Marriott International, Inc. is an American multinational company that operates, franchises, and licenses lodging brands that include hotel, residential, and timeshare properties. The company owns over 37 hotel and timeshare brands, with 9,000 locations and 1,597,380 rooms across its network (as of 2023). Headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, the company is the successor to the hospitality division of the Marriott Corporation, which was founded by J. Willard Marriott (1900–1985) and his wife Alice Marriott (1907–2000). == Profile == Marriott International is the largest hotel company in the world by the number of available rooms. It has 36 brands with 9,361 properties containing 1,706,331 rooms in 144 countries and territories. Of these 9,361 properties, 1,981 are managed but not owned by Marriott, 7,192 are owned and managed by independent hospitality companies under franchise agreements with Marriott, and 51 are both owned and managed by Marriott. The company also operates 20 hotel reservation centers. Marriott International, Inc. was formed in 1993 when Marriott Corporation split into two companies: Marriott International, Inc., which franchises and manages properties, and Host Marriott Corporation (now Host Hotels & Resorts), which owns properties. == History == === Founding and early years === The Marriott Corporation traces its origins to 1927, when John Willard Marriott, his wife Alice and a business partner operated a root beer stand in Washington, D.C. After serving a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in New England, Marriott had traveled to Washington, D.C., where he experienced the humid summer weather of the city. After returning to Utah and graduating from The University of Utah, Marriott purchased the rights to franchise an A&W Root Beer stand in Columbia Heights. Permission was subsequently received from A&W to start selling food. The stand was renamed as The Hot Shoppe, and it grew in popularity. Always looking for new ways to improve his business, Marriott bought a vacant lot next to one of his Hot Shoppes, removed the curb, and began offering the first drive-in service on the East Coast. This move popularized the restaurants, and by 1932, the Marriotts owned 7 Hot Shoppes in the D.C. area. In 1953, Hot Shoppes, Inc. became a public company via an initial public offering. On January 16, 1957, the company opened its first hotel, the Marriott Motor Hotel, in Arlington, Virginia. It cost $9 per night, plus an extra $1 for every person that was in the car. The company's second hotel, the Marriott Key Bridge Motor Hotel in Rosslyn, Arlington, Virginia, opened in 1959 and was the company's longest continuously operating hotel until its closure in July 2021. Hot Shoppes, Inc. was renamed the Marriott Corporation in 1967. In 1972, the Marriott lodging division acquired the Greek-based Sun Line cruise line, which it owned until 1987. In 1976, the company opened two theme parks, each named Marriott's Great America, in California and Illinois. Marriott sold the parks in 1984, with the California park bought by the City of Santa Clara and the Illinois park bought by Bally Manufacturing, then the parent company of the Six Flags Corporation (both are now owned by Six Flags). Marriott has faced criticism over its animal welfare policies, particularly for using eggs from caged hens in global operations and failing to meet deadlines to transition to cage-free eggs. === Marriott International === Marriott International, Inc. was formed in 1993 when Marriott Corporation split into two companies: Marriott International, Inc., which franchises and manages properties, and Host Marriott Corporation (now Host Hotels & Resorts), which owns properties. In 1995, Marriott was the first hotel company to offer online reservations. In April 1995, Marriott acquired a 49% interest in The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company. Marriott believed that it could increase sales and profit margins for The Ritz-Carlton, a troubled chain with many properties either losing money or barely breaking even. The cost to Marriott was estimated to have been about $200 million in cash and assumed debt. The next year, Marriott spent $331 million to acquire The Ritz-Carlton, Atlanta, and buy a majority interest in two properties owned by William Johnson, a real estate developer who had purchased The Ritz-Carlton, Boston in 1983 and expanded his Ritz-Carlton holdings over the next twenty years. Ritz-Carlton expanded into the timeshare market. Ritz Carlton benefited from Marriott's reservation system and buying power. In 1998, Marriott acquired majority ownership of The Ritz-Carlton. In 1997, the company acquired the Renaissance Hotels and Ramada brands from Chow Tai Fook Group and its associate company, New World Development. Marriott International also signed an agreement to manage hotels owned by New World Development. The same year the company also got into the home cleaning business by starting a new venture dubbed