Book Review: Without Reservations: How a Family Root Beer Stand Grew into a Global Hotel Company

As a pioneer of the modern-day hospitality industry, executive chairman of Marriott International, Mr. J.W. Bill Marriott, shares his experience of leading and managing the company, in his book Without Reservations: How a Family Root Beer Stand Grew into a Global Hotel Company. This book provides a compilation of engaging stories and business lessons that reveal the secret for the company’s success, taking the reader behind the scenes for vital events and business decisions.

In the front of the book jacket, there is a picture of Mr. Marriott. He is dressed professionally with a black suit and a red tie. The smile on his face shows his hospitality and sincerity compared to his serious business appearance. He would possibly like to give the audience a clue that he is going to provide some ideas of how to do customer service in the book. In the back of the book jacket, some recommendations for the book are provided by several famous business leaders in order to attract readers.

Mr. Marriott had previously published one other book, The Spirit to Serve: Marriott’s Way, in 1997, and it was an earlier attempt to share his biography and business philosophy. “It’s been 16 years since I wrote a book, and I decided it was time to write down a few things I’ve learned about leadership and team building, and to help me grow as a businessman, too” (p 15).

Since the late 1920s, Marriott’s corporate culture has grown from a tiny A&W root beer stand, launched by Mr. Marriott’s parents, J. Willard and Alice Sheets Marriott. Although Mr. Marriott’s passion for hospitality stemmed from the restaurant business, he didn’t discover his true calling for the hotel business until the late 1950s, when the company built its first hotel, the Twin Bridges in Washington, D.C. “My dad had loved the restaurant business, but I loved hotels,” he writes, “Planning them. Building them. Seeing them fill up with people” (p 103). Under Mr. Marriott’s leadership, Marriott International has grown into an empire of more than 3,000 properties in more than 70 countries, with annual revenues exceeding $12 billion.

In order to deliver Mr. Marriott’s ideas and insights of the company success, the book is divided into five parts, sequencing with Marriott’s five core values: Put People First; Pursue Excellence; Embrace Change; Act with Integrity; and Serve our World. These five fundamental principles help Marriott International grow its market share and differentiate itself from its peers in a competitive global hotel marketplace.

In my favorite part “Serve our World” (pp 136-153) Mr. Marriott addresses his company’s strong spirit to serve and better the world, with illustrative examples such as launching several projects to protect natural resources, providing working opportunities to people with disabilities, and offering scholarships to universities.

The most impressive and enlightening part for me is the experience that Mr. Marriott shares about the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Due to the tragedy of September 11, 2001, the hospitality and tourism industry in the United States suffered a huge loss. Mr. Marriott responses to the crises with amazing business acumen. Since that time, Marriott’s focus has shifted to the international market. Thousands of Marriott hotels have sprung up around the world, especially in the hot markets like Brazil, Russia, India and China. Incredibly, another thing Marriott did was to provide outstanding and special service for international guests travelling to the United States, making them feel at home. For example, Marriott has a special welcome program for Chinese guests called “Serve with Courtesy”. Reservation confirmation letters or emails are sent to guests in Chinese. When the guests arrive, they are greeted by a Mandarin-speaking associate. Chinese newspaper and television are also available for the guests. These experiences deeply attract me to show the professionalism of a hospitality company in developing creative strategies while undergoing business difficulties. These strategies would also appeal to other hospitality and tourism students and professionals.

Without Reservations provides a large number of company stories and examples to explain how it gained its success; however, it seems that Mr. Marriott is not being transparent with the readers. In other words, when it comes to his business Mr. Marriott uses these failures only to provide examples of how the company successfully overcomes difficulties. From my point of view, Mr. Marriott goes too far in only showing his company’s strengths. 

In conclusion, this book presents an insightful and informative account of how to achieve success for a hospitality company. Mr. Marriott writes this book in a captivating manner that gives the readers a balanced combination of core values, current examples and business practices being employed by Marriott International. The book is beneficial not only for hospitality and tourism students and professionals, but for anyone in any business that wishes to achieve success.

Without Reservations: How a Family Root Beer Stand Grew into a Global Hotel Company

by J.W. "Bill" Marriott Jr.

Illustrated. 191 pp. Marriott International, Inc. $13.99.