Constructing a corporate hotel program without the inclusion of Marriott International would prove quite the challenge, even if one is so inclined. That's in large part due to the tenure of Anthony Capuano, under whom Marriott's total properties have swelled to about 9,500 worldwide from 7,600 when he succeeded the late Arne Sorenson as CEO. Even before that, as president of global development, design and operations services, he led Marriott's footprint growth from just over 3,200 properties in early 2009.
But growth hasn't been Capuano's only calling card during his term, although this year's $355 million acquisition of Dutch lifestyle chain CitizenM certainly added to that legacy. Capuano at the end of 2024 began a process that included a round of layoffs at corporate headquarters and a substantial reorganization of Marriott's sales structure, including the retirement or departure of several managers and executives.
While the moves in totality saved Marriott millions—Marriott CFO Leeny Oberg during a February conference call estimated the company's savings from "our enterprise-wide initiative to enhance our effectiveness and efficiency" was $80 million to $90 million—Capuano told BTN and analysts alike that cost reduction wasn't the primary goal of the move.
"The entirety of the exercise was not simply a cost-cutting exercise," Capuano told BTN in February. "It was a recognition that we were in 70 more countries than we were the last time we looked at the organizational structure. We had 4,100 hotels the last time we evaluated our org efficiency. Now we have over 9,000. So, we really just looked and said, 'Are we empowering our leaders in the field so that we can streamline decision-making?' "
Capuano similarly told analysts on the conference call that "internally I think there is energy across the enterprise about how streamlined our decision-making will be as a result of this."
After the dust settled, the chain had a new SVP of global sales, Shannon Patterson, a new chief commercial officer of the U.S. and Canada, Andy Kauffman, and a new SVP of sales and distribution for the U.S. and Canada, Gail Frazer.
While Marriott's sales structure may well be more streamlined as a result of Capuano's moves, will that translate into a new approach with corporate travel buyers? Buyers for years have grumbled about the chain's intransigence in negotiations, unique among peers, and aggressive promotion of dynamic pricing, and buyer respondents to BTN's annual Hotel Survey this year, months after the sales restructuring, gave Marriott a score for its partnership approach to corporate business well below that of its peers. (On the other hand, readers of BTN stablemate The Beat this month voted Marriott their most admired lodging supplier for the fifth straight year.)
Nevertheless, Marriott has said in 2025 that its business transient revenue has held relatively steady, even in a turbulent demand environment. More evidence, perhaps, that even with a streamlined sales structure, Marriott's presence can't really be dodged.