Marriott Opens a New Line of Boutique Hotels called "Edition"

Edition was the brainchild of Ian Schrager. He's the guy who created the whole boutique hotel segment with exciting hotels like the Mondrian in West Hollywood, the Delano in Miami and my very favorite, the Gramercy Park in New York. Ian is a creative genius and that's one of the reasons why we partnered with him seven months ago.



When we first looked at the boutique hotel segment, we knew there was an opportunity for a unique concept on a global scale. We now have 18 lodging brands, but we were not a player in the boutique sector. We also recognized where our company's strengths were and where we could benefit from outside expertise, and that led us to Ian Schrager.

Bill Marriott Talks About Tipping

This is from an old story, back in the '30s, in the days when an ice cream sundae cost much less.

A 10 year-old boy entered a hotel coffee shop and sat at a table. A waitress put a glass of water in front of him.

"How much is an ice cream sundae?" the little boy asked.

"Fifty cents," replied the waitress.

The little boy pulled his hand out of his pocket and studied the coins he had. "Well, how much is a plain dish of ice cream?" he inquired.

By now, more people were waiting for a table and the waitress was growing very impatient.

"Thirty-five cents," she brusquely replied.

The little boy again counted his coins. "I'll have the plain ice cream," he said.

The waitress brought the ice cream, put the bill on the table and walked away. The boy finished the ice cream, paid the cashier and left. When the waitress came back, she began to cry. As she wiped down the table, there placed neatly beside the empty dish were two nickels and five pennies. You see, he couldn't have the sundae because he had to have enough money to leave her a tip.

Read the entire story and visit Bill Marriott's blog.

Famous People I've Met While Working in a Hotel

Tony Bennet
Great guy and cool as good be but his manager was pretty uptight. Tony was an absolute class act. We talked quite a bit as I escorted him to his room and I loved it.

Bon Jovi
In the early 90's when they still had all the hair and the screaming girls waiting for them. We had to move from one door to the other with the limo and yet the girls still found out where they would be leaving from and showed up in mass.

Garth Brooks
He had attended an ASCAP award program which he was honored at. Brian Romkee and myself had the pleasure of escorting him from the ballroom to his limo via the red carpet. It should have lasted for a couple of minutes but he had so many fans lined up wanting pictures and autographs. He took his time to give autographs and to take pictures

Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash
Really nice people

Bill Monroe
Very nice man and was honored to know that generations of my family had enjoyed his music.

Bill Clinton
Incredibly dynamic and charming. Coworkers that didn't like him before meeting him, liked him afterwards. Truly one of a kind.

Ralph Nader
I met him in D.C. when he stopped to ask me where he would be speaking in our hotel.

Kofi Annan
Escorted him to a meeting in our hotel in Washington D.C.

Bill Marriott
Truly a gentle giant who cares about his company and the people around him. The reason why his company is so strong and large.

Bob Baffert
The "rock star" of horse trainers. Always has his sunglasses on and swagger.

Willie Shoemaker
Small man in size but a warrior on a horse tracks. The greatest jockey in history.

D. Wayne Lukas
A legend in horse racing and training. Always a presence in the lobby or at the track.


I've met many more... So who have you met and where?

In The Words of Bill Marriott: All I Can say about Macau . . . is WOW!!!

Give the Chinese a crack at capitalism and all heck breaks loose - that's my main take-away after seven days here in Asia. The consumer potential of this country is awesome. That's why Marriott is so bullish about our growth plans here.

China's economy is growing at the rate of 10 percent a year. If you think that's impressive, wait 'til you get a load of Macau. It's growing at more than 20 percent a year.

This tiny, little island is about one-sixth the size of Washington, D.C. and only an hour-long ferry ride from Hong Kong. About 100 million people are within a three hour car ride and 3 billion people are within a five hour flight.

No surprise that last year, Macau overtook Las Vegas in gambling revenue.

You should see the monstrous casinos at the brand new Venetian. It's the second largest building in the world after the Boeing plant in the state of Washington. They have an entertainment center under construction that will accommodate 15,000 people for major events like rock concerts and NBA exhibition games.

The lowest bet at the high roller tables is $3000. There are no slot machines - well there are just a few - some baccarat, a lot of roulette, blackjack and "sic bo," which means high-low in Chinese.

And talk about speed to market: the Venetian was a $2.4 billion project but only took 24 months to build.

Read the entire post in Mr. Marriott's blog, Marriott on the Move.