MARRIOTT INTERNATIONAL RECOGNIZED FOR FOURTH CONSECUTIVE YEAR AS ONE OF 100 BEST COMPANIES TO WORK FOR BY FORTUNE MAGAZINE

For the fourth consecutive year, Marriott International, Inc. (MAR:NYSE) has been named as one of the 100 best companies to work for in America by Fortune according to the January 8 issue of the magazine.

This year’s Fortune list was compiled through a survey of more than 36,000 employees that evaluated trust in management, pride in work and the company, and camaraderie. Fortune noted that forty percent of the company’s managers started in hourly positions.

“Marriott is very pleased to be recognized again by Fortune as one of the best places to work, and one of only four companies with workforces of over 100,000 employees on the list,” said Brendan M. Keegan, executive vice president, human resources, Marriott International. “We are proud that our associates believe that we can make a difference in the quality of their worklife.”

Fortune was assisted in compiling the list by Robert Levering and Milton Moskowitz, best-selling authors of The 100 Best Companies to Work for in America. To be eligible, a company had to be at least seven years old and have a minimum of 500 employees. Fortune said that 234 candidates were selected for this year’s list from their database of more than 1,000 companies.

The Fortune 100 Best survey is employee-driven, with two thirds of the scoring based on the answers employees provide on the employee survey conducted by the Great Places to Work Institute in San Francisco. The remainder of the score is determined by each company’s responses to the Institute’s Culture Audit, in which it explains its philosophy and practices.

The typical 100 Best Company has 4,946 employees at 25 sites in the United States. It is 34 years old and has a CEO with an eight year tenure, and 1999 revenues of $1.6 billion. Its workforce is comprised of workers under the age of 35 (42%), female (48%) and minorities (25%). More than one third of the employees have been on the job less than two years.

In addition to being named to Fortune’s “100 Best Companies to Work For,” Marriott has also been recognized by Fortune as one of “America’s 50 Best Companies for Minorities” and “Most Admired Companies in America.”