MEETING…
Meeting… Tony Capuano As Marriott International continues to expand its global footprint, Sleeper speaks to the group’s newly appointed CEO during IHIF to discuss taking the helm, the industry at large and plans for growth. Words: Ben Thomas
PROFILE Tony Capuano CEO Marriott International
What are you hoping to bring to your new role?
a given region. Because we have visibility into
I hope to continue the focus and commitment
real-time data, we’ll see occupancy drop from
that Bill Marriott and Arne Sorenson made around
70% to 20% overnight. The good news is that
After 26 years at Marriott International, previously serving as Group President of Global Development, Design and Operations Services, Tony Capuano was appointed as CEO in early 2021 following the passing of Arne M. Sorenson.
our key constituents. We lead with putting our
when the virus is contained, we see a spike right
people first and the impact of the pandemic has
back up to 70%. As a result of that volatility, and
been particularly hard on our associates around
with the concerns around new variants, we’ve
the world, so doing everything in my power to
resisted offering forecasts beyond the end of
repair and nurture the company’s culture is a
2021. And that’s not because we don’t want to be
priority. For our guests, I want to inspire their
transparent. It’s a result of the murkiness for the
confidence in the safety of travel and drive
year ahead and the uncertainty about precisely
enthusiasm for the future, so we’re making sure
how the pandemic may evolve. If you’re running
we have the right products in the right locations,
a large multinational corporation, that makes it
and are delivering the cleanliness and insurance
challenging to peer into the future. We’ve got to
promises that they should rightfully expect.
be a little more tactical, taking things day-to-day
During Capuano’s tenure in his former role, the company grew from 3,200 properties in 2009 to more than 7,600 properties by 2020. He was also responsible for the growth and globalisation of Marriott’s development pipeline to 498,000 rooms as of 31 December 2020, with over half representing projects outside of the USA. Marriott now has 30 brands – split across Luxury, Premium, Select and Long Stay sectors – and a presence in 138 countries, with hotels in the US and Canada (5,670); the Caribbean and Latin America (297); Europe (645); Middle East and Africa (303); and Asia Pacific (882). Recent Openings: St Regis Downtown, Dubai; The Reykjavik Edition; W Rome; The Ritz-Carlton, Amman; Westin London City Upcoming Openings: The Ritz-Carlton New York, NoMad (Q1 2022); JW Marriott Madrid (Q2 2022); W Florence (2023)
or week-to-week. What’s your take on the industry at present? I would characterise it as tempered optimism, as
What lessons have you learned from the crisis?
performance varies significantly from market to
I’m an eternal optimist, so I’ll give you a positive
market, country to country, tier to tier. Marriott
lesson I’ve learned. After 26 years at Marriott, I’m
has been through conventional recessions, the
a deep believer in the strength and power of the
Great Recession, the post-9/11 period and wars; in
company’s culture. As I’ve travelled around the
each of those we had a high degree of confidence
world, the best learning for me is the resilience,
in our ability to forecast, with some level of
adaptability and passion of our associates. It is
precision as to what the shape and steepness of
hard not to be confident about the long-term
the recovery curve might look like, but there’s
future of travel and tourism when I’m out there
not much predictable about the shape of the
talking to our dedicated teams worldwide.
recovery from a global pandemic. China, which is our second largest market, recovered quickest
Has the pandemic affected plans for growth?
across all three of our business segments, but
The short answer is yes, of course, and maybe
even today, we can see outbreaks of the virus in
there’s been more urgency created by the
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