Marriott International prides itself on prioritising its associates, even before its customers. President and chief executive officer Arne Sorenson explains why putting people first is the legacy he is most committed to sustaining
As only the third CEO in Marriott International’s 85-year history and the first to be from outside of the Marriott family, Arne Sorenson was always going to attract a great deal of attention when he was promoted at the end of 2011.
At the time, JW Marriott Jr. executive chairman and chairman of the board, more commonly known as Bill, commented: “I can say that there is no one more deserving or capable of assuming this role at such an important point in our company’s history. Arne knows the business, lives our core values, and has earned the respect and admiration of all of our company’s major stakeholders.
“Having personally recruited Arne to Marriott in 1996, I know that his success is related not only to his extraordinary talent, but is also due to his commitment to hard work, team play, and drive for results. As his mentor and friend, I could not be more pleased, for him or for our company.”
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Fast forward just over a year and Hotelier is one of many publications vying for an interview with Sorenson, who was in Dubai for the grand opening of the Emirates Airline-owned AED 2.2 billion JW Marriott Marquis Dubai.
As it turns out, the JW Marriott Marquis Dubai is in many ways a physical representation of the priorities Sorenson has identified for 2013, so a fitting meeting point for our interview, which took place the day before the hotel’s grand launch party on February 27.
Firstly, Sorenson stresses the importance of a more experiential approach to F&B, clearly displayed in some of the hotel’s 14 restaurants and bars, namely Hotelier’s favourite Izakaya, but also Tong Thai, Vault and Velocity.
Customers want to “really have their sense engaged by different cuisines and have those cuisines in spaces which excite them,” says Sorenson. “It’s a global trend and in many respects this hotel and the market of Dubai are tremendous leaders in that space,” he reveals.
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