What ’ s hot : PeoPle
Conquering Change and new frontiers define many of the movers and shakers who make up our list of some of the key people to watCh .
By Jeff Weinstein , editor-in-chief
The man now with the biggest job in the hotel business says he is excited and anxious to start integrating Starwood Hotels & Resorts ’ brands and assets into Marriott International , creating the world ’ s biggest hotel company .
“ For the next number of years this has filled my plate – it ’ s overflowing ,” Sorenson says . “ I hope that we ’ re able to look back at this in a relatively short period of time and say it went every bit as well as we hoped it went . If we can do that then we ’ ll see what the next
Arne SorenSon
CEO
Marriott international chapter holds .”
The new Marriott will have 31 brands and , as a result , rumors have been flying about brand integration or sales . “ Occasionally , people will ask about selling a brand , but most of the owners have signed up to a brand because of the power of the loyalty platform and the portfolio ,” Sorenson says . “ So to go to owners and say you used to be part of Marriott Rewards or SPG , and we ’ re now splitting you off and sending you to a company with a meaningfully weaker loyalty program or maybe none is not a friendly thing to do .”
Sorenson adds that as long as the portfolio delivers significant customers to that hotel or the portfolio of hotels in a given brand , it can continue to be successful . “ So we end up both focused on defining brands in a way that communicates as much as we possibly can to customers about what to expect , and we also end up investing significant dollars in the marketing portfolio as a whole ,” he says .
As for Marriott ’ s owner constituency , the best way to keep them happy will be to remain as transparent as possible and engage in dialogue about any deal-related issues .
“ The most important thing for us to do , though , is to be successful in this deal ,” Sorenson says . “ We have to deliver improved revenue performance to both portfolios and hotels .”
24 hotelsmag . com June 2016