Bill Marriott on towels, robots and more

UNION, S.C.—Legendary hotelier J.W. "Bill" Marriott Jr. says he never thought his company would become the largest hotel chain in the world when he joined it more than half a century ago.

But now, Marriott International is poised to become just that with its purchase of Starwood Hotels and Resorts. The boards of directors of both companies are set to vote on the merger on March 28.

“It's something I never, ever even imagined,” said the son of J. Willard Marriott, founder of Marriott International. “I've always said we've built the business one hotel at a time. I can't imagine that we have more than 5,500, almost 6,000 hotels."

Marriott’s comments were made on-board a private jet to visit the Thomaston, Ga., and Union, S.C., plants of Standard Textile, which is producing towels and bath mats for nearly 3,000 Marriott hotels in the USA.

Bethesda, Md.-based Marriott announced this week that 100% of its terry cloth products at its U.S. hotels of all of its brands from the Courtyard to The Ritz-Carlton will be made in the USA. Standard Textile says it will hire 150 more employees to handle the production. It has also upgraded the two plants at a cost of $40 million.

Marriott: All towels at U.S. hotels will be made in USA

Once its purchase of Stamford-Conn.-based Starwood is complete, Marriott will have 31 brands and 1.1 million rooms.

“1.1 million rooms--that’s a lot of rooms isn’t it? That’s a lot of towels,” the former CEO and current chairman of Marriott’s board joked.

Marriott, who will turn 84 later this month, visited each plant, meeting with employees and even donning headphones at one point to walk through a loud production room. From warping to slashing to drying, Marriott was shown every step of the production of the towels.

Annually, Marriott expects to produce 2.6 million bath towels and 4.9 million hand towels — about 5.6 million pounds of textiles that could stretch 4,300 miles.

“We could go from Washington to Miami via Thomaston and all the way to Los Angeles,” Gary Heiman, president and CEO of Standard Textile, told a crowd of employees and dignitaries.

Marriott told the audience that it’s the first time in 20 years that all of the company’s terry cloths will be made in the USA. The two companies also say the initiative will reduce greenhouses gas emissions by eliminating more than 300 ocean-going container shipments annually.

“It’s a very special day for us,” Marriott said. “We’re proud to bring these jobs home. We won’t be polluting the atmosphere as much as we’ve done before.”

He added that after touring one of the factories: “The next time I use my bath towel, I will think, ‘Gosh, a lot of work went into this.’”

Back on his plane, Marriott said Starwood would not immediately adopt the Made in the USA initiative even after the merger because it recently signed a contract with another supplier. When asked if Marriott will expand the effort beyond terry cloth to linens, he said that 90% of the linens at its properties are already made in the USA.

Marriott CEO: 'Do better by being bigger'

“I don’t spend my life buying sheets,” he said with a chuckle.

The Marriott move comes at a time when “Made in the USA” has become a prominent theme in the U.S. presidential election. All candidates have declared that manufacturing jobs should remain in the USA. Republican front-runner Donald Trump, also a hotelier with his Trump Hotel Collection, has been criticized for manufacturing branded products in China.

“It’s becoming more and more of a political effort on the part of the leadership,” Marriott said during his flight.

When asked for his opinion about the election, Marriott did not endorse any particular candidate, including Trump, but he did say: “It’s so different from anything I’ve ever seen before in my life."

Marriott touched on other topics including other hotel companies’ experimentation with the use of robots. Hilton Worldwide has started testing a robot concierge named Connie at its Hilton McLean, Va., property. Starwood is piloting a robotic butler, or Botlr, at a few of its locations.

Introducing Connie, Hilton's new robot concierge

“I think we have to be careful we don’t lose the human touch,” Marriott said. “Every time I get on the elevator, there’s a bunch of people looking at their iPhones. They never say good morning to anyone. They never say hello to anyone.”

That said, Marriott does have an iPhone, which he only occasionally pulled out during his flight, unlike other passengers who clutched them from take-off to landing. And don’t expect to see him texting anyone.

“I don’t use it very much,” he said of his iPhone. “I use it to make calls. I use it to take calls.”