Marriott International reviews

Chaos reigns @ HQ. Due to an overabundance of duplicative responsibilities, decision making suffers, and projects constantly scramble at the last minute to accommodate a shift in the slightest breeze. Business serves IT, rather than a partnership. IT motto is, "If a person can do it, why have a computer". Ancient systems require manual data entry of identical information when automation would reduce risk, time and effort. But IT doesn't want to pay to automate because it costs the hotel owners money to pay someone to do the data entry, rather than Marriott to write a little bit of code. It's a shell game - your fees are lower, but you're paying employees to do stuff a computer can do. Paternalistic culture means you can't say no to Daddy.

Generally the pay at HQ is lower than competitors in the DC area. There's an overriding sense we're making 80 cents on the dollar in exchange for reasonable hours, good work-life balance and nice hotel discounts. Most seem comfortable with the trade-off, but you'll make less than your peers in most rank-and-file positions here. HQ itself is nice in the Hub and lobby; actual work spaces are beige cubicle farms. We're moving to a new downtown-Bethesda headquarters in 2022, but it's a long time to wait.