HomeSolutions. In 2001, the Marriott World Trade Center was destroyed during the September 11 attacks. In 2002, CTF Hotel Holdings Inc., a company that owns a hotel in Hong Kong managed by Marriott, sued Marriott alleging that Marriott engaged in extortion and bribery. According to the allegations, Marriott contracted to receive audio-visual services from Molloy. Marriott paid an inflated amount to Molloy and pocketed the 1.7 million dollars above its fee. Marriott had to return the money to CTF Hotel. CTF Hotel also accused Marriott of accepting bribes from suppliers. In 2003, the company completed the corporate spin-off of its senior living properties (now part of Sunrise Senior Living) and Marriott Distribution Services. In the same year, the owners of the Marriott-operated, Town Hotels, sued Marriott for breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty, negligence, and fraud. They claimed that Marriott along with the Avendra hotel chain violated West Virginia law by contracting with vendors and receiving "sponsorship fees" from them to provide services to Town Hotels, when according to the contract, Marriott was forbidden to profit from the contract except for management fees. In 2004, the company sold its right to the Ramada brand to Cendant, acquired in 1997. In 2005, Marriott International and Marriott Vacation Club International were two of the 53 entities that contributed the maximum of $250,000 to the Second inauguration of George W. Bush. On July 19, 2006, Marriott implemented a smoking ban in all buildings it operated in the United States and Canada, effective September of that year. In 2007, Marriott became the first hotel chain to serve food that is completely free of trans fats at all of its North American properties. Hotels franchised or operated by the company were affected by the 2003 Marriott Hotel bombing, the Islamabad Marriott Hotel bombing in 2008, and the 2009 Jakarta bombings. On November 11, 2010, Marriott announced plans to add over 600 hotel properties by 2015, primarily in emerging markets: India, where it planned to have 100 hotel properties, China, and Southeast Asia. On January 21, 2011, Marriott said that adult movies would not be included in the entertainment offered at new hotels, which would use an Internet-based video on demand system. In 2011, Mitt Romney received $260,390 in director's fees from Marriott International, despite the fact that he had already stepped down from the board of directors to run for President of the United States. His released 2010 tax returns showed earnings in 2010 of $113,881 in director's fees from Marriott. In February 2012, Bloomberg News reported on Romney's years overseeing tax matters for Marriott, which had included several "scams" (quoting John McCain) and legal actions brought against Marriott, which Marriott lost in court, over its manipulations of the U.S. Tax Code. Effective March 31, 2012, Bill Marriott assumed the role of executive chairman of the company and relinquished the role of chief executive officer to Arne Sorenson. In December 2012, Guinness World Records recognized the JW Marriott Marquis Dubai, a five star hotel, as the tallest hotel in the world. In 2013, the owners of the Madison 92nd Street Associates LLC, who contracted with Marriott to manage their hotel, sued Marriott for $400 million, alleging that Marriott had conspired with the workers' committee. They claimed that Marriott allowed the workers to unionize at the Madison-owned hotel in exchange for not unionizing at Marriott's flagship hotels. On October 3, 2014, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) fined Marriott $600,000 for unlawful use of a "containment" feature of a Wi-Fi monitoring system to deliberately interfere with client-owned networks in the convention space of its Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center in Nashville. The scheme disrupted operation of clients' mobile phone hotspots via Wi-Fi deauthentication attacks. Marriott International, Inc., the American Hotel and Lodging Association and Ryman Hospitality Properties responded by unsuccessfully petitioning the FCC to change the rules to allow them to continue jamming client-owned networks, a position which they were forced to abandon in early 2015 in response to backlash from clients, mainstream media, major technology companies, and mobile carriers. The incident drew unfavorable publicity to Marriott's practice of charging exorbitant fees for Wi-Fi. On April 1, 2015, Marriott acquired Canadian hotel chain Delta Hotels, which operated 38 hotels at that time. On November 16, 2015, Marriott announced the acquisition of Starwood for $13 billion. A higher offer for Starwood at $14 billion from a consortium led by China's Anbang Insurance Group was announced March 3, 2016. After Marriott raised its bid to $13.6 billion on March 21, Starwood terminated the Anbang agreement and proceeded with the merger with Marriott. Following receipt of regulatory approvals, Marriott closed the merger with S