Marriott: The J. Willard Marriott story

by Robert O'Brien

Book Overview

No Synopsis Available.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0877476837
• ISBN13: 9780877476832
• Release Date: January 1989
• Publisher: Deseret Book Co
• Length: 336 Pages
• Weight: 0.46 lbs.

Customer Reviews

A Well-Organized and Well-Written Business Biography

If you've ever wondered who is behind the Marriott name, how the company began, and how it grew, you'll enjoy this book. It is a skillfully written biography of J. Willard Marriott and his various business interests. You'll learn about growing up just after the turn of the century in the wilds of Utah, about starting a business in the 1920s on a shoestring, how multi-millionaires get involved in politics, and how a high-powered executive can ruin his health. (Marriott did live to be 84, though, with a bunch of heart attacks along the way.) The most interesting part of the book covers "the early days" of Bill Marriott's business, beginning with his opening a franchised A & W Root Beer stand with an 8-ft. frontage in Washington, D.C. The growth of that into the Hot Shoppes, airline catering, hotels and more is a fun and informative read. Although J. Willard Marriott was a very religious man, his religion (he was a Mormon) does not take over the story. O'Brien succeeds in weaving this part of the subject's life into the story so that it occurs as naturally as the business, family, and personal aspects of the story.