Marriott graduated from Weber State University, where he served as student body president, with an associate's degree in June 1923 and from the University of Utah with a bachelor's degree in June 1926. Marriott affiliated with the Phi Delta Theta social fraternity at the University of Utah and the Alpha Kappa Psi professional fraternity. After Marriott earned his bachelor's degree, the president of Weber, Aaron Tracy, who had assisted Marriott to enroll there by helping him make up secondary education credits missed due to the Marriott family's ranching efforts, employed him at the school in Ogden. Marriott soon felt the urge, however, to be his own boss. He heard about a cousin's A&W Root Beer franchise and, remembering his experience seeing so many people suffer through the brutal summer heat of Washington, D.C., he decided to look into a venture there.