to cling too hard to
the everything they were getting into. Yeah, and here it
seems like he sort of was following the rules um
that were popular at the moment, that conglomerate of way
of doing business. And when he stepped back, he said, no,
that's not who we are. You know we we were
(34:06):
were a hotel company, and let's be a hotel company.
And it was smart because I think if they had
continued going down that road, they would have gone the
way of Sears. Yeah, this would be a flame out story.
I really think it would. And I think the fact
that they were able to regroup and refocus then in
the you know, late seventies, early eighties, is what saved
the company from the fate of so many of the
(34:27):
other uh like former icons if you will, that we've
talked about. So I think that was really important. And
I wonder too, you know, we we've been talking about
sort of the family culture, Um, how much that helped
the having you know, dad to go back and talk
about all of this with UM and the brother involved
and you know, mom is involved, and so everybody's a
(34:47):
part of this. And by the way, this is a
family still that you know, I'm gonna say it this
way kept the faith because their Mormon faith was a
big part of who they were the whole time too.
So they were you know, religious and thoughtful, and they
weren't you know, greedy. It wasn't about as much money
as they could get no matter what. It wasn't about
on the backs of employees without you know, treating the
(35:08):
employees right, those kinds of things. It wasn't what I
think most millennials like me would call a a traditional
corporate mentality. It was very much about service and and
doing nice things for people. And yeah, you get money
in exchange, but it's about the service you're providing more
than like the business profit aspect of it. Yeah, I
think it sort of kept them. I mean, look, I
don't sometimes I think we tend to we you and
(35:30):
I or me maybe tend to sugarcoat some of this
because when you're looking back it all seems rosy. Um.
But at the same time, I mean, you know, at
the end of the day, they grew methodically and slowly,
and they did ultimately after they made that decision to
focus on hotels, um start to acquire other hotel brands
and add different levels of hotel brands and all of that.
(35:51):
I think it's also worth noting that the first J. W.
Marriott was opened, and of course that was in honor
of Dad. Yeah, that was in downtown Washington, d C.
Also also, I think, you know, speaking about the religious
aspect of the Marriotts. In the nineteen seventies, Bill Jr.
Devoted twenty five hours a week as a Mormon bishop,
(36:13):
on top of the seventy hours a week he was
spending CEO of Marriott. Oh my gosh. Yeah, it's it's
almost a hundred hours a week of of like dedicated
working time. You know, he did a lot of stuff
at home, a lot of reading, a lot of phone
calls that probably work clocked. Yeah, that's a lot to
commit to. So yeah, just an interesting kind of note
(36:34):
about who he was and his work ethic and and
all of that. In any case, the company, of course
continues to grow and acquire new hotel brands and and
ultimately becomes what it is now. We'll talk a little
bit about that growth and whether or not Marriott will
continue to be an icon into the future right after this.
(36:59):
All right, So we were mentioning that the J. W.
Marriott Hotel opened in nineteen eighty four and Washington, d C.
As a tribute to uh, Bill Senior J. Willard Marriott. Well,
it was kind of uh timely because he passed away
just one year later in nineteen eighty five, and that
same year Bill Jr. Became chairman of the board. And
(37:21):
really it's in the late eighties and moving into the
nineties that Marriott becomes the Marryott we know now. In
n seven, uh, with the opening of the first fair
Field in and Marryott Sweets Hotels, Marriott really becomes the
first hospitality lodging company to offer what we now think
of as a portfolio of brands, different stars, yeah, and
(37:44):
all the like, different brand names where if you didn't
really know, you wouldn't necessarily know that's Marriott, and I
feel like all of the hotel companies do that now
they acquire other brands, or they just start brands with
sort of different commercial feels to them, different prices. Front.
They don't necessarily say that by Marriott on it exactly,
you don't necessarily know that it's Marriott, but it is
(38:06):
all owned by them. But they're all doing the same thing.
Hilton Hotels does the same thing now, um I h
G does the same thing, now Hyatt. They all do it.
But Marriott really started that trend in the late nineteen eighties.
By the way, they're also going you know global at
that time, they're going international, opening hotels all over the world. Um.
It's when the company kind of takes what's left of
(38:28):
their conglomerate nous because they still, by the way, have
the food business. Hot shops has long gone. Um they
last hot shops finally died in the round. But overall,
like the brand had been kind of big and sort
of narrowed down and down and down really after McDonald's
became a thing that couldn't compete. Um. But they decided
(38:50):
to split off. So they split from one big company
into Marriott International, which is the company headed by Bill
and Host Marriott, which they are a company called Hosts
along the Way, so that's where that name comes from.
