Swot Analysis : Marriott International, Inc.

Bethesda, Maryland is the headquarters of Marriott International Incorporate. This unique organization transpired from a root beer stand in 1927 into a world-renowned hospitality hotel chain in 1957. Information provided will focus on the evolution of the root beer stand into the Marriott International Incorporate vast hospitality empire. Today, the Marriott hospitality industry has 5,756 hotels with 30 brands in 118 countries with 1.1 million rooms. Additionally, the Marriott generated $14 billion in revenue during 2016 and had over 85 million combined loyalty members between the Marriott and Starwood Preferred Guest reward programs. Furthermore, Marriott partnered with Universal Music Group to bring their rewards member’s additional

Marriott International was founded on May 15, 1927 by J. Willard Marriott in Washington D.C. It started out as a root beer stand which grew into a chain of restaurants and hotels (Marriott International Inc., 2013). Now Marriott International has around 3,150 properties for lodging in the United States and 67 in other countries (Marriott International Inc, 2012). The Executive Chairman is Bill Marriott and the President and CEO is Arne Sorenson. Marriott International was also ranked 217 in the Fortune 500 in 2012 but ranked number one in the fortune 500 for its industry (hotels, casinos, resorts) (Cable News Network, 2012).

By 1980, more than 23,000 rooms were offered through 55 hotels and resorts located primarily in the U.S. Approximately 70% of company-operated rooms were owned by outside investors and managed by Marriott under agreements averaging 70 years in length. These management agreements contributed approximately $40 million to operating profits in 1979—profits that tended to rise with inflation. Contract Food Service (32% of sales)—Marriott operated almost 300 contract food units, providing a wide range of food service capabilities to a variety of clients. It was the world 's leading supplier of catering services to airlines, with 62 flight kitchens serving domestic and international air travelers. The Food Service Management Division also managed restaurants, cafeterias, conference centers and other facilities for over 200 clients, including business, health care, and educational institutions. Restaurants (25% of sales)—Marriott 's Restaurant Group consisted of 476 company-owned units offering a variety of popularly priced food in 46 states. Roy Rogers fast food restaurants and Big Boy coffee shops accounted for 92% of the total units. Theme Parks and Cruise Ships (8% of sales)—The two Great America theme parks, located in Gurnee, Illinois, between Chicago and, Milwaukee, and in Santa Clara, California, were opened in 1976. Both parks combined a wide variety of thrill and

Maxwell (2005) also notes that qualitative research can be used to address various issues and is not restricted to one ontological stance. The method also involves developing a relationship with the people one is studying, an aspect that is important in defining the authenticity of the data and determining the course of action.

Qualitative research is a broad field of inquiry that uses unstructured data collection methods, such as observations, interviews, surveys and documents, to find themes and meanings to inform our understanding of the

Qualitative research is concerned with meanings of experiences and interactions. Qualitative research is very common in the social sciences, although it is often used in market research as well (Alasuutari, 2010; Nieswiadomy, 2011). There has been quite a rise in qualitative research in the last 30 years. It first started to emerge in journals in the 1960’s, and an increase in the number of qualitative research can be seen in research journals in the 1980’s (Alasuutari, 2010). Instead of looking at the statistical numbers within research, the researcher in interested in getting within the research, and understanding the phenomenon (Leedy, 2011; LoBionod-Wood & Haber, 2013).

MARRIOTT INTERNATIONAL, INC. is a leading worldwide hospitality company, with operating units in the United States and 53 other countries and territories. Major businesses include hotels operated and franchised under the Marriott and other International brands, restaurants, and food service distribution. The company headquarters are in Washington, D. C.

Since its foundation in 1927 Marriott Corporation grew into one of the leading lodging and food services in the US. With three major business lines: lodging, contract services and related business, Marriott has the intention to remain a premier growth company. To achieve this goal the corporation’s strategy is to develop aggressively appropriate opportunities within their business lines. Marriott would like to be the preferred employer, the preferred provider and the most profitable company in each of the operating areas. The financial strategy includes four key elements:

Qualitative research: In quantitative researches, group discussions or interviews are conducted to gather information. This research involves open-ended questions where consumers are required to answer in-depth questions. Experienced professionals are required to conduct interviews. It is both an expensive and time-consuming method of

Qualitative research generates information that is very detailed and or originality. It is done in a normal social setting and gets to a better understanding of participants. The method used to collect data is by observation from interviews. Qualitative research is usually criticized for lacking scientific demands.

Langer, S. (2006). Book Review: Handling Qualitative Data: A Practical Guide. Qualitative Research, 6(3), pp.421-423.

Qualitative research comprises of receiving information that gives a verbal expression of the participates, providing more detail and depth than quantitative studies. It can be used to analysis people’s attitudes and emotions towards a topic encouraging them to expand on their answers to explain the reasons behind why they gave a particular response. The drawbacks to this being as it requires more time to collect the data so smaller sample sizes

Marriott and Hyatt are two of the largest hospitality providers in the world. Marriott has over 3,700

Marriott International within their respective market segments are one of the largest hotel groups globally.

Qualitative research is a technique of promoting research that stresses the quality according to the user’s point of view and approaches. In depth interviews and focus groups are best examples of qualitative research. [Laura Lake, 2009]