line cook

sous chef

assistant leader

teaching assistant

receptionist

Marriott International, Inc.

Work at any hotel depends on what department you're working in, so I will try and keep things general for anyone reading who is not applying for a front desk position. A 4* hotel with a very prestigious reputation requires a very high level of service from every employee, and you will be expected to represent the Marriott's 'brand standards' to a tee. As with any big corporation there are a lot of policies and procedures for everything, although this is to be expected. The only problem with the policies is that you're expected to know and understand them ALL but there are so many and they change frequently. The main struggle employees face is the difficult work/life balance. Unless you're working in some sort of operations or sales role your work rota will usually be given on a weekly/(if you're lucky) fortnightly basis meaning that planning ahead is quite difficult, unless you request every day that you would like to do something off. Managers are very fair in giving such days off, so don't be afraid to ask nicely. Holidays are very different; because there are so many busy periods at the hotel and the unpredictability of the job, getting a holiday request approved requires a lot of research into who else has holiday booked, what the 'forecast' is for the dates, and how many people there are in your department. About half of holiday requests (in MY opinion, not an official statistic) get denied so I recommend booking holidays as early as is physically possible or you will miss out! Combined with this comes the pay. Even the salaried workers aren't paid enough in my opinion but since I was paid hourly I'll focus on that. The job pays minimum wage- bar one or two departments where you'll make about 50p extra- which would be fine if the job didn't require such high levels of commitment, stress and knowledge. My particular department dealt mainly with guests so also guest complaints, which unless very serious would be dealt by us. The Marriott is very big on apologising about everything, even if it wasn't our fault, and compensating until the customer is at least neutral. As the hotel is very old we get loads of complaints about the same things over and over again. This is something that every employee struggles with as it's not uncommon at all to deal with a particularly difficult guest and end up costing the company huge amounts in compensation loss and also, kind of a loss of pride.Apologising profusely for street noise at 1am on a Saturday night in Bristol city centre does get old. Managers promote empowerment of associates (employees) by giving them the ability to award compensation without approval (up to a certain amount) although I feel this does the opposite. If you are applying for a job in the front desk be prepared to say I'm sorry more than you've ever said it in your life! It's not all bad; my department are a wonderful bunch of people who will look out for you and always help you if you're unsure, or even if you've made a huge mistake they'll always help. They'll swap shifts if you need them to and they can and they will try their best to rearrange shifts/holidays booked just to accommodate you. You're all in the same boat so you all get it when you need to bang your head against the wall! The company benefits are undeniably brilliant. They provide hot meals twice every day for all employees, but the food is pretty naff. You'll get free use of the leisure club in certain hours and amazing discounts at the beauty salon. The associate discount for any Marriott chain hotel are fantastic (depending on how busy the hotel is, of course) but it is a definite bonus. The management do make an effort to make us feel special with things such as pay day 'treats' that they bring around the hotel on pay day, and there's even an appreciation week annually full of themed days, special menus that are always delicious, games and best of all competitions. You can easily win a vacation or two during this week which is usually towards the end of Spring so get on that!

Okay I wrote a lot and there's loads of other reviews so hopefully I've been helpful. That's my honest take on my time there.

Development and training is second-to-none within this Corporate Company, and ongoing training and reviews allows it's Associates to give maximum performance and Customer Service through teamwork and an understanding of not only Guest's needs, but those of their Associates at all levels.

A typical day in this job involves a hands-on approach to the smooth operation and ensuring Guests and Patrons have a trouble-free experience, from checking the day's events, meetings, Hotel status, and knowledge through anticipating guest's needs, maintaining a constant presence as a Welcoming First-Contact Ambassador to the premises. Assisting with luggage, ordering taxis, updating and conveying information of the hotel and local area to  both Associates and Guests, assisting all other Departments as and when required ,eg. Housekeeping, Room Service, Check-Ins, problem handling and reporting with a view to improving service being very high on the agenda. Never a dull moment!

Over the years within the Company, I have learned so much as regards Customer Service, and that teamwork is very much the core of the efficient running and service provided within the industry, as well as motivation, communication through all levels. Ongoing training and internal meetings were an essential part of all Associates' every day activities, which not only improved productivity, but enhanced both our Guest's experience and enthusiasm amongst work-colleagues.

