Skip to main content

Marriott's Bridging the Gap: Our Diverse Owner Development Incentive Program

The Diverse Owner Development Incentive Program At Marriott International Development
The AC Hotel Charlotte Ballantyne

Diversity, equity and inclusion is a part of Marriott’s DNA. It’s an essential part of our people-first culture and a business imperative.

Since Marriott's founding in 1927, our core value of putting people first and our deep commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion have guided how we interact with people and how we do business every day. We are committed to reducing the barriers to hotel ownership among historically underrepresented groups, with the goal of meaningfully increasing the number of diverse-owned hotels in Marriott's owner community as well as in the hotel industry as a whole.

We believe supporting diverse hotel ownership, through our new Marriott Bridging the Gap program, is not only the right thing to do, but demonstrates our commitment to providing access to opportunity.

Marriott is investing an initial $50M in support of its commitment to expand Marriott’s community of diverse owners.

This new multi-faceted owner development incentive program will assist historically underrepresented ownership groups in the US & Canada overcome specific obstacles to hotel ownership. Marriott's offer of development incentives will enable new owners to address challenges such as limited hotel operations expertise and access to capital at the onset of their hotel development project.

Program Overview

The program is available to historically underrepresented hotel owners, including Black, Native American/First Nation, Hispanic/Latino and Women owners who hold a controlling equity interest in the hotel project. For new deals, the incentive will apply to applications submitted beginning on June 1, 2022.

In a typical new unit development deal, Marriott's Bridging the Gap program is expected to contribute $500K - $1M in value per project via key components such as:

  • Reduced application fees and royalty fees
  • Key money
  • Training discounts

In addition to providing access to valuable capital, Marriott will utilize its extensive relationships with seasoned hotel developers, operators, and lenders to assist and support eligible owners' hotel projects.