Goodbye 2019, Hello 2020

It is true what they say: time flies. It is hard to believe that another year has come and gone but here we are, a few days away from 2020 and I am already feeling nostalgic about 2019.

If I could sum up the year with one word, it would be growth.

We saw some incredible wins as we continue to bring our vision – becoming the World’s Favorite Travel Company – to life. We raised the bar for good travel and launched Marriott Bonvoy around the world with a memorable debut at the 2019 Academy awards.

We reached 7,000 hotels globally with the milestone opening of the stunning St. Regis Hong Kong, which welcomed British actress Gemma Chan as its first guest.

We announced our new home rental business in April – Homes & Villas by Marriott International – which now offers 5,000 premium & luxury homes in more than 190 markets in the U.S., Europe, Caribbean and Latin America.

We ventured into all-inclusive resorts to serve an increasingly popular vacation segment; we signed management contracts to build five all-inclusive properties in the Caribbean and Latin America, which were subsequently followed by the acquisition of Elegant Hotels Group. More recently, we signed two additional all-inclusive oceanfront resorts – an 800-room Marriott Hotel in Jamaica and a 283-room Autograph Collection on Cura?ao.

We made significant strides with Serve360 – our global sustainability and social impact platform – as we announced the expansion of a 2018 initiative to eliminate single-use shower toiletry bottles from properties worldwide. When fully implemented across the globe, our expanded toiletry program is expected to prevent about 1.7 million pounds of plastic per year from going to landfills – a 30 percent reduction from current amenity plastic usage. That’s the equivalent of about 500 million tiny bottles per year. The list of our accomplishments goes on.

I am especially proud of what we achieved in Asia Pacific. We opened 90 new hotels in 2019. We celebrated the second anniversary of our joint venture with Alibaba. We raised over half a million dollars with the Sixth ‘Run to Give’ Charity in support of local communities across Asia Pacific. We enrolled more than half of new members globally. We rolled out enhanced Restaurants + Bars, Spa and Kids benefits in Asia Pacific. We curated a host of once-in-a-lifetime Marriott Bonvoy Moments such as Hong Kong Sevens, a table tennis masterclass with former Olympian Wang Nan in Sanya and the Singapore Grand Prix to name only a few – those who know me well knows that I am particularly partial to Formula One so getting the chance to meet six-time-world-champion Lewis Hamilton made me and all other members feel like a kid in a candy store!

To top it all off, we won Kincentric’s Best Employer award for the sixth consecutive year in Asia Pacific. This makes Marriott International the only company to receive this recognition consecutively since the inception of the program. 16 of our markets received the same honor. We were also awarded the “Best Hotel Loyalty Programme” award by Business Traveller Asia Pacific and we won the “Best International Hotel Chain” Travel Weekly Asia’s Readers’ Choice Awards.

Admittedly, growth did not come without its challenges but through it all, I saw tremendous displays of leadership and teamwork that remind me of our founding principle: our associates are our greatest asset.

Without our people, their drive or their commitment, we simply would not be here. And so, I dedicate all accolades to them, our associates, who help us take care of our guests and keep our culture of hospitality alive in our hotels and offices every day.

Thank you for making 2019 another one for the books. I cannot wait to see what the new year has in store for us.

Until then, I hope you all continue to explore more with your loved ones this holiday season! Bonvoy!