Sustainable Facilities Management

This report explores the sustainable initiatives adopted by Courtyard by Marriott in Brompton, focusing on energy efficiency, water management, and waste management. Learn about the hotel's collaboration with customers, energy and emissions reduction strategies, water conservation efforts, waste management practices, and the role of the Green Team. Discover sustainable in-room amenities and recommendations for further enhancing the hotel's sustainability program.

Sustainable Facilities Management
Student Details
3/26/2019

Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................2
Sustainable Hotel.......................................................................................................................2
Energy and Emissions............................................................................................................3
Water Management................................................................................................................4
Waste Management................................................................................................................5
Green Teams..........................................................................................................................6
Sustainable In-Room Amenities............................................................................................6
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................7
Recommendations......................................................................................................................7
References..................................................................................................................................9

Introduction
Sustainability has become an important topic in the hospitality industry. All hotels
including global and local, are adopting methods of sustainable practices for the operations to
reduce their effects on environment. There are two aspects of environmental sustainability for
the hospitality industry: economic importance of hotels for the tourism sector and the
environmental impacts generated by them need to be managed. This research report focuses
on the sustainable activities adopted by an international hotel “Courtyard by Marriott” in
Brompton are discussed. Courtyard by Marriott is brand hotel, founded in year 1982 and is
owned by Marriott International. The purpose of this report is to determine the environmental
impacts, effectiveness of sustainable initiatives adopted by Courtyard, and what more steps
can be implemented by the Courtyard to minimise its effect on the environment (Marriott,
Marriott Sustainability and Social Impact Report, 2017). This report focuses on the internal
operations of the hotel and categorized into various categories of environmental management,
waste management, energy efficiency, resources and purchasing, water management, and
cleaning and housekeeping.
Sustainable Hotel
Courtyard by Marriott collaborated with owners to develop adaptive reuse projects. The
goal of implementing adaptive reuse projects is to effectively utilizing the existing building
or land instead of constructing a new building. Reuse projects help in reducing the
environmental impacts as well as maintain the original character of the operating community.
Courtyard has made partnership with its customers and guests to achieve its sustainability
efforts:

1. Choice Programs for Housekeeping: Courtyard integrated and refreshed its various
housekeeping choice programs in 2017 which included Luxury of choice, your
choice, Make a Green choice, and Delta GreenSTAY. For this Courtyard made
partnership with Arbor Day Foundation in 2018 to reward customers with loyalty
points or planting a tree for opting make a green Choice for each night (Marriott, 2018
Serve 360 Report, 2018).
2. Business Travel and Group Customers: Courtyard has developed training and self-
guiding template for using the hotel data for effectively communicating the
sustainability efforts.
3. Data Sharing: Courtyard shares environmental data with its guests, meeting planners,
brand channels, and customers. It provides environmental metrics to the meeting
planners and business travel buyers with water footprint and carbon data (Marriott,
Environmental Commitment, 2019). Addition to it, Courtyard also provides access to
corporate customers to various management and operational practices.
Energy and Emissions
Courtyard is committed to reduce its consumption of energy, emissions of greenhouse
gas, enhance operational efficiency, and eliminate the risks of climate change. Some of the
actions adopted to support the efforts are:
1. Environmental and Energy action Plans: This plan evaluates the return on
investment projects and thus help the owner in prioritizing investments.
2. Building Automation System: Various automation systems and automated controls
are incorporated to manage the efficiency of buildings.
3. Signature Projects: Signature projects are used which focuses on energy efficiency
projects by considering the environmental and energy Action Plan as a roadmap.

4. Lighting Retrofits: It provides the opportunities for energy efficiency through
reducing the replacement costs with newer technology (Blogs, Go Green: Marriott
Headquarters Becomes More Environmentally Friendly, 2007).
5. Chilled Water Efficiency: This tool identifies the water and cost saving
opportunities for the hotel in the process of their chilled water production.
6. Retro Commissioning: This identifies the energy saving opportunities for the
complex facilities of the hotel such as ventilation, heating, air conditioning, and boiler
and chiller systems.
7. Renewable Energy: Courtyard uses the renewable energy sources to meet its high
demand of energy (Marriott, Marriott Sustainability and Social Impact Report, 2017).
These sources of energy have low emissions of carbon.
Water Management
To perform the various hotel operations and to maintain the prosperity and health of
communities, water is essential. Therefore, it is key requirement to conserve the water.
Following are some actions that are implemented by Courtyard for water conservation:
1. Targeted Approach: This strategy targets the specific operations of the hotel such as
terry and laundry reuse programs; water service and dishwashing at restaurants;
irrigation; central plant operation; and maintenance of golf course.
2. Integration with Energy Efficiency Measures: Some of the energy efficiency steps
also help in water conservation such as up gradation of cooling tower decreases both
energy and water use by central plants (Upadhyay, 2019).
3. Action Plans: Use of Environmental and Energy Action Plan (EEAP) identifies the
operational efficiency enhancement opportunities. EEAP covers a wide range of items

for the water conservation such as from corporate linen reuse policies to simple
practices of housekeeping, food service, and landscaping irrigation.
4. Water Recycling: Courtyard make use of recycled water for cooling tower makeup
water, landscaping, and flushing purpose (Blogs, Go Green: Marriott Headquarters
Becomes More Environmentally Friendly, 2007). Also, there are systems for
capturing rainwater and greywater for various appropriate purposes.
Waste Management
As per the nature of the hospitality industry, it generates a large amount of waste which
includes food and wet waste. To provide a healthy and clean environment and society,
Courtyard requires proper waste management strategies. Following are some actions for
waste management:
1. Action Plan: Management of Courtyard has developed an Action plan under EEAP
for waste management. It identifies opportunities for enhancing the operational
efficiency.
2. Food Waste: Food waste is effectively managed through Proof of Concept approach
which is divided into further three approaches: use of technology to measure the
waste and thus adjusting practices as per the data; separation and manual
measurement for data gathering; and implementation of processes for food donation
which allows the delivery of prepared, unused food for consumption in local
organizations (Rosa & Silva, 2017).
3. Clean the World Partnership: Courtyard made partnership with Clean the World- a
non-profit organization which collects various hygiene amenities and partially used
soaps and recycle these products to manufacture new products and distributes them
among communities which are in need (Nielsen, Sarasoja, & Galamba, 2016).