Management structures were such that encouragement and good Team co-operation made for an overall smooth-running of all tasks for any given role. Issues, complaints were rapidly communicated (Guests AND Associates), as well as rewards for a job well done - even at "top-level"!

The hardest part of my particular role was maintenance issues - not only addressing them, but on occasion, dealing with a multitude of complaints on an extremely busy day on one specific matter (for example, the swimming pool being shut down due to maintenance, or hot water not working in a particular section of the hotel, including things like a Fire Alarm sounding at 2am, set-off by a drunken guest - matters out of our control!)...... I have personally on occasion, had to replace washers or repair a blocked sink!

The most enjoyable and rewarding part of my job, was the camaraderie my Associates and I shared, through good and bad, and of course to receive positive feedback and comments from them and Guests alike.

The L.E.A.R.N (Listen, Empathise, Apologise, React and Notify) philosophy became second-nature, which helped in "Going the extra mile".

I worked in two different types of Marriott and in both the general similitudes were an over pretending company philosophy that requires a lot of documentation to hire you, as you could be some sort of criminal. The paperwork from head offices is infinite (to finish it all it took me over a month and still there were always extra contracts and documentation to fulfil). 
The general standards are spotless and they pretend truly the moon from their employees, if you ever worked for a Marriott your preparation is 5 stars for whatever other place you might join. 
The salaries are very low. In the management they earn less than a normal employee at the lowest level in other places. 
For the amount of work that is pretended the salary is not fair. 
Considering it’s a 5 stars, also salaries should follow accordingly. 
Guests have their hierarchy, therefore you need to be extremely kind, and most of the times they complain for unreasonable and unrealistic things in order to receive refunds or more benefits. When they complain you take the blame, even if you follow the company standards, because the “guest is always right” and entitled to treat you as they want. 
Most of guests here are not celebrities and neither rich, just some business workers that are entitled to have this business benefit paid from the company they work for, coming also to pretend the highest quality of rooms without wanting to pay the extra charge. 
Overall one of the best companies I worked for, but still a lot could be improved. 
The timetables in some departments are not reasonable for your health, some departments such as cleaners and securities work on time shifts days and nights with a non logical system. You can’t work 48-60 hours one week the daytime and the other week 48-60 hours on the night time: the human body need to have a sort of routine with timetables for healthy and safety reason! These types of Rotas should be illegal. 
Shifts also are 12 hours where you don’t even have a moment to breath. 
However the training and the teachings they provide you, gives you the best training you could pretend from a company and what you learn is priceless and very helpful for your future careers too. 

I recommend this company as a first experience to forge you for better opportunities, because the experience here is very valued and very appreciated. If you can satisfy a guest that goes at the Marriott, you can satisfy every person in the whole world and no job after this place would look impossible! 




I started at the Marriott Leeds as a young 16 year old college student on a work placement, and I couldn't have been more fortunate to be placed in such a wonderful hotel. I felt so much warmth and love and support from all those around me, so eager to help me grow and develop. You are empowered to take accountability and responsibility for your actions, giving you the ability to go above and beyond for your guests, amazing recognition scheme and fantastic benefits/staff rates. Marriott truly is a company which values and cares for its associates, we are listened to and valued and appreciated. Associate appreciation day every year is like Marriott Christmas, everyone is celebrated and celebrates each other. Marriott culture is so uplifting and empowering, every day I woke up as excited to head to the hotel as the guests, I thrived from the experience I gained at the Marriott and blossomed into a wonderful career. I think if I started anywhere else I wouldn't have the same genuine passion, energy and enthusiasm for the industry and could not have been prouder to work for such a company. I used to walk around the city centre on my lunch break in my uniform just to show it off! The opportunities within the company are endless and everyone around you has the same common goal, to make it memorable for the guests. Often if companies tell you they are 'like a family' this can be a huge red flag, but when a company really is like a family they don't feel the need to say it and I never heard that phrase at the Marriott, yet I knew every face in the building and spoke with everyone I passed, because that's the culture there. Marriott is more than a typical employer, it's a community and a community that will support you to grow and develop as far as you want to push yourself. If you are passionate about guest experience and hospitality then I couldn't recommend a better company to get your foot in the door with. You are treated as an individual and your whole self is considered, Marriott truly care about your health and wellbeing both mentally and physically and employees can access many resources to live a help live a healthy and balanced life. I used to say 'if I cut my finger I'd bleed Marriott red!' and I think I still would! If the opportunity arises for you to apply for a position at Marriott, grab it with both hands! 

