Where The World Comes To Stay

The first president and CEO outside of the family to helm Marriott International, Arne Sorenson is driving growth with one foot firmly set in the company’s management traditions.

- Gloria Fung

Travelling the world is a dream for many. But it can also be a pain if you’re doing it too much, too often. And that’s especially true if you’re doing it all for work. Arne Sorenson knows this all too well. But the upside for him, at least, is that he knows he’ll get a good night’s sleep.

“When I travel for work, I always stay at one of our hotels,” says the president and CEO of Marriott International. At the helm of a company with properties and franchises in 124 countries and territories, Sorenson is constantly on the road, spending over 200 nights abroad at various Marriott affiliate hotels each year.

For this particular interview, Sorenson is at the St Regis Macao, taking a brief hour to sit and chat in the hotel’s presidential suite. A thick fog has gathered outside the floor-to-ceiling windows, but on a good day, the suite gets a full view of Macau’s neon-lit Cotai Strip and the faux Eiffel Tower that stands in front of the neighbouring Parisian Macao hotel. It’s probably one of the best views you’ll get of the region’s fasting-growing entertainment and gaming hub.

“Macau is an interesting destination. It’s not growing as quickly as it was before. It’s already bigger than Vegas in gaming, but is only a fraction in terms of hotels and entertainment. Between 2014 and 2019, the distribution of hotels will have doubled, and the destination will remain popular as it becomes more interesting,” says Sorenson.

Some might attribute Sorenson’s optimism to that of a sanguine onlooker. But it is the CEO’s penchant for working outside of traditional structures and to see things from a fresh perspective that’s got him to the helm of the world’s largest hospitality group.