Executive Overview Marriott International celebrates its 75th anniversary in 2002. The company now has over 2,400 hotels, 156 senior living services communities, 60 vacation resorts worldwide, 7.500 ExecuStay apartments, 13 Marriott Conference Centers in the USA. 140.000 employees, and operations in 65 countries. It has under its umbrella 18 brands, including hotels ranging from The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company to the Fairfield Inn®; vacation timeshares including The Ritz-Carlton Club, Marriott Vacation Club International, and Horizons by Marriott Vacation Club; Marriott Conference Centers; extended stay lodging such as ExecuStay® and Marriott Executive Apartments; Marriott Senior Living Services; and Marriott Distribution Services. Marriott International started in 1927 when J. Willard Marriott took his new bride Alice Sheets from Salt Lake City, Utah to Washington. D.C. and opened a nine-stool A&W root beer stand, which they later called “The Hot Shoppe.” Hot Shoppes expanded throughout the east coast, and in 1937 Marriott added an airline catering business at Hoover Field (currently the site of the Pentagon). The division was named In-Flite Catering and served Capital, Eastern, and American Airlines. Growing up as J. Willard Marriott's son, J. W. Marriott, Jr., served in a number of capacities in the Hot Shoppes during his high school and college years, ultimately joining the company full time in 1956. Just eight months later, Mr. Marriott took over management of the company's first venture into the lodging industry—the 365-room Twin Bridges Motor Hotel in Arlington, VA. In January 1964. J.W. Marriott. Jr.. was elected executive vice president of Marriott Corporation and a member of the board of directors. He became president of the company in November 1964 and succeeded his father as chief executive officer in 1972. Just one year after he took the helm as CEO. the company obtained its first hotel management contract and two years later opened its first European hotel in Amsterdam, Holland. In 1977 Marriott International celebrated its 50th anniversary with sales topping $1 billion. Over the next 25 years as the CEO and as chairman of the board since 1985. J. W. Marriott. Jr., has built on the legacy and company cuJfure established by his father and grown the company more than twenty times with sales of over $20 billion per year today.