The man behind the world’s largest hospitality company, with nearly 9,000 hotels and over 30 brands in 140 territories, believes service in the industry should be “localised” to reflect the country in which each property is located.

Hotels should “feel new and interesting, embracing the local community and environment,” David Marriott insists.

“You do not want to wake up in a hotel in Hong Kong and not be able to tell the difference between that and a hotel in Malta, or NYC. It has to be localised,” he said ahead of the inauguration of the Malta Marriott Resort & Spa in St Julian’s, which he was attending on a flying visit.

The chairperson had not been around enough to pinpoint the local flair of the Malta property but he was hoping to find it in the food and beverage on offer.

“This is a great way to define and localise a hotel,” he says, adding that the associates (staff) should be local too.

“When you are staying in a hotel in Malta, you want to feel like you are in Malta. You want to take advantage of the beautiful views and make sure the architecture and design are in keeping with the local environment. 

“You can mix in associates from all over the world, but you want to make sure you have that good strong local associate base,” Marriott continues.

The third-generation chair of the board of Marriott International, born and bred in the business, acknowledges that this could be an issue and that recruitment issues are partly the problem of the hospitality industry, which “has not done enough”.

Bringing in the right talent and appealing to the younger generations are among the bigger challenges currently facing the industry, and it could do a better job in continuing to engage with the workforce and attracting talent, Marriott admits.

“We have our work cut out for us on that front.”

Around 600 people currently work for Marriott International’s three hotels in Malta, including Westin Dragonara Resort and AC, he says about its contribution to the local economy. 

“And for every hotel that opens, that is another opportunity for people to have good paying jobs and a career within hospitality.”

In the pandemic, the industry experienced an exodus because so many hotels had to close. Staff had to be rehired and trained.

“We are trying to help people understand that this is a wonderful place for a tremendous career – not just a job. 

“My father and grandfather would tell you they are most proud of the opportunities they provided for people around the globe.

“Being a frontline associate, or a server, may be a terrific entry point into a dynamic industry and can take you anywhere. So many of our executives started in an hourly role and worked their way up,” Marriott said.

“We are working hard to show this next generation of workers there is flexibility in our industry too as we create more part-time positions and some that can be done from home… You do not have to be in the hotel 12 hours a day.” 

More hotels 

Speaking to Times of Malta on the company’s birthday – it all started on May 20, 1927 – Marriott said it was “humbling” to be only the third chairperson in its 97-year history, a position he assumed in 2022.

“And I chose to be in Malta, which tells you how important it is, right?”

The St Julian’s hotel transitioned to a Marriott in 2020 but because of COVID-19, its inauguration had to be postponed, said general manager Alex Incorvaja.

It will soon be one of five with the opening of a select-service hotel (rooms only) Courtyard in Sliema and the hip, urban Moxy hotel in Paceville in the pipeline.

Malta is a key destination for leisure travellers and business meetings, Marriott maintains, and its future looks bright.

“It is important for us to be in a country like Malta, which is a growing leisure destination for many Europeans,” he said about the company’s global presence.

Marriott believes travellers also choose destinations based on where they can stay, adding that its Bonvoy programme has 205 million loyal global members that the Malta hotels can tap into. 

Some would be attracted to the island on the basis of the hotels they are loyal to, he maintains.

“They will be looking for destinations they can travel to that also have Marriott hotels; where they can redeem points and enjoy a good-quality service they know they can count on.”

Marriott International may be contributing to the record-breaking numbers – last year saw three million tourists arrive in Malta. But what about the downside of mass tourism, which is seeing some European countries introduce caps, bans and fines to curb the influx?

“Everything has a yin and a yang,” Marriott maintains. 

“But when you look at the distribution of the company, globally, we have eight per cent of the supply. Outside the US, our distribution is only three per cent so there is a lot of opportunity for growth... 

“We want our brands and hotels everywhere because we want people to stay with us…

“Where this is an opportunity for hotels, there is opportunity for tourism and business travel and that is good for the economy.”

