Jennie DeCarrier Benzon Named Vice President of Franchising for Fairfield & MOXY Hotels
It gives me great pleasure to announce Jennie DeCarrier Benzon as our new Vice President of Franchising for Fairfield & MOXY Hotels. The Fairfield brand has been growing rapidly and is well on its way to 1,000 hotels, with more than 700 hotels open and 200+ hotels in the pipeline. Fairfield will undoubtedly benefit from Jennie’s franchising experience and insights, and she will work closely with Global Brand Management and other disciplines to continue on the brand’s successful path. Beyond Fairfield, Jennie will also have franchising responsibility for the MOXY Hotels brand as MOXY makes plans to come to the U.S. & Canada.
Many of you know Jennie from her great work with the Product Integrity team and in leading the highly impactful Capital Asset Planning & Execution (CAPE) process. With this transition, the Product Integrity team previously led by Jennie will be merged with Marriott’s Owner & Franchise Services: Initiatives, Communications and Business Support team, led by Roz Winegrad, to create a powerful partnership and enable efficiencies. Roz’s team currently manages all communications to owners and franchisees, including hosting mi360, as well as leads engagement and planning for initiatives impacting this audience, oversees the EID process, handles lodging development marketing and governs internal business applications.
Jennie has had tremendous success in her career with Marriott and with the Product Integrity team, including:
- Creating the “Renovations & Product Integrity” organization. This involved designing and creating the structure, procedures, standards, governance, business model and metrics for this new organization.
- Facilitating and/or negotiating 1,000+ CFRST PIPs over last three years, resulting in $750M-$1B of capital invested in CFRST properties.
- Expanding the team’s scope to include Full Service brands in the renovation process, as well as standardized dashboard reporting.
- Leading the process to get underperforming CFRST hotels up to standard and on-par with brand strategy in partnership with franchise operations, resulting in resolution of more than 50% of underperforming hotels.
- Developing CAPE, which led to collaboration of internal and external stakeholders to reduce the gap between escrow balances and renovation costs while driving brand equity. This program:
- Reduced renovation costs by up to $1,000 per key,
- Launched the virtual verification process, and
- Extended the timeline to complete regular renovations for qualifying hotels.
Before joining Marriott, Jennie had a very successful tenure at McDonald’s working with large portfolios of franchisees with the goal of optimizing their performance. Please join me in welcoming Jennie to the Fairfield and MOXY teams.
Best regards,
Liam Brown
President, U.S. & Canada, Select Service & Extended Stay Lodging and Owner & Franchise Services