Marriott International reviews

Too many to detail here but the highlights include: Marriott legacy associates who have never worked at another company who have no idea how unprofessional they are. There are Directors and Senior Directors who would not even meet the basic skill requirements for an Associate at other companies. Departments spend vast amounts of money on outside vendors. Internal requirements are that all vendor expenses be approved however the associates who have worked there for years will purposely write a vendor agreement (for an IT consultant for example) under the dollar amount that senior leadership would need to approve. They do this to bypass the internal rules, which shows how little respect the long-time legacy associates have for each other. Since the Starwood merger, we have seen people completely unqualified be hired despite lack of skill set of references. The HR department is friends of management and will do nothing to support the average associate. Associates are asked to complete unethical tasks and to keep information from their executive leadership. I have witnessed brilliant, hard-working associates leave because they are treated so poorly by the old-timers. They like to tout inaccurate superlatives like "largest hospitality company in the world" and any reports of having a reasonable work-life balance are lies. The company is corrupt. If the earnings statements were truly audited then the truth would come out. Executive leaders take personal business clients to the Golden Globe's, Emmy's, etc on Marriott's dime. It's honestly a very slimy company.

This review is based on HQ. For anyone coming from the outside (i.e. non-Marriott "lifers"), esp from other Fortune 500s, I HIGHLY recommend you stay away. BE WARNED! Don't be fooled by their "Best Company to Work for" rankings - this is likely based on the on-property employees who have a different experience. Marriott touts itself as an innovative, forward-thinking company who's breaking boundaries and changing the old Marriott ways. It's ALL TALK. You will become very frustrated very quickly if you have a reputable work history. The work is archaic, backwards, and very rudimentary; you will not learn, grow, or be challenged. You have Directors at Marriott who wouldn't even cut it as an Associate at other companies. The caliber of work you get from a lot of Marriott HQ employees is very hit or miss (more miss). Your experience largely depends on which dept you end up in, however the feeling of discontent is widespread across all depts. I wouldn't even know where to start re: how to fix Marriott; it's permeated throughout the whole organization, especially post-Starwood merger. Their chaos happens at every stage: e.g. recruiters contacting you 6 mos after you've applied and then going MIA, teams bleeding money with nothing getting done, HR not paying out final paychecks once an employee leaves and not responding (totally illegal), them doing the merger on their own with out the gel of a consulting firm, etc. It's a testament to what Marriott is really like. There's no forward thinking or strategy or intelligence being applied as a whole, and you will feel it as an HQ employee. Also, their benefits are meager in comparison to other Fortune 500 companies. If you're an expectant mother, their mat leave is laughable. They've been getting away with mediocre benefits based on their name and the fact there isn't much competition in the DC area, but that will likely change in the next few years if I had to guess.