Marriott To Lay Off Over 800 Corporate HQ Employees In Bethesda

The largest hotel company in the world is planning to eliminate hundreds of corporate jobs at the beginning of next year.

Marriott posted a Work Adjustment and Retraining Notification with the state of Maryland saying it plans to lay off 833 employees at its Bethesda headquarters at 7750 Wisconsin Ave. the Washington Business Journal first reported. The “mass layoff” is effective Jan. 3 2025.

A spokesperson told Bisnow Monday the company is planning additional cuts in corporate offices around the world. The spokesperson said the net number of lost jobs in Maryland would be “meaningfully lower” than 833 due to “several hundred” new international roles that the company plans to add, many of which are expected to be filled by employees affected by the layoffs. 

“While always difficult, these job reductions at our corporate and continent offices will reshape the way we work and are expected to be largely in place in Q1 2025,” the statement said.

Marriott said earlier this month that cost-cutting measures were coming. On its third-quarter earnings call, the company said it planned $80M to $90M in cuts on an annual basis, Skift reported at the time. It later told the publication that layoffs were expected at the corporate level and would take place largely by the first quarter of 2025.

“Earlier this year, we began a strategic review of all aspects of Marriott International’s business across geographies to enhance our enterprise-wide effectiveness and discussed this initiative on our Q3 earnings call,” the spokesman told Bisnow Monday. 

There were 5,000 Marriott employees assigned to its Bethesda headquarters office as of April 2023. 

Marriott has been headquartered in Bethesda since 1979. Its new headquarters building opened in September 2022 in a tower built by a joint venture between BXP — Boston Properties at the time — and The Bernstein Cos. The developers were selected in 2017 for the $660M project on Wisconsin Ave. that rises 21 stories and totals 785K SF.

The company hasn't said whether the layoffs will affect its occupancy at the building. BXP and The Bernstein Cos. didn't respond to requests for comment.

The company's net income in Q3 was $584M, according to its earnings report, down from $752M the same time last year.