Caring for Our Associates Marriott Family

Meet Our Founders

History

The Take Care Relief Fund was created in the spirit of the Starwood Associate Relief Fund, Inc. (SARF), established in 2006 by Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. to provide need-based financial grants to associates facing hardship caused by natural disasters and other catastrophes. Following the 2016 merger with Marriott International, Inc., all remaining assets of SARF have been dedicated to the expanded mission of the TakeCare Relief Fund. Since 2006, over 6,000 grants totaling over 10.5M USD have been distributed worldwide.

J. Willard Marriott

In 1927, J. Willard Marriott opened the nine-stool root beer stand that grew into the Hot Shoppes Restaurant chain and evolved into today’s Marriott International hotel company. For the next 58 years, he built the Marriott brand on a foundation of guiding principles that remain embedded in the company’s culture today.

Read J. Willard Marriott’s full bio

Alice Sheets Marriott

Alice Sheets was J. Willard Marriott’s essential partner in both life and business. She had a hands-on role in helping the Marriott company grow, and her volunteer spirit is celebrated each year through the Alice S. Marriott Award for Community Service.

Read Alice Sheets Marriott’s full bio

Bill Marriott

Raised in the family business, J.W. “Bill” Marriott, Jr. developed an early passion for hospitality. In his more than 50 years at the company’s helm, he built Marriott into a global lodging company with more than 6,500 properties across 127 countries and territories.

Read J.W. Marriott, Jr.’s full bio

Taking care of customers at the first Hot Shoppe at 14th & Kenyon, 1927.

"Curbettes" provided car-side service at the Connecticut Avenue Hot Shoppe in 1936.

Soldiers and their dates dine on burgers and shakes at a Hot Shoppe, December 1941.

J. Willard Marriott tests propeller-side service at the 14th Street Bridge Hot Shoppe, June 1956.

Enjoying in-car dining, 1952.

Bill Marriott provides personalized directions to guests at the new Twin Bridges Marriott Motor Hotel, 1957.

Woodrow Marriott celebrates the Junior Hot Shoppe in Philadelphia's Progress Plaza, the first African-American owned shopping center in the United States, with members of the Plaza's and the Shoppe's management teams, December 1968.

The Cairo Marriott Hotel and Omar Al Khayyam Casino under construction circa 1979.

The Cairo Marriott Hotel and Omar Al Khayyam Casino was the first of Marriott’s African hotels, which opened in 1982. The central section had been the Gezirah Palace, originally built in 1869.