Letter to the Editor

From a root beer stand to a worldwide hotel empire

Tuesday, February 6, 2024

EDITOR’S NOTE: Helen Ruth Arnold was a retired teacher and long-time contributor to the Gazette’s Open Forum columns, even after she moved into a Trenton nursing home. After her death on June 17, 2023, at the age of 91, we received 16 letters from her. We will publish them as time and space allow in honor of her memory.

Dear Editor,

Hotels, motels and inns are essential for travelers. According to Luke 2:7, Jesus was wrapped in a swaddling clothes and laid in a manger because there was no room at the inn.

In 2019, hotels, motels and inns are a big business. Many travelers depend on them.

J. Willard Marriot, a son of a Utah sheep herder, went to Washington, D.C. in 1927. He and his wife, Alice, opened up a root beer stand. Gradually, they began serving sandwiches and some favorite Mexican food.

By 2007 the Marriott family owned 2,800 hotels worldwide. In 2008, they opened a 3,000th one.

Now the business world is wondering how they continue doing this. The Marriott name is on more buildings than any other name except McDonald's, which passed out of the hands of its founder brothers a long time ago.

In 1985, J. Willard Marriott died of a heart attack. President Richard Nixon offered a eulogy.

Bill Marriott, Willard's son, had three sons who spend numerous working years developing the chain of the Marriott hotels. Obviously, it was more complicated than the root beer sand run by their grandparents in Washington D.C. The nickel they charged for a frosty mug of root beer went much farther back in 1927 and during the Great Depression.

A grandson, Stephen Marriott, who was a son of Bill Marriott, was vice president of global and field sales and seemed like an obvious choice to run the hotels after his father Bill retired.

Unfortunately, Stephen developed a rare muscular disorder known as MEERF syndrome, which left him hearing impaired and legally blind.

So, David Marriott, another of Bill's sons, was considered as a successor. He was vice president of global and field sales.

Then, there was John Marriott, who served as executive vice-president of lodging. He resigned so that he could run his family's investments.

Mitt Romney, a junior senator from Utah in 2019 and who ran for president, served as a member on the Marriott board of directors at one time.

Marriott International controls about 95 of the U.S. hotel market. That's why they ended up on the the Champs Elise and opened the Paris Marriott hotel. The European Marriott Hotels are important. Marriott International headquarters is located in Bethesda, Md., in the Washington D.C. metropolitan area. It has 5,700 properties in over 110 countries.