Marriott International, one of the world's leading lodging companies has approximately three thousand properties in the US. The company is also involved in managing properties in sixty-seven other countries and territories. The chain operates and has franchise hotels under the Marriott, JW Marriott, The Ritz-Carlton, Renaissance, Residence Inn, Courtyard, TownePlace Suites, Fairfield Inn, SpringHill Suites and Bulgari brand names. Further it develops and has vacation ownership resorts the Marriott Vacation Club, Horizons by Marriott Vacation Club, The Ritz-Carlton Club and Grand Residences by Marriott brands and also operates in the sphere of corporate housing with its brands like Marriott Executive Apartments and Marriott ExecuStay. The Marriott group has been rated one of the best companies to work for, according to Fortune magazine.

The company which operates out  of its headquarters in Bethesda in Maryland has been environmentally conscious for over twenty years but its efforts have gathered much momentum in recent  times as  it has introduced  a variety of   new eco initiatives over the past few years to tackle the issues of climate change and environmental protection which  have become a priority world wide. Bill Marriott, the Chairman and CEO of the Marriott Group of Hotels even maintains an active blog on the group's corporate website which often discusses the various green initiatives of the group. The chairman's blog has attracted much attention from sustainable travel enthusiasts in the blogosphere.

The group has in place a five point environmental strategy which has objectives such as reduction of  waste, water and energy consumption, greening of its supply chain, building 'greener' hotels, encouraging employees and guests to get involved and conserving and preserving the rainforests as its main goals. It operates this environmental strategy in collaboration with a number of well established and recognized environmental protection groups.

Marriott and Clean Up theWorld

The global organization Clean Up the World has mobilized 35 million volunteers in 120 countries worldwide and the group has now aligned itself with the employees of the Marriott group.  Clean Up the World and Marriott jointly conduct a global campaigns on how to be “green” on the road, at work and home. This campaign has the active participation of the 151000 Marriott employees located in the group's properties in sixty eight countries. Marriott employees have worked on local clean up projects which range from the cleaning up of the River Thames in London to the sprucing up of San Francisco Bay in California.

Marriott and the International Tourism Partnership

The Marriott group is a founding member of the UK based International Tourism Partnership which actively promotes responsible and environmentally- conscious tourism. The group and its members who consist of leading travel and tourism companies try to make a valuable contribution to the countries and cultures in which they operate.   The group has developed a guide to establishing and designing a sustainable hotel. The International Tourism Partnership also publishes each quarter, the environmental catalogue of the hospitality industry called the  Green Hotelier.

Marriott and the U.S. Green Building Council

The U.S. Green Building Council is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization which is working to make green buildings accessible to all.  The Marriott Group's Inn and Conference Center at the University of Maryland is a LEED certified building (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) which has been certified by the U.S. Green Building Council.

Marriott and  Travelocity's Travel for Good

Travel for Good is a program that has been created and developed by the employees of Travelocity a leading ecommerce travel company. The programs primary goals are Go Zero (offsetting your carbon footprint) and Change Ambassadors (volunteer vacations).

The Marriott group as a partner of the Travel for Good program awards 15 Change Ambassadors “volunteer vacations”. These change ambassadors are chosen for the demonstrated commitment to improving the environment and local communities.

Marriott and Audubon International

Marriott Golf, in alignment with the group's environmental strategy has recently announced new standards which require all 35 of the company's golf courses throughout North America and the Caribbean to become Certified Audubon Cooperative Sanctuaries, by the end of 2008. With this initiative the group's golf facilities will play their part in preserving the natural habitat that surrounds them.

Marriott's five point environmental strategy

Calculating its Carbon Footprint

Marriott is the first hotel chain to undertake steps to calculate its carbon footprint. The company is working in partnership with the group, Conservation International to calculate its carbon footprint by assessing the gas and electricity consumption in its guest rooms and public spaces at its various properties located world wide The estimates have resulted in a figure of 65.5 pounds of CO2 emissions annually per available room It has also calculated the carbon footprint of its headquarters building and regional headquarters. Further it has begun to calculate the footprint of employee travel as well. These estimates will be certified by an independent third party later this year.  The estimates are expected to guide the implementation of the group's aggressive green policy in all its hotel properties world wide . This policy will include the five pronged attack  which consists of , reduction of wastes and water and energy consumption, building of green hotel buildings, carbon offsets and instruction to guests and employees about environmental protection and green living.

