Sustainability Practices and Recommendations: Marriott Hotels Analysis

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of sustainability practices within Marriott Hotels, focusing on environmental, social, and economic dimensions. It examines the company's approach to sustainability, including its adherence to Global Sustainable Tourism Criteria (GSTC) and other certifications like Ecotourism Australia ROC and ECO certification. The report identifies key sustainability issues, such as environmental impact, social factors, and economic considerations, and evaluates the strengths and weaknesses of Marriott's current practices. It also offers recommendations for potential improvements, including effective training for the local community, understanding stakeholder interests, and promoting economic development. The report concludes with a discussion of how Marriott can enhance its sustainability efforts to ensure long-term success and contribute positively to the environment and society.

SUSTAINABILITY
PRACTICE

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................1
TASK...............................................................................................................................................1
Sustainability Issues...............................................................................................................1
Global Sustainable Tourism Criteria for Hotels and Tour Operators.....................................2
Strengths and weaknesses of business sustainability practices..............................................4
Recommendation for the potential improvement...................................................................5
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................6
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................7

INTRODUCTION
Sustainability refers to maintaining the the constant performance level of the business
firm. Sustainability practices refers to the activities take place to protect the global and local
resources and establishing the eco friendly activities in the business(Colantonio & Dixon 2011).
The company now a days exercise these activities to protect the environment. Companies need
to apply these practice for the future aspect. Sustainability practices in tourism refers to the
environment, economic, socio culture in tourism development and company need to considered
these three aspects into the business. The enterprise try to balance these three dimensions for the
longer sustainability.
The company which is chosen for this report is Marriott hotels which is UK based
company. This company deals which the accommodation facilities. Marriott gold coast is one of
the premium hotel destination. It is having the white sand beaches, water falls and 304 rooms. Its
the perfect place for the romantic gateway. It is having all the amenities which customer wants
and gives them the new experience of travelling
TASK
Sustainability Issues
The company is facing many issues regarding the sustainability and company need to
make policies to over come these challenges. The Sustainability refers to the process which aims
to provide the satisfaction to the society(Tseng, Tan & Siriban-Manalang 2013). The
organisation try to save all the resources which contribute in the future. If the company is using
the resources and get exploit those resources for the business development and this growth can
not be sustain for the longer run. These factors mainly includes the natural, cultural and social
resources. In accommodation and travel industry three are main three dimension of
sustainability. These factors are describe as below. Environment factors: This environmental factor involve the impact of the property of
hotels on the environs around the hotel premises. If company should try to protect the
environment around the hotel and they should damage it by harm full activities. For the
sustainability development company need to take care of the surroundings. The
company which is taken into consideration is Marriott gold coast which is the hotel
destination. They face the environment issue while making the holidays plans. The
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destination place should have the healthy environment like greenery and hygiene
environment which can satisfy the customers. . The company take measures to prevent
these negative impacts like they use the bio fuels, making the company websites in more
eco friendly manner to over these challenges. If the company continuous destroy these
factor the development is not for longer run. Social factor: It refers to the factor which reflect the development of people in which the
company is operating its business . The can should use its resources by which it can serve
its local community(Bebbington, Unerman & O'Dwyer2014). The enterprise should try to
contribute in the living of standard and living condition of the community by giving
different place where the can explore. The company should also brings the changes in the
infrastructures where the community lives. This can help the company to sustain the
development for the longer run. The destination place gives the new experiences to the
people and also enhance the standard of living by providing extra ordinary services. The
holidays destination place encourage the people to come from difficult at one place and it
brings the get to together of different people from the world.
 Economic factor: This factor is also very important for the sustainability of development.
The company should have good economic condition so that they can serve their
customers in a better way. The enterprise try to provide good facilities to their customer.
The company make sure that the customer should have the amount to pay for the services
they are getting and according to the customer budget the company should customise the
holiday plans. Sometimes the customers are not able to afford the the prices of the
travelling. The company make sure that they are getting good services when they stay in
the hotels the company should brings the awareness among the customers to use the
water resources and other resources to serve best in the society. Marriott is using the solar
syatem so save the energy and reduce the cost it also protect the environment.
Global Sustainable Tourism Criteria for Hotels and Tour Operators
GSTC is one of the criteria for the hotel accommodation companies to ensure the
sustainability practices. GSTC help to mange the global sustainability standards. This standard
can be increase by the spreading the knowledge among the shareholders and stake
holders(McMahon & Bhamra 2012). In GSTC there is two of criteria that is destination criteria
and hotel operator criteria. These are the guiding principal for the hotel operator company to
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protect the natural and cultural resources. Destination sustainability brings the tourist to visit the
different countries. This criteria help to market and bring the awareness of the sustainable
destination. In this company use the hotel industry to make the trip of the holiday. This GSTC
helps to reduce the negative impact on the environment. GSTC make the principals according to
the very developing and developed country because the main aim of GSTC is to spread the
information among the people so the guidelines is formulated in common language. In this
process there is need of adhere codes and standard setting codes. The alliance authority provides
the guidelines to mange these activities to brings the sustainability in all the sectors(Amini &
Bienstock 2014).
As there are different culture, customs, environment, law these criteria adopt the local
common condition for all and there is additional criteria for the particular locations. According to
the Marriott gold coast they are certified by the GSTC as they serve the guidelines to its stake