Director of Sales and Marketing – 	Five Star Hotel
•	Responsible for business planning, sales and marketing strategies, setting & implementation to ensure the commercial direction, activity and profile of the hotel achieves its business objectives and revenue targets.  
•	Sitting on the Executive Committee of the hotel, role was to drive the re-positioning of The London Marriott Hotel County Hall within the luxury 5* market, through developing & implement sales & marketing plans in conjunction with operations departments, to bring the hotel back from being an underperforming business unit to become successful once again.
•	Key focus to protect and grow the hotels yield premium to strengthen the hotels position in the competitive set.
•	The job role in more detail included being responsible for the pro-active and re-active sales, marketing and events departments where some of the job role entailed:
	Responsible for key high profile events for the company, such as the ATP World Tour Championships
	All marketing and sales collateral both on and off-line (e.g. websites – including the design and build of new websites, all photography and content and project managing the full process; brochures, films and dvd’s.)
	All communications (email, letters, mailshots, presentations)
	All advertising both on and off line - i.e. magazines, newspapers and poster campaigns, ppc, banner designs and implementation
	Stands at exhibitions (design, build and management)
	PR for the hotels, dealing with journalists, handling press conferences
	Training of sales associates, PR associates and marketing executives
•	Managing and developing a team of 8.  Target setting, monitoring and evaluations, Career and Personal Development Reviews, regular 1:1’s, and personal tuition.
•	Successfully moved The London Marriott Hotel County Hall from the worst performing Marriott in the UKEMEA as of 2005 to the best performing Marriott in the UKEMEA as of Dec 09.  The biggest success story in the history of Marriott UKEMEA.
•	Versus the Market from the D&T report, County Hall achieved a MAT Premium of 13.1% on the market & was ranked 2nd in a competitive set of 7.
•	Turnover 2004/5 £12.5m; turnover 2009 £19.4m; – drove £6.9m into the hotel in 3 ½ years during a recession

I was working in the restaurant at the Metrocentre, Gateshead hotel. On my trial shift, it was quite scary to start as you don’t really know what to expect as your first job. Some of the staff were welcoming, however some treated me like I didn’t know what I was doing when in fact I was doing exactly what everyone else was doing. I proceeded in the job process and found out that I had the job, which I was happy with after months of trying to find a job. A few weeks later I had my first proper shift. This time it was working with different people than on my trial shift, but they treated me even worse. They completely acted like I wasn’t there and in a way looked down on me, anyways, I got the job done with and went home. The next day I then had another shift to do which was for a wedding. All of the serving staff were working so I thought it was going to be fine. Howeve, nobody spoke to me. I was ignored all night, I didn’t want to ask anyone where something was or what to do because I knew I would just get spoken to so rudely. A worker from another hotel was there, who was the only one who spoke to, had actually said to me that there was poor communication here compared to the Marriott hotel that she works in. This impacted my decision to leave a lot. The manager had changed a lot, she was so nice up until the point of me working for them, the manager only spoke to me once that night saying I needed to walk around instead of standing still, but this was towards the end of the night when I was very very tired after doing a 4-11 shift with only a half an hour break. I could not physically walk but she worked me and worked me until I just couldn’t do it anymore. After this night I decided to resign from the job. I did not feel welcome, I was put under too much stress and the lack of communication is poor. Would not recommend this job to anyone, especially teenagers still in education.