Waste ,Water and Energy Reduction

The group has been involved in energy conservation for a number of years and over the last decade it has replaced 450,000 light bulbs with fluorescent lighting at many of its hotels located world wide. It has also introduced a linen reuse program and installed 400,000 low flow showerheads and toilets in its various properties. It is further stepping up these efforts with efforts to reduce fuel and water consumption by an additional 25 percent per available room over the next ten years. It also aims to install solar power in 40 group hotels by 2017 and expand its existing “reduce, reuse, recycle” which is already in place at ninety percent of its hotels.

The group's conservation efforts have been recognized by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) which has awarded 250 hotels belonging to the group the Energy Star Label.  No other hotel company in the world has achieved this; the EPA has also conferred on the group its 2008 ENERGY STAR Sustained Excellence Award and has named the company “Partner of the Year” since 2004

Greening the Marriott's supply chain

The Marriott group spends nearly $10 billion annually to buy goods and services for its 3000 hotels located worldwide. It has now collaborated with 40 of its vendors to create products that are environmentally friendly but which are not sourced at an additional cost to the group.

• The group has worked with its pen supplier BIC™ to develop pens made of 75% recycled material which will be used in its US and Canadian  properties for its guests and associates. 
• At its Central European properties it has begun to use a new laundry detergent which will cut the amount of phosphates which will be released into waste water by 100,000 kg (220000 lbs). 
• The group has worked with its North American towel supplier Standard Textile to create towels which will result in the saving of six million gallons of water annually. The towels which are used in guest rooms in the group's North American properties are now manufactured by using a process that eliminates the need for washing the towels before the guests use the towels. The towels will continue to be clean, fresh and fluffy but they will be greener and more environmentally friendly. 
• The Marriott has started to use paints that are low in Volatile Organic Compounds for its properties as well. These low VOC paints are safer and less polluting than normal paints. 
• The group is making further efforts to green its supply chain by developing guest room key card that can be composted, installing carpet that can be recycled and stocking it bathrooms with soaps and shampoos which are greener.

Green sustainable hotel buildings

The group is actively pursuing its green ethos by working with its partners to site, design and construct green hotels. It is in the process of developing a green hotel guideline which is in line with US Green Building's LEED standards. The group is also striving to add to its cache of green LEED certified hotels which at present included the Inn and Conference Center by Marriott at the University of Maryland. By the end of 2009 it hopes to have its headquarters office located in Bethesda in Maryland certified as LEED certified as well. This building has already achieved waste neutral status in early 2008 by pursuing an aggressive recycling and composting program wherein it replaced 2.5 million pieces of Styrofoam and plastic utensils with Spudware or biodegradable utensils made from sugarcane and cornstarch. This policy has been expanded to the headquarters of the company’s vacation ownership division which is located in Orlando in Florida.

Educating its guests and employees

The Marriott group believes that due to its large size and significant global outreach it can really make a difference by educating employees and guests on the environmental benefits of reducing wastes and water and energy consumption. The group has developed and implemented an agenda of green meeting initiatives at many of its hotels. These green meeting initiatives suggest various ways to reduce wastes and to  recycle and repurpose during meetings and stays at the Marriott group hotels. Amongst the various options suggested by these green meeting  initiatives are the  use of recycle bins in meeting rooms, the use of linen- less tables, the use of pens and notepads made of recycled paper, the use of reusable name tags and the donations of left-over foods.

These green initiatives are not just aimed at its clients; Marriott is also encouraging its employees to book the Hertz Green Collection hybrid vehicles which are certified SmartWay by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for their business travels.

Conservation of the Rainforest

This is the cornerstone of the Marriott's Five-Point Environmental Strategy. Deforestation is a primary cause of carbon emissions and it is for this reason that the Marriott International's long term environmental strategy is concentrated on protecting 1.4 million acres of endangered rainforest in the Juma Sustainable Development Reserve in partnership with the state of Amazonas in Brazil. This is an innovative partnership between the government and the private sector, which has as its goal the reduction of the emission of green house gasses caused due to deforestation .    The partnership has put in place the Amazonas Sustainable Foundation which will monitor this conservation effort. The Marriott International will fund this effort with a commitment of $2 million and it will be further helped with contributions from its customers who will seek to offset their emissions by buying these carbon offsets. This project will provide employment, education and health care for the 400 people who live in this reserve. 

The foundation is seeking to be certified by an independent accredited environmental auditing firm which operates under the Climate, Community and Biodiversity standards.

Images of various Marriott Hotels originally posted on http://www.flickr.com by bchow,airnos,outlan2001 and seaview99.