No doubt the greatest living icon of the world hotel industry, J. Willard Marriott Jr., will talk about his life and times and industry trends at our 4th annual national hotel conference on Monday, Oct. 19. We'll be hosting Bill at the Marriott Renaissance Hotel in DC—to make him feel at home, and knowing Marriott rooms are spotless.

Bill, 83, became president of Marriott in 1964, CEO in '72, and has been Chairman of the Board since 1985. The biggest hotel management company on Earth, Marriott operates more than 4,000 hotels in more than 80 countries with 700,000 rooms and 200,000 under development. It owns the Ritz-Carlton and 20 other brands.

Our conference will feature dozens of top industry leaders as speakers, but the keynote is always special. And it will be this year in particular, because Bill will be interviewed by his own daughter, Debbie Marriott Harrison, a former head of government affairs for Marriott, recently appointed to its Board of Directors.

This year for the first time, we have a chair of our conference, the remarkable Sheila Johnson. Besides co-founding BET and being principal owner of the Mystics and a co-owner of the Caps and Wizards, she's deeply into the hotel business, as founder of Salamander Hotels & Resorts, which owns and/or operates half a dozen ultra-high-end properties in Virginia, South Carolina and Florida. We snapped her giving her keynote address at our State of the Market this summer.

Among other top hotel execs speaking: Steve Joyce, longtime CEO of Choice Hotels, which operates numerous brands, such as Comfort Inn, Quality Inn, Clarion, Cambria, Econo Lodge and Rodeway. (Steve's also starred in an episode of Undercover Boss.) Sign up now!