A typical day at work consists of making sure everything is prepared and ready for the up-coming function whether it is a Wedding reception, Birthday party, Anniversary or any other kind of celebration. the Guests take their seats and food is served usually as         a three-course meal and drinks are served at the bar or delivered to the table as per requests. the latter half of the night is music and dancing while drinks continue to be served once the meal has finished and speeches(if any) are concluded.
I have learned how to speak to and with all kinds of people whether they are guests or work colleagues. I have learned how to maximise potential and work-load from myself and other members of the team throughout the function and the following clean up afterwards. Management play an active role in the work the me and the team do on a daily basis as-well as actually taking part in the work we do.
The hardest part of the job is making sure that everything is up to Marriott standards which are very high and are constantly checked to ensure the best quality services are provided and anything that does not meet the standard is immediately noted and changed. Meeting the standards set is very challenging but through my 6  years of experience i have achieved the necessary standards and quality of work and service required to do my job properly and to the best of my abilities.
The most enjoyable part of my job is meeting new guests with different stories and from different walks of life. The Associates you work with, the people you rely on everyday to work alongside you and compliment your work with theirs, together producing the highest standard and quality to give the best experience when guests come to the hotel.

I thought working for Marriott would be an awesome experience but left me feeling really disappointed. I think it was more of the way this location was managed, the owner and the stakeholders.

All workers were lovely people, hard-working and always ready to follow procedures. It's not an easy job working for a hotel, tough shifts (too early or too late), fast paced environment and sometimes you need to be ready to roll your sleeves and do other job's persons. 

I learned a lot, i had support from HR and manager all the time and training whenever I need it. That's a good thing about worldwide companies like Marriott, they can train you and offer you progression. 

I left because of many reasons, like the shifts, theres no balance because you need to start at 5.30am or start late and finish at 11pm, so you ended up feeling tired all the time. Also, I was alone during my whole shift in the Leisure Club, where you need at least another person to watch the reception when you are doing other things. I had to push heavy full trolleys with wet towels through an old structure inside the hotel. There was no safety during my job, i was handeling chemicals and lifting heavy things all the time. Cleaning even vomit or any other disgusting things that guests were doing inside the changing rooms (you could never imagined). Security never helped or made themselves helpful when some guests were acting abusive and aggressive.

Promptly respond to all inquiries.
Compose, publish and distribute Banquet event order (BEO) / Banquet Function Plan (FP) 
Work with management and other heads of departments at all times and assist in carrying out special requirements and duties necessary in adding to the guests general comfort and well being.
Distribute promptly to all departments about notice of any change in the Banquet event order (BEO) / Banquet Function Plan (FP).
Prepare signage and menu items for all banquet events function.
 Study requirements of all booked banquets and functions to familiarize and ascertain the possibility of selling additional facilities.
Call customers to remind before for cut-off dates.
Develop and maintain positive working relationships with others, and support team to reach common goals. 
Ensure prompt responses for all enquiry through telephone, fax and emails. 
Act as a liaison between all related hotel departments and host of the function.
Ensure orders and requisitions for the Catering and Banquet departments are completed.
Respond and act upon any special requirement which function host had requested.
Maintaining the entire sales correspondence data base.
Maintain departmental reports and procedures.
Maintain all client information and folders.
Coordinate with Banquet operations on a timely basis to ensure complete customer satisfaction.
Perform all duties as deemed necessary for the success of the department.

Where do I begin with this review. Working at the Marriott was probably the worst employment experiences I have had. I aimed to work part time with regular hours only to find myself on a casual agreement which stripped away so many employee benefits which resulted in me feeling I was being used and often lied to. 

To start, the hours could be terrible being rotated on to work a late shift then an early shift the following day only leaving you 3 to 4 hours of sleep if you were lucky. The shifts themselves were long, draining and miserable as you spent most the 8 to 9 hours stood in one spot mainly. This combined with not being able to leave your work station for your 30 minutes break created a poor working environment. Aching legs and back combined with not being allowed to sit down for the whole shift resulted in a lot of toilet breaks just to rest physically. 

Worst of all was the pay. I worked for about half a year and the first few months I only got paid half of the hours I worked. This combined with being removed from the rota when I had turned up to a shift I was supposed to work made the whole experience misery. 

If you value being treated fairly and with some level of human decency, I would advise you look elsewhere for work as the Marriott certainly will do its absolute best to trample all over you. 

Also the food provided was atrocious, three medium baking tins of leftovers for the whole hotel staff.

Top Job Titles	Average salary
Line cook 7 salaries reported	£13.34 per hour
Sous chef 4 salaries reported	£36,375 per year
Assistant leader 2 salaries reported	£27,765 per year
Teaching assistant 3 salaries reported	£23,885 per year
Receptionist 2 salaries reported	£27,240 per year

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