But Host Marriott is run by younger brother Richard. Okay,
the one that was that we forgot about a little bit,
right he In fairness to Richard, he was involved. He
(39:12):
just wasn't the boss, so and you know, he's not
the one who gets a lot of credit. But in
any case, he was a big part of it, and
he uh, you know, took over the Host Marriott part
of the business, which has gone through a couple of
name iterations. It was Host Hotels and Resorts and by
the way, Host Hotels and Resorts or Hosts Marriott, however
you want to call it. Um Owns Hotels and Properties also,
(39:34):
but it's also the largest lodging reat in the world,
which is a real estate UM investment trust. I believe
that's what it stands for. And UM that's a real
estate you know, basically they're buying a property real estate investment. It's,
like you said, like a real estate company than it
is a lodging hotel hospitality company. Yeah, it's so funny
(39:57):
because I've had you know, I went to school for
hospital lality management. And I've had lots of friends who
have worked in riets, and every time I want to
talk about riets, I have to make sure I'm getting
it right so I don't embarrass my friends. Kind of
what's going on there. Um. I think it's also worth
noting before we wrap up that in Marriott also brought
(40:19):
a historic brand into its portfolio when it acquired interest
in the Ritz Carlton Hotel company. Um. And so it
was a big buy for them, and they really saved
the Ritz Carlton company. I almost feel like we could
do a whole other episode on Ritz Carlton because they
were on the struggle bus. They were, and they have
a really fascinating history, and you know, Ritz Carlton obviously
(40:41):
a whole other level of service to your point earlier.
You know, if you go to a rich you don't
necessarily know that it's owned by Marriott. I think Marriott
was smart enough at the time too, when they made
the acquisition in the early nineties to say, the Ritz
brand is the Ritz brand, and that's not where we're
not going to get in the way of that. We're
gonna let it's be Rits and and and they really
(41:02):
still have. I think a lot of people don't realize
that it's owned by Mary unless you're in the biz.
I I think I had known that and totally forgot
until we went to research this episode and I was like,
oh right, like totally forget. Yeah, they really did save
Save the Ritz Carlton and Uh, it had a whole
new life after Marriott bought it. Uh. And there's many
more Rits properties around because of that. Also, just just
(41:25):
to note, Marryott also has the Renaissance Hotel Group, town
Place Suite, Spring Hills Suites. I mean, you know, you
basically name a hotel brand, it's a good chance that
it's a Merryott brand. We have to like tend just
on the episode alone. And I know that we didn't
name them all. We did not name them all. And
I also think it's it's worth noting, and I looked
this up right before we started recording today, that the
(41:46):
Marriott Rewards program is the number one best rated rewards
program for hotels in the country as of this year.
And so they're still sort of innovating and redoing. They
just renamed the program I think it's called Bonvoy now um,
and they're doing commercials for it and all of that.
So they haven't you know, sat back and rested on
(42:07):
their laurels. They're continuing to sort of try to stay
on the forefront of their industry and to innovate. Uh,
they're still buying up companies. I mean, they're not slowing down.
And I got to tell you, when we look at
company histories overall, we've seen a lot of bad CEOs
come in um, bad decisions being made over expansion, scandal, greed.
(42:31):
And I think you know, now looking back on the
eleven or twelve Phisiography episodes that we've already done, the
family businesses tend to fare better. This is true, and
it's got to be that tighten it because your family
in general kind of has shared values and ethics and morals.
I think having that is the basis has to help.
I mean, we've certainly in the world. I don't know
(42:52):
if we've covered too many of them, but seeing family
businesses where the family spats have gotten ugly and the
business gets torn apart as a result. But when it's
a strong, solid family, I think that really does lend
itself well to succession plans. You know, two generational continuation
of a business which seems to be continuing for Marriott.
If I have to get out the Phisiography crystal ball,
(43:13):
I think we should have one of those made by
the way. But if I might have to be like
a magic eight ball, but we'll make it happy. That's
a better idea. See I start with an idea, you
make it better. But yes, if I had to get
out of the Phisiography magic eight ball, I would say
it would land on. Yes, Marriott will live on as
an icon for another hundred years. I really think it's
(43:35):
it's a strong business and people are going to continue
to be tourists and it's not going anywhere. Innovation has
been the way for Marriotts since the start. I don't
think it's going to change anytime soon. Dittoh, that is
our episode for today. We've got some more to come
this season. We'll be back. Hizography is a production of
(43:56):
I Heart Radio and dB Media. I'm your host Dana Bart,
My co most is Nick Bean, our producer is Tory Harrison,
and our executive producer is Jonathan Strickland. Have questions I
want to give us feedback or have a company you'd
like us to cover. Email us at info at physiography
dot Show or contact us on social I'm at the
Danta Barrett on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, or just search
(44:18):
for me on LinkedIn. Thanks for your support.
Bizography with Dana Barrett News
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Nick Bean
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