Never Forget 9/11

This week, the United States will commemorate the 20th anniversary of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 with emotional tributes to the thousands of loved ones we lost on that devastating day and with heartfelt gratitude to the countless heroes who bravely stepped forward to assist.

For Marriott International, the memory cuts deep. While no one will ever forget the moment the World Trade Center towers collapsed, they may not recall one of the buildings those towers were adjacent to. It was our 22-story New York Marriott World Trade Center hotel, located at 3 World Trade Center. From this hotel, visitors could access Tower 1 directly and Tower 2 was steps away; they were all interconnected.

At corporate headquarters in Bethesda, Maryland, that morning, we watched the television news coverage of the attacks in horror and frantically tried to reach our hotel team on the telephone. Did they gather our guests and evacuate? Are they hurt? We didn’t know; the phone lines were down.

Meanwhile, American Airlines Flight 77 crashed into the Pentagon. We determined fairly quickly that our five nearby hotels, including one directly across the street from the Pentagon, were not damaged. Those hotels opened their doors to take in evacuees and help injured victims.

Back in New York, we learned later that part of the landing gear of American Airlines Flight 11 had crashed through the roof of our hotel, shaking the whole building. Alarms sounded and guest elevators shut down. Trained for emergencies – although nothing like this – three Marriott associates huddled in the lobby with walkie-talkies to coordinate an evacuation: Richard Fetter, resident manager, Joseph Keller, executive housekeeper and Nancy Castillo, head of human resources for both the Marriott World Trade Center and the nearby Marriott Hotel Financial Center.

The computers weren’t working, but Rich grabbed the last print-out of the guest list and instructed associates to conduct room-by-room checks to be sure every guest was accounted for. Most of our guests exited through the stairs, but one woman in a wheelchair was stranded on the fifth floor. Our associates found her and her mother and used the freight elevator to get them out.

Very quickly, our hotel became a first responder staging area. Firefighters, police and associates risked their lives to stay behind to search rooms and usher more than 1,000 people – many of them fleeing the Twin Towers – through the Tall Ships Bar & Grill in the lobby to an exit on Liberty Street.

One of those heroes was Abdu Malahi, an audiovisual manager, who was last seen checking rooms for missing guests in the hotel’s upper floors. His courageous efforts cost him his life. Joe Keller also lost his life, trapped in the lobby after the towers collapsed. That day, at least 41 firefighters, who had been working to clear the hotel, were also lost at the hotel and eleven of our 940 registered guests were unaccounted for. Countless more associates survived, but face, undoubtedly, a lifetime of emotional impact from the trauma. Many of them still work for us and my heart is with them.

We salute the heroes of that day and their breathtaking acts of bravery and selfless service. We also remember that the events of 9/11 have touched so many lives, including our associates who lost family and friends in New York, at the Pentagon and in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

In December of 2001, a worker at Ground Zero found in the rubble the Marriott flag that had once flown at the Marriott World Trade Center hotel. It was torn and burned, but we donated it to the 9/11 Memorial & Museum, which is located on the very spot where our hotel once stood. For us, that flag will always be a powerful symbol of sacrifice, strength, perseverance and hope.

On this 20th anniversary and every day, we will never forget.