Bill Marriott Hears You When You're Sleeping and Other Notes on the Aging Hotelier

July 2, 2007 at 2:43 PM | by barbarab | Comments (0)

We were amused by yesterday's Washington Post Magazine profile of Bill Marriott, on the occasion of the hotel chain's 50th anniversary, especially several tidbits from his wife Donna about his sleeping habits.

The piece, by business reporter Michael Rosenwald, focuses on the tensions over selecting an heir apparent, either one of the Marriott offspring or an outsider. There was no clear prediction on that score.

For our part, we couldn't help notice that the piece was written before the announcement that Marriott was teaming up with Ian Schrager to develop boutique hotels. We couldn't resist slipping an anonymous question on the topic to Rosenwald during an online chat he was hosting this afternoon. To our delight, he took our question. Here's how it went.

The Online Chat with Michael Rosenwald
(Note: Adams Morgan is our nabe in DC, not a fake screen name or porno name for that matter.)

From Adams Morgan, D.C.: What about the new partnership with Ian Schrager?

Michael Rosenwald: Good question. Marriott has been criticized for not getting into the boutique hotel business sooner. Bill Marriott had always said he wanted to get in, but he was waiting to do it right.
He thinks lining up with the godfather of the boutique hotel business is the perfect way. It is important to understand that Marriott is often not first at anything -- rather, the company tries to come in later, then use its sheer size to dominate.
Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.

And they say there is no hotel mafia!

There were several amusing exchanges, like this one:

Oxford, Miss: Wait. If Bill Marriott doesn't have a pseudo-hot vapid, socialite daughter, why should I care about him?

Michael Rosenwald: Ah, the reference to Paris Hilton of the Hilton Hotels family. Funny story: Some kids once came to Marriott's house on Halloween and asked if he knew Paris Hilton. He said he didn't. They told him he should, because that is his competition.

As for the wife's insights, according to Donna, Bill can't stay put on vacation for more than a week without going off to look at other hotels, his own and the competitions'. The article says he visits 300 a year.

Donna also describes a man who has trouble sleeping in his own hotels, and not because the walls are too thin:

"He hears every sound. If a door opens in the hallway, he knows which one it is. He hears clerks stuffing bills under doors at 3 a.m. He hears everything, and the principal reason he can hear everything is that he believes he is supposed to hear everything. He is like a father listening in the middle of the night for the sounds of his children stirring."

For the entire chat transcript with Michael Rosenwald, click here.

Also worth a look is the paper's Marriott photo gallery. It's all you ever wanted to know about the Marriotts.

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