4. E-Waste Recycling: Courtyard has partnership with Arrow Value Recovery since
2006 which ensures the safe and environmentally compliant disposition of damaged
and outdated assets of information technology.
Courtyard has facilities of recycling its huge million pounds of paper and cardboard every
year. This recycled paper is equivalent to a 15 story hotel. Several associates of Courtyard
also recycle million bottle and cans every year. Large amount of garbage such as food scraps,
napkins, paper cups are converted into million pounds of compost (Blogs, Role Model for
Recycling, 2007). Recycling processes saves around $30000 every year for the hotel.
Green Teams
Courtyard has a team which is known as Green Team. This team includes several
members from various departments such as food and beverage, recreational areas, executive
lounge which aim to ensure the effective implementation of sustainability initiatives and
effective functioning of these activities. Green Team provides training to the hotel employees
and associates in eco-actions (Hard, 2019). They enhance their behaviour in a manner which
respects their behaviour towards environment in the hotel. In order to ensure the proper
functioning by the team, an associate meeting is organised in every three months where
quality time is spent on the sustainable actions of the hotel (Baaki, Baharum, & Ali, 2016).
Additionally, Courtyard also participates in Earth Hour, European Week of waste Reduction,
and celebrate Green awareness month in every April.
Sustainable In-Room Amenities
Green Hotel initiatives are adopted by Courtyard to promote sustainable environment.
Apart from the above mentioned practises, there are several other amenities that are
implemented by Courtyard such as:

1. Bath Amenities: Courtyard make use of natural and essential oil based products
which does not contain any kind of preservatives and artificial ingredients which are
packed into recyclable containers (Global Stewards, 2019).
2. Cleaning Products: Courtyard make use of products which are manufactured from
all natural and bio-based oils. These products are safe for employees, guests, as well
as for environment.
3. Food Preparation: Courtyard is moving towards fresh and seasonal products usage
for the food preparation (Järvensivu, 2014). For this they are also awaking travellers
about the benefits of sustainable and healthier cuisine.
Conclusion
The purpose of this report was to study the sustainable initiatives for the hospitality
industry by taking the example of “Courtyard by Marriott Brompton”. Report provides the
sustainable initiatives taken by the hotel to develop the sustainable environment. These steps
were divided into three categories which include energy efficiency, water management, and
waste management. Study has shown that, Courtyard is committed to implement the desirable
measures which are required to achieve the sustainable environment.
Recommendations
From the above discussion, it is clear that Courtyard by Marriott in Brompton various
initiatives for the sustainable environment. However, there are some other options that can be
introduced to enhance the sustainable program of the hotel.
1. Instead of using paper for the communication, Courtyard should use electronic media
for communicating with guests and other customer and employees.

2. Plastic key cards should be replaced with sustainable alternative options such as cards
made with paper, wood, and bio-plastic.
3. There should be alternative of bottled water to support the waste reduction initiative
such as filtered water dispensers, complimentary refillable bottles, and other options.
4. Consumption of energy, water, and waste should be shown to the staff in numbers
which help in monitoring of these.

References
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sustainable facilities management knowledge and practice. MATEC web of
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Blogs. (2007). Go Green: Marriott Headquarters Becomes More Environmentally Friendly.
Retrieved from https://www.blogs.marriott.com/marriott-on-the-move/2007/12/go-
green-marriott-headquarters-becomes-more-environmentally-friendly.html
Blogs. (2007). Role Model for Recycling. Retrieved from
https://www.blogs.marriott.com/marriott-on-the-move/2007/03/role-model-for-
recycling.html
Global Stewards. (2019). Go Green Hotels: Green Ideas for Hotels and Resorts. Retrieved
from http://www.globalstewards.org/green-hotel.htm
Hard, R. (2019). The Most Common Sustainability and Eco-Friendly Hotel Initiatives.
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Järvensivu, J. (2014). Environmental Sustainability in Hotel Facilities. Retrieved from
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http://serve360.marriott.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/2017_Sustainability_and_S
ocial_Impact_Report.pdf

Marriott. (2018). 2018 Serve 360 Report. Retrieved from http://serve360.marriott.com/wp-
content/uploads/2018/10/2018_Serve_360_Report.pdf
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https://www.marriott.com/hotelwebsites/us/p/parbb/parbb_pdf/Environmnetal_Comm
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Nielsen, S. B., Sarasoja, A. L., & Galamba, K. R. (2016). Nielsen, S. B., Sarasoja, A. L., &
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Rosa, F. S., & Silva, L. C. (2017). Rosa, F.Environmental sustainability in hotels, theoretical
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Upadhyay, A. (2019). Sustainable Operations in Hotel Industry. Retrieved from
https://www.pomsmeetings.org/confpapers/060/060-0269.pdf