Welcome to My Blog

Later this month, on September 27, people around the world will mark World Tourism Day as they have every year since 1980. That’s the day the United Nations designated as the one on which we recognize the positive contributions that global tourism makes each day to...

When I joined Marriott Corporation in 1972, the company’s portfolio consisted of 22 properties—three franchises, one managed property and 18 company-owned hotels. As a business model, Ownership was easily understood. The Marriott corporate culture and values applied....

The world has become increasingly global and interconnected in the past 10-15 years. And while people have been on the move since time began, welcomed immigration has tended to move in step with economic conditions—rising when the local economy is strong enough to...

For more than three centuries now, noted philosophers, historians and politicos of the day from Edmund Burke to George Santayana to Jesse Ventura have all told us to know the history of a place or a people or “be doomed to repeat it.” Seems like simple enough advice....

You’d be hard pressed to identify a culture that isn’t proud of its cuisine or doesn’t make a big deal out of dining. But nowhere is this pride more evident than in the Chinese culture where dining is an art form that extends well beyond the food being consumed, and...

So, what do sea turtles and China’s economic prowess have to do with the rest of us anyway? … Plenty! It’s time that we take notice and welcome the sea turtle presence among us. Since 1978, more than 2.6 million Chinese students have gone abroad to study and America’s...