John Marriott, as the son is known, is now in charge of global sales and marketing and of managing Marriott's nine hotel brands and its North American lodging operations. The day his new duties were announced, the company, based in Bethesda, Maryland, also expanded the job of the chief financial officer, Arne Sorenson, to include hotel operations in continental Europe.

Marriott operates eight hotel chains on behalf of other owners, including Marriott, Ritz-Carlton and Renaissance hotels, offering different levels of service and prices. The company reported $19 billion in overall sales last year from managing 2,500 hotels in 65 countries.With his gold-plated name and a quarter-century in the family business, John Marriott, 41, would seem a perfect fit for his father's shoes but not so fast, says his father, who is known as Bill. At 70, Bill Marriott keeps a vigorous pace, visiting 200 hotels a year.

"I will be able to say who I think is best," he said. "But the board will have to approve it. This is a big, complex company, and we've got to have the best talent."

Like other hotel companies, Marriott is struggling with tumbling occupancy rates, a result of the fragile economy and travel anxieties from terrorism and the war in Iraq. In the fourth quarter last year, Marriott had a loss of $37 million, narrowed from a loss of $116 million a year earlier. For all of 2002, the company had net income of $277 million, up 17 percent from 2001. Revenue rose to $8.44 billion from $7.79 billion

In February, Marriott lowered its 2003 earnings outlook because the war and the soft economy had slowed travel; first-quarter results are to be released this week. Executives at Marriott say it is well positioned to recover its core clients corporate travelers when the economy improves. But other troubles loom.

Several hotel owners have sued Marriott, contending that the company and its hotel supply purchasing firm, Avendra LLC, improperly pocketed vendor rebates. Both companies deny the accusations. Two suits were dropped and one was settled, but uncertainty about the remaining lawsuits, including one filed this month, has hurt Marriott's stock ratings.

After the suits were filed, a new openness emerged in what many had considered a closed, even secretive culture at Marriott, which was founded in 1927 as a family business. In the early 1980s, Marriott began switching to managing and franchising its hotel brands, and it sold many hotel properties to private investors through limited partnerships.

Although John Marriott, who joined the Marriott board last year, may appear to have an inside track to lead the company, analysts do not discount Sorenson, 44, a lawyer whom Bill Marriott hired from the Washington office of the law firm Latham & Watkins.

Mark Falcone, who follows Marriott for Deutsche Bank AG, said the latest appointment "positions Arne well to move up in the company by giving him operating experience." But, he added: "I don't see it as a rivalry. There is definitely room for both of them in the next leadership tier."

John Marriott discounted the succession issue. "I've been asked that since I was in high school," he said. "I've always said that I don't know. Our family owns a lot of stock, and our wealth is tied up in the company, so I want it to do well. If I'm running the company, great. If somebody else is, that's great, too."

John Marriott said he was convinced that there could be only one person at the top. "You need a leader," he said. "Otherwise, who do you answer to?"

It would be hard for any outsider to compete with his experience. Marriott got his start in the business at 15, washing dishes at the Crystal City Marriott in Arlington, Virginia.

Over the years, he has done "nearly every job in the hotel business," he said, including leading JWM Family Enterprises Inc., a limited partnership that owns nine Marriott-managed hotels.

"Seeing the hotel business from the owner side has been a fantastic learning experience," he said. It was also a leap from earlier jobs as an ice cream scooper and a short-order cook, which, he said, is "a challenge when you are juggling 15 orders."

John Marriott, as the son is known, is now in charge of global sales and marketing and of managing Marriott's nine hotel brands and its North American lodging operations. The day his new duties were announced, the company, based in Bethesda, Maryland, also expanded the job of the chief financial officer, Arne Sorenson, to include hotel operations in continental Europe.

Marriott operates eight hotel chains on behalf of other owners, including Marriott, Ritz-Carlton and Renaissance hotels, offering different levels of service and prices. The company reported $19 billion in overall sales last year from managing 2,500 hotels in 65 countries.With his gold-plated name and a quarter-century in the family business, John Marriott, 41, would seem a perfect fit for his father's shoes but not so fast, says his father, who is known as Bill. At 70, Bill Marriott keeps a vigorous pace, visiting 200 hotels a year.

"I will be able to say who I think is best," he said. "But the board will have to approve it. This is a big, complex company, and we've got to have the best talent."

Like other hotel companies, Marriott is struggling with tumbling occupancy rates, a result of the fragile economy and travel anxieties from terrorism and the war in Iraq. In the fourth quarter last year, Marriott had a loss of $37 million, narrowed from a loss of $116 million a year earlier. For all of 2002, the company had net income of $277 million, up 17 percent from 2001. Revenue rose to $8.44 billion from $7.79 billion

In February, Marriott lowered its 2003 earnings outlook because the war and the soft economy had slowed travel; first-quarter results are to be released this week. Executives at Marriott say it is well positioned to recover its core clients corporate travelers when the economy improves. But other troubles loom.

Several hotel owners have sued Marriott, contending that the company and its hotel supply purchasing firm, Avendra LLC, improperly pocketed vendor rebates. Both companies deny the accusations. Two suits were dropped and one was settled, but uncertainty about the remaining lawsuits, including one filed this month, has hurt Marriott's stock ratings.

After the suits were filed, a new openness emerged in what many had considered a closed, even secretive culture at Marriott, which was founded in 1927 as a family business. In the early 1980s, Marriott began switching to managing and franchising its hotel brands, and it sold many hotel properties to private investors through limited partnerships.

Although John Marriott, who joined the Marriott board last year, may appear to have an inside track to lead the company, analysts do not discount Sorenson, 44, a lawyer whom Bill Marriott hired from the Washington office of the law firm Latham & Watkins.

Mark Falcone, who follows Marriott for Deutsche Bank AG, said the latest appointment "positions Arne well to move up in the company by giving him operating experience." But, he added: "I don't see it as a rivalry. There is definitely room for both of them in the next leadership tier."

John Marriott discounted the succession issue. "I've been asked that since I was in high school," he said. "I've always said that I don't know. Our family owns a lot of stock, and our wealth is tied up in the company, so I want it to do well. If I'm running the company, great. If somebody else is, that's great, too."

John Marriott said he was convinced that there could be only one person at the top. "You need a leader," he said. "Otherwise, who do you answer to?"

It would be hard for any outsider to compete with his experience. Marriott got his start in the business at 15, washing dishes at the Crystal City Marriott in Arlington, Virginia.

Over the years, he has done "nearly every job in the hotel business," he said, including leading JWM Family Enterprises Inc., a limited partnership that owns nine Marriott-managed hotels.

"Seeing the hotel business from the owner side has been a fantastic learning experience," he said. It was also a leap from earlier jobs as an ice cream scooper and a short-order cook, which, he said, is "a challenge when you are juggling 15 orders."