J.W. "Bill" Marriott Jr. reveals his story of success and all the lessons life taught him in his new book, "Without Reservations: How a Family Root Beer Stand Grew Into a Global Hotel Company."

While passing through the city of Washington D.C. in the early 1920s, J.W. "Bill" Marriott Jr. noticed that he could make quite a lot of money selling ice-cold drinks during the hot weather in the city. This business venture led to the family's drink stand becoming a chain of Hot Shoppes restaurants and eventually a Marriott hotel.

The family's first hotel was built at the 14th Street Bridge between what's now Reagan National Airport and the Pentagon in Washington by his father. However, Marriott Jr. reveals that it was a rough start. His father didn't know anything about running a hotel but started it anyway only because his son was enthusiastic about this new opportunity.

"So I said, 'Nobody's running this hotel, why don't you let me have a crack at it?' He said, 'You don't know anything about the hotel business.' And I said, 'Well neither does anybody else around here,'" reveals Marriott Jr.

Since then, Marriott International has expanded from places like Dubuque, Iowa, to Dubai and the United Arab Emirates. Marriott attributes a lot of his company's success to listening closely to all the employees.

"I think it's probably the most important thing a successful executive can do - is to listen and learn," he says.

It's something Marriott learned as a young man. He was home on leave from the Navy, shortly after graduating from college. Family friends, who happened to be President Eisenhower and the first lady, were visiting his family's farm and trying to decide whether to venture out hunting on a cold day.

"I was standing off in the corner, hiding, and the President looked at me and said, 'What do you want to do, Bill? What do you think we should do?' And I've never forgotten that."

"No wonder he could deal with Montgomery and Patton and all those people he dealt with in the Second World War," he adds, "because he made them feel important. He showed respect for them. He showed interest in what their beliefs were, and he asked that very important question: 'What do you think?' "

Marriott hopes advice in his book will be useful to those who are curious about the company's keys to success. "I've tried ... to explain why we've been successful, and how we've been successful. And it all comes back to listening and learning."