Having said that, “it is not becoming any cheaper to run our business and that is another challenge. 

“We need to continue to find ways to be more efficient and effective on how we run our hotels, manage our costs and our food waste and work on issues of sustainability. 

“It is our obligation to find better ways to do our business and help support the environment,” Marriott said.

‘Bleisure’ travel 

The Malta Marriott has just been reclassified as a resort, which means it is “a stronger draw” for the leisure traveller, enabling customers to stay longer because of a good pool and spa experience, the chair says. 

The resort and spa status gives guests options, and the hotel can flex between providing a home for the business traveller and meetings, and for those seeking leisure, he explains.

This is in keeping with a shift in travel trends that have coined the term ‘bleisure’ – when travelling for business, people are mixing in leisure and adding on a few days of pleasure.

Blended travel is the way forward, with the leisure market never stronger than since COVID-19, Marriott says.

“People realised they had taken travel for granted, bringing on a shift to an ‘experience’ economy away from a goods economy. People want those life-changing memories. They missed it during the pandemic,” he continues.

“Leisure led the way back after COVID-19 and luxury was a strong segment too.”

But meetings travel also came back strong and continues to grow, with parts of the world recovering beyond 2019 levels, he said.

“You cannot replace those face-to-face meetings. They are more dynamic and meaningful. If you want to win someone’s business, you need to be there in person – not on the phone.”

Travellers are also pushing the envelope and going to harder-to-get-to parts of the globe and “we, as a travel company, need to figure out ways, through partnerships, acquisitions and brand expansion, to make that sort of travel more accessible”.

Behind every man…

Just because he was born into the Marriott family, the youngest of four siblings claims he always had the choice to do what he wanted to do with his life.

“My dad taught us all how to work hard, and that, as well as high integrity, were important values to him… But he would have been happy if I chose another profession.”

Marriott started from the bottom, washing dishes for the company at 15, followed by several summer jobs and internships. He did a stint in the kitchen as a sous chef – a passion of his – when he graduated from college, where he studied finance, and went on to sales and operations in his 22-year career.

“Having those hourly positions early on was vital to understand what our people go through on a daily basis and to empathise with the challenges, as well as to learn how the business works and the importance of engaging with customers.”

This was also something he learnt from his grandfather, the founding chair, in whose footsteps he has followed. J.W. Marriott would make sure to dedicate quality one-on-one connection time to each of his eight grandchildren on walks in the woods around their summer residence, his grandson recalls fondly.

“I was always impressed with his ability to connect with people and to listen,” he says about his legacy. 

Marriott has not forgotten his roots. “The incredible work ethic and ability to take risks” have also been impressed in his memory.

“Here is a man who grew up on a farm in northern Utah and had to drop out of school after the sixth grade to help his dad with his sheep… He realised he needed an education and got a college degree later in life.”

But while he describes his grandfather as “remarkable”, his grandmother was all the more so. 

“She was the strength behind the scenes and took plenty of risks too as they packed up their car, with a few hundred dollars in their pocket, and drove 21,000 miles across the US to open a root beer stand in Washington DC.”

Marriott met his wife at university – she graduated at 19 in 1927 – and she turned out to be a “great business partner”.

A “real inspiration”, she was the company’s first CFO, keeping track of all the books, Marriott recalls.

“After that first summer, they had to reinvent their business and started serving hot food, cooked in an apartment across the street. So, she was also our first executive chef.

“Our first female board member, she was always involved in design, and I think my grandfather ran every decision in the company past her…

“My grandparents established our business on the idea that if you take care of your associates, they will take good care of the customer and the customer will return. 

“Anyone can build a spectacular hotel, but we feel it is about the people that work in it and provide the service. That is what our people-first culture core values are about,” Marriott says.

And that is part of the legacy he would like to leave behind: “Growth and sustainability and making the world a better place.”