Page 82 - Forbes - USA (November 2019)

so well already, why would you add this to it?” tional travel to the U.S.
But Sorenson couldn’t shake the idea of add- All those pale next to Sorenson’s most personal
ing Starwood’s 11 brands, including Westin and challenge yet: Stage 2 pancreatic cancer. In late
Sheraton, to Marriott, which would create the August, a week after finishing his chemothera-
largest hotel company in the world. When the py treatments, Sorenson says his hair is a little
former lawyer sat down with Bill Marriott to re- thinner and his form trimmer. “My barber says
view financial models four days later, he was per- don’t shave it because there’s a lot of guys who
suasive. Marriott signed off. do comb-overs,” he says with a laugh. For a man
78 The rise of Airbnb and changing tastes in trav- used to spending 200 days a year in Marriotts on
el among Millennials, favoring Instagram charm the road, one of the biggest changes has been his
over cookie-cutter predictability, risked making decision to stick closer to home, both to protect
0
0 hoteliers irrelevant. Marriott under Sorenson his health following radiation treatment and to
1
has been anything but. The company’s footprint be nearby for surgery in November.
T
S has doubled during his tenure to more than 1.3 “I don’t want to be a cancer CEO. I don’t think
U
J million rooms. Its revenue topped $20 billion in of myself as a cancer CEO,” Sorenson says. “I am

E 2018, up 62% over five years. Postulate that Air- optimistic, but I am also very aware of the signif-
H
T bnb is an industry killer and Sorenson, 61, quick- icance of the diagnosis that I’m confronting.”

— ly points out that Marriott’s revenues per avail- The Minnesota native got into the hotel busi-

T
S ness when John Willard “Bill” Marriott Jr., the
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L son of the hotel chain’s founder, plucked him

E from a D.C. law firm in 1996 after he represented
H
T the company in a lawsuit. Known as a good lis-
tener who will “quibble” over something if he dis-
agrees, Sorenson proved the perfect understudy,
moving up from head of M&A to chief financial
officer in just two years. By 2003 he was the pres-
ident of Marriott in Europe. Six years later, he
was named president and chief operating officer.
Sorenson was not only a competent executive; he
also shared important values with the devoutly
Mormon Marriott family. Sorenson was born in
Tokyo to Lutheran missionary parents, and faith
was a cornerstone of his upbringing.
That connection was key when Bill Marriott
Bedtime Story
abandoned his first plan, to pass the business
Bill Marriott, seen with sons Stephen, David and John in 2004, built his family
empire on acute attention to detail, like the right way to change a bed. directly to one of his four children. His eldest
son, Stephen, died in 2013 from a health con-
able room have grown in each quarter for the last dition that had left him blind and mostly deaf.
five years. “Is that the death of hotels?” he says, Daughter Deborah Marriott Harrison left Marri-
the corners of his mouth curling into a smile. “I ott to raise a family in the 1990s and rejoined in
don’t think so.” 2006 in its government affairs office; she is now
Investors can also smirk—Marriott’s shares a board member.
are up 226% since Sorenson took over in March Another son, John Marriott III, followed his
2012, besting competitors like Hyatt (up 69%) father’s footsteps into the business, rising from
and Hilton (up 117% since its 2013 IPO) and hotel cook to operations exec. But he also battled
crushing the S&P 500 (up 113%). That market a drug and alcohol problem. By 2005 his father
performance, plus its reputation for job creation had decided he wouldn’t succeed him. David, 12
(it has 730,000 workers), alongside sustainabil- years younger than John and in his 30s when So-
ity efforts like the decision to stop offering sin- renson took charge, is now the chief operations
gle-use plastic toiletries, powered Marriott’s re- officer for the eastern region of the Americas.
turn to Forbes’ Just 100 list of America’s best cor- Bill Marriott trained Sorenson in the family’s
porate citizens this year. ways, including a willingness to take risks and ad-
But despite the plaudits, last year was rocky herence to the family motto, “Success is never fi-
for Sorenson. Marriott discovered a massive nal.” Even now, the 87-year-old board chairman
data breach in Starwood’s systems, leading to a likes to call Sorenson from New Hampshire and
$126 million fine. Strikes in the U.S. over work- talk about the business, particularly after hearing MATT HOUSTON/AP
ers’ wages cut into its 2018 revenue, and Trump’s an earnings report. “I think we’re similarly driven
xenophobic rhetoric caused a slump in interna- toward winning, similarly driven toward making

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