At around 07:47 until 07:57 WIB (00:47-00:57 UTC),[4] the JW Marriott and Ritz-Carlton Hotels in Setiabudi, South Jakarta, were hit by two suicide bombers.

The Marriott bombing occurred during one of a series of periodic breakfast meetings of CEOs and other prominent (and predominantly expatriate) members of the Jakarta business community hosted by James Castle, president of AmCham Indonesia, a branch of the United States Chamber of Commerce in Jakarta.

[4][17] The Marriott bomb was detonated in a small breakfast room rented for the event, and not in the main restaurant.

The Indonesian police believe the bomb was intended to create an atmosphere of panic, causing guests to flee their rooms to exit the hotel, and generating a significant crowd in the lobby.

[19] The Australians killed were Austrade official Craig Senger, mining executive Garth McEvoy and Perth businessman Nathan Verity.

[20] New Zealander Tim Mackay died; he was president and director of PT Holcim Indonesia and a master mariner.

The bombs were smuggled into the JW Marriott one day before the blast through the hotel's loading dock using a pick-up truck rented by Ibrohim.

[26] The suicide bomber of the JW Marriott Hotel was Dani Dwi Permana, an 18-year-old graduate of a private senior high school in Bogor, West Java.

A number of suspects, including a Saudi Arabian national, have been arrested by Indonesian police for their involvement in handling the funds.

The 17th United States Ambassador to Indonesia's Cameron R. Hume attended the reopening of the JW Marriott and Ritz Carlton Hotels on Wednesday, 29 July 2009 in Jakarta.