Hotelier of the Year :: Bill Marriott

December 31, 2008 at 11:09 AM | by HotelChatter | Comment (1)

When Bill Marriott first started blogging we were kind of miffed he was honing in on our turf. But this past year we've really come to appreciate all of Marriott's social networking efforts from his Marriott on the Move Blog to Twitter (done by his communications staff) to Flickr (see pics of Bill's birthday bash!) to YouTube.

For us, all this internet activity helped us keep dibs on what Marriott Hotels were up to. For guests, they can see more of what goes on at Marriott hotels aside from what's listed on the website. And it's working. Bill's blog has given Marriott an estimated $4 million+ in bookings. And now Marriott is reporting that the introduction of their new Marriott Mobile service has yielded $12,500 a day in its first 100 days. See, it does pay to be on the internet!

Aside from being one of the only major hoteliers to go public with his life and work on the internet, Bill has been busy revamping the Marriott brands from top to bottom like the Courtyard Marriotts, Renaissances and select flagship Marriott Hotels. In addition to all this, Marriott is still expanding here in the U.S. and abroad, especially in China.

But most importantly, Bill Marriott showed just how much he wanted to change the old Marriott standard by announcing a partnership with boutique hotel inventor Ian Schrager to create Edition Hotels. We won't see the first Edition Hotel until sometime in 2010 but it will be the most-anticipated boutique hotel debut from a big-box chain ever. In fact, this might be the most game-changing thing that either Schrager or Marriott ever does.

So for all this (oh wait, let's not forget the Marriott Teddy Bear!), Bill Marriott is our Hotelier of the Year for 2008. We're even willing to overlook his confession to not actually writing his own blog.

[Photo: rebilasphoto]

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