Thread regarding Marriott layoffs

I’m one of the ones affected. For those that are not aware, Marriott does not “own” hotels by and large (I was told by upper managers that they own less than 50 world wide). With that in mind understand that they basically have two management “models”. If you own a hotel you can enter into an agreement with Marriott to either be managed or franchised. A managed property is fully managed and operated by Marriott employees, while a franchised property is Marriott in name only, and is operated by another management (i.e. Franchise) company and staffs the property with their employees. The major difference seen is in quality for guests. Being a (now former) Marriott employee, I can walk into a hotel and tell you within 5 minutes if it’s managed or franchised. Some franchises are good but the majority are mediocre at best and many are flat out horrible. With the cuts that they are making, that distinction is only going to get worse.

Marriott’s senior leadership’s “plan” is to shift as much as possible to franchise in order to “grow” the business. They currently have around 10k properties worldwide under the Marriott banner. They want desperately to double that and it’s easier to do that under the franchise model (for both new and existing hotels). So they’re completely focused on quantity vs quality.

In my opinion this is the same thing that Boeing did with McDonnell Douglas, focusing on Wall Street vs making quality air planes, and we know how that has ended up.

This is the road to He-l with sidewalks paved in gold for leadership with their bonuses and gold parachutes. They will focus on pleasing Wall Street and forget about their guests and it will not end well.

I was one of those who took the Voluntary Transfer program in back 2020 (as part of the APAC continent office) where we got at least minimal severance pay, gold status for Bonvoy & F&F offer for a year. Sounds like this round of layoff isn't like the one that happened during COVID but I knew all along the company did not care for their staff as advertised. Loads of WFH jobs still and some here are correct to say they love keeping those who aren't competent but very good friends with the top leaders. I'd not want to go back to this company again!! Go find somewhere that won't "brainwash" you to work hard for them and at the end, you get zero support/ compassion.

Hey! I'm Jenna with Hotel Dive. I'm covering the layoffs and restructuring. If anyone would like to share their experience or insights on this topic, please feel free to reach out to me at jwalters@industrydive.com.

833 eliminations with only about 233 new positions posted - After 20 years with them, don’t think I’ll ever consider working for them again. They’ve handled this terribly

Just wait, the harsh reality of picking up the pieces with whoever is left will be catastrophic. Good luck to everyone that remains, your workload will double and you will see no reward in return. I am confident this hack job of a reorg will be continued through Q1 2025 when they realize the madness they created for themselves.

The Customer Group leader has never addressed her associates associates until the re-organization call. Company executives lack empathy for hundreds of employees who will be out of work after decades of service. These eliminated employees are top talent and have worked tirelessly to help Marriott recuperate losses after COVID. Lower level severance is a joke.

We hear more layoffs expected in 2025 as they relook at the business. Shameful to come from a CEO that just tripled his salary. And many head scratching moves, like moving positions under leader that knows nothing about that business. Very sad.

Security team layoffs - Positions eliminated - BISOs (6 positions), 1 Sr Director, 1 Director. 1 VP1 re-levelled to Sr Dir. There are 3 more VP1s , who are still there.

Anyone got laidoff in security teams ?

Good thing they bought Tony a new jet

I’m really thinking it’s not done yet!! Besides the robotic, scripted webcasts from yesterday there still hasn’t been ANY communication and very honestly it just created more questions than answers. My team was not mentioned under the “new umbrella” which has me thinking they aren’t done yet!! Work from the top down type of thing?

It's infuriating to see departments eliminated while Tony's compensation reaches $55 million.

Several cuts in Ambassador mid-level management

Brand and Marketing teams were gutted along with huge cuts to Global Operations teams. Some cuts in Loyalty as well, but not as substantial as other areas. Can't say that I'm surprised or upset about the decision to thin out the VP-level of the organization... too many layers of approvals before decisions could be made.

On the Peggy call now. Extremely robotic and no empathy in any of their voices. This entire organization is furious with how this has been handled.

Sitting on Drew's propaganda call right now and its a joke. He is so stiff and a horrible speaker.

Many departments laying off folks are also hiring at the same time. I'm seeing Welcome emails for new associates while existing folks are getting chopped. They must have realized the cruel irony of it and now have asked the welcome emails to be halted for a few days.

Departments impacted that I know of - multiple teams under IT, Delivery, a few in Security. These are all corporate employees. I agree with another poster that top performers are being let go, while mediocre employees are being retained. Teams getting placed under managers who know nothing about that area. In a way I'm glad to be one of the laid offs, with all the additional work that'll get piled on the remaining folks.

Those of you that say your department was affected, what department are you in?

What teams have been affected so far?

Departments across the company are decimated. Loads of top performers gone. Many underperformers kept. Over 500 people. Many of those remaining looking for jobs outside anyway. More to come in 2025.

I don’t know how those of us left are going to get the job done. They gutted my dept.

Last working day is 3 Jan 2025. Not only top tiers VPs are affected. Downstream too. I am also one of the downstream

I was told layoffs would be final on 1/3 - I think the whole reorg is a one-and-done thing with announcements this week. There are three tiers of VPs and the totally removed the bottom tier and forced anyone remaining to become a Senior Director. It's savage.

Heard from a HR contact that Luxury is going to be hit hard.

Marriott is laying off hundreds and forcing high level executives into retirement effective January 2025. They anticipate news to go out to non-executive position holders November 14-15. This will affect above property/corporate associates and not associates whom work on property. So this should minimally impact guests. This is in an effort to cut costs to hotel owners. It is truly, and simply corporate greed at its finest and has left hundreds in fear of job loss ahead of the 2024 holiday season. Shame on Marriott & its leaders.

Just announced layoffs will probably go into 2025