LOS ANGELES — The Department of Homeland Security’s presence in Minneapolis reached the hotel industry’s doorstep when a Hampton Inn outside the city refused to accept the bookings of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents three weeks ago. Hilton subsequently booted the hotel from its system, but the event made national headlines. In the aftermath, other hotel companies have been pressed on room bookings made by ICE agents.
It was a question Tony Capuano, president & CEO of Marriott International, was asked during a media breakfast at the Americas Lodging Investment Summit, here at The Ritz-Carlton, Los Angeles at L.A. Live. More specific, how to assuage any fear from front-line employees.
“We prioritize the safety and security of our associates and our guests, and after rigorous evaluation, if we don’t believe there is meaningful risk to that, and we’re being compliant with law, we have a view of welcoming all,” Capuano said. “It’s a bad place for us to be to say, ‘Well, I don’t like that group or that person’s politics, so they’re not welcome, but I like this person’s views or politics, therefore, they are welcome.”
Asked if there was any inter-organizational messaging by Marriott to associates, Capuano said many general managers are reassuring and comforting associates—”that we’re going to stand by them.” He added: “It would be naive to suggest there’s not concern out there, and that concern is ratcheting up given recent events.”
Capuano said that Marriott-branded hotels, both franchises and managed, maintain rigorous screening processes to ensure that documented workers are working in its hotels. According to the Center for Migration Studies, around 12% of the total U.S. undocumented workforce is employed in the accommodations and food services sector, which includes hotels.
Beyond Politics
It’s not all politics for Marriott—which is the way it would prefer. The Bethesda, Md.-based hotel company with more than 30 brands grew net rooms by more than 4.3% during 2025, adding over 700 properties and nearly 100,000 rooms to its system. More than 630 of those properties were added through organic deals, representing over 89,000 rooms.
Conversions continued to account for a significant portion of growth, with Marriott signing nearly 400 conversion deals encompassing more than 50,800 rooms. Capuano said the trend would continue. “We are better positioned than we’ve ever been to continue to drive conversions in terms of the cross-quality tiers of conversion-friendly brands in the portfolio.”
Interest rates and construction costs are only two variables that drive development (or cause the dearth of it). For Marriott, its Bonvoy loyalty program galvanizes it and dictates its growth strategy, Capuano said. “We built this extraordinary travel ecosystem, and what we want to do is for our members and our guests, for any place they want to travel, for any trip purpose, we want to make sure they can find a satisfiable or an appropriate solution within that Bonvoy ecosystem. That’s how we think about growing the portfolio.”
Last year also saw Marriott flex its acquisition muscle with a deal for citizenM that added 37 hotels to the portfolio. Marriott was able to do a full integration of them in four months. Capuano underscored citizenM’s technology as one of it’s biggest selling points. “citizen M figured it out. They have a very efficient, very effective check-in kiosk, for example,” Capuano said. It also launched the soft brand Series by Marriott, which opened dozens of hotels across India. Marriott has signed 113 agreements in the U.S. and Canada for it.
Evidence of a K-shaped economy continues to drive spend in the hotel industry, benefitting luxury hotels at the cost of lower chain scales. “Luxury has really been a bright, shining star,” Capuano said. Marriott signed 114 new luxury hotels in 2025 and finished the year with a luxury pipeline of just under 300 projects representing about 60,000 rooms.
While luxury has been a catalyst for performance, some markets have seen attrition. Consider the Sheraton Inner Harbor Hotel in Baltimore, which closed in December. Capuano placed blame for the closure on factors outside its direct control; namely, inattention to the city’s convention center that “needed to be renovated,” Capuano said, alluding to a chicken and egg scenario. “You saw other competitive regional destinations expanding and renovating their centers that, in turn, was driving demand. The city of Baltimore said we need to make sure we have the right hotel base before we’ll commit to investing in the center.”
Capuano said he had discussions with Baltimore’s Mayor, Brandon Scott, to try and find a solution, but to no avail. “You’ve got to have a competitive convention center to support hotels to that scale. The city’s not solved it.”