Marriott finds a way to slice the bacon

The hotel company Marriott is cutting some fat out of its business by switching the breakfast meat to irregular cuts of bacon, according to a report in Fortune magazine.

The company says its executives pigged out on the odd-shaped pieces and were practically in hog heaven over this money-saving breakfast. It would be easy to roast Marriott for being piggish, but Fortune reports that times are tough at the company – as they are at most hotels now that legions of us are unemployed and don't travel any longer for business or pleasure.

For the first three months of 2009, Marriott's revenue per available room, an industry metric known as revPAR, fell by 17%. So it's understandable that they need to skinny down the costs and even a ham-handed approach to savings really isn't an oinky way to do business these days.