Marriott CEO Interview: Speaking Up on Social Issues and Building a Huge Brand
Photo Credit: Marriott President and CEO Arne Sorenson prepares for a TV interview. Marriott International / Marriott
Skift Take
Marriott is already one of the biggest players in the hospitality industry and in a few months, it'll be the biggest. Whatever the company decides to do — whether that's speaking up for LGBT rights and issues or pushing more direct bookings — is having a larger impact on the industry as a whole, and we spoke with CEO Arne Sorenson for his take on those issues, and other big challenges facing hospitality.
Arne Sorenson is a busy man these days. Not only is he busy serving as the president and CEO of Marriott International, but he's also in the midst of closing one of the biggest — and arguably one of the more dramatic — deals to ever take place in hospitality history: the more than $12 billion acquisition of Starwood Hotels & Resorts.
Throughout Marriott's history, and particularly, most recently under Sorenson's leadership, the company has remained a pioneer in a lot of ways, whether it's championing the LGBT rights or being the first major U.S. hotel company to push customers to book direct.
Skift sat down briefly with Sorenson at the annual NYU Hospitality Conference in New York at the Marriott Marquis in Times Square to ask him about what's on his mind, the state of the industry, and what he's looking ahead to achieving once the Starwood deal closes. Here's what he had to say:
Skift: Marriott has often taken public stances on socially divisive issues and hasn't su
