Marriott began in 1927 as what kind of stand in Washington, D.C.?

Marriott began in 1927 as a root beer stand in Washington, D.C.

J. Willard Marriott, his wife Alice, and business partner Hugh Colton started the curbside operation after Marriott became interested in Washington’s hot, humid summers. Marriott had purchased the rights to operate an A&W Root Beer stand in the Columbia Heights neighborhood, at 14th Street and Park Road NW.

The business soon expanded beyond drinks. After receiving permission from A&W to sell food, the stand was renamed The Hot Shoppe. By 1932, the Marriotts owned seven Hot Shoppes in the Washington area, and the restaurant business became the foundation for their later hospitality empire.

A common mix-up is to answer “hot dog stand” or “coffee stand” because Hot Shoppes eventually served broader restaurant menus. Marriott’s first venture, however, was specifically an A&W root beer stand. The company opened its first hotel—the Marriott Motor Hotel in Arlington, Virginia—in 1957, three decades after the original stand.