holder about the environment protection, cultural factors and others. They have the product
which Marriott serves to its customers to encourage the eco friendly, cultural, customer health
and safety and others. This can help the company to sustain its business operations for the longer
time.
The Ecotourism Australia ROC and ECO certification criteria
Hospitality is sector which more use its resources in the optimal level. To
accommodation company try to minimize the impact of the activities on the nature and eco
tourism is providing the certificates to those companies those who serve their customer in better
way without harming the environment. Ecotourism also them the countries to learn them to how
to use the resources wisely and help the local community to change their living condition. To get
the certified in this criteria company should have the more than 50% environment friendly
operations. The tourism products should be bookable. The should able to meet the ethics
practices required by the eco tourism. The company need to regular meet the customer
expectations. The company should follow the principal of the sustainability practices by passing
from all these criteria the company gets the eco tourism certified.
Marriott can choose any one of these criteria to maintain its sustainability the company
should follow the GSTC criteria as it is having the high scope and it is applicable on the various
international countries. The guidelines which are made according to different countries(Jain and
et. al 2013). So company gets the opportunity to increase its sustainability by having the multi
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operations in different countries also company gets the chance to serve communities. Marriott
gold coast choose the eco tourism certified criteria to serve its customer by protecting the
environment. Company use these certificate in the advertisement that they are LEED certified
hotel in US. They also reduce the use of the resources and Improving the environment over 10
years. They using the many technique from that the get the sustainability in the market.
organisation also introducing the many green programs to initiate the property practices. The
heating system used in the swimming pools of the hotels can save the money also give the
environmental friendly practices. Marriott hotel can replace the electricity with the gas so save
the energy and use in the laundry and catering. It helps the hotels to reduce negative impact on
the environment.
Strengths and weaknesses of business sustainability practices
When a company is going for the sustainability practices they faces strength and
weakness in there operation. From these strengths company have the advantages from its
competitors and with weakness company take control measures to prevent these weakness and
improve their performance so that they can sustain in the market for the longer term.
Sustainability practices help the enterprise to serve customer and satisfy them by giving the best
quality product(Crittenden and et. al 2011). The activities took place in the organisation impact
the nature, culture in negative way for this practices has to be adopted to minimize the negative
impact and increase in the society participation. There are some of the weakness and strength
given below which company can face to sustain in the market.
Strengths Get certified by GSTC certified: By doing the sustainability practices company get the
approval and certified by the GSTC criteria which help the enterprise to attract more and
more customers and also give the competitive advantage to the company. This help the
organisation to maintain its consistency in the market. The customer satisfaction also
increase which create the demand of tourism. Increase the enterprise revenue: By sustainability practices the company can earn more
profits. The company also expand its operation by doing the same practices in other
country. These kind of activities help the business unit to grow and create the brand name
in the market. This can improves the economy of the country and increase the customer
spendings.
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 Improving the community standard of living: The another strength which company get
by the sustainability practice is improving the standard of living and condition of the
society.
Weakness climate factor: Climate factor is one of weakness which company has to plan the trips.
The change in the climate factor can influence on the demand of the company product
and also impact on the sustainability of the product(Ashby, Leat & Hudson-Smith 2012). Scare resources: Scare resources is also the weakness of the sustainability practice. The
company can face the lack of resources due to excess usage and wastage of resources the
enterprise has to properly allocate the resources to its important activities so that
organisation should not face any future challenges.
 Growing population: Growing population in the cities tends to usage for natural
resources and this can be impact on the company's sustainability of practices. The
demand of the limited resources is increasing due to the population.
Recommendation for the potential improvement
To use the resources in the proper manner the company needs to adopt the effective tools
so that they company can sustain in the market for the longer run. This gives the better
opportunity to the organisation(Perego & Kolk 2012). Following are the ways by which
company can do its sustainability practices effectively. Effective training to local community: The company should communicate with the
community to understand their wants and needs. This can help the enterprise to design
the destination planning in a manner so that they can easily buy it and also get satisfy
with the product. Company should also acknowledge the community about the company
taking steps to protect the environment and encourage different culture to come together. Know the stake holders interest and their advantage: Stakeholders are more important
aspect of any business. So it important that the stakeholder should take interest in the
accommodation industry if they are not taking interest It is difficult for the company to
grow and get the sustainability.
 Economic development: Hospitality is a sector which is having the fast growth in the
economy. So by using the resources properly company can serve the economy in positive
way. The company make strategies properly so that they can use the resources in proper
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manner(Littledyke, Manolas & Littledyke 2013). This strategies leads to the growth of
additional features and resources value available with the company.
By this points company can make changes in their working and also improves the
performance. It is recommended to the company to serve it product to the customer so that they
perceive the good image of the brand. The customer gets satisfaction and also company should
get the support from the customer to do its business operations for the longer run. Enterprise has
to design the product in a manner so that its should not destroy the nature, should not disrespect
any culture and utilise the resources in proper manner.
CONCLUSION
The report is based on the sustainability practices on hospitality sector. In this report the
discussion of various issues in sustainability practices took place. Where it is mention that the
three dimensions of the which affects the sustainability of the business. The company has to see
these dimensions can make strategies. After that the two criteria in sustainability certificates
program are mention in this report. After that the weakness and strength of the sustainability
practices has been given in the report. The report conclude that the every company needs to have
sustainability practices into their business so that they can serve their consumers for the longer
period. There are many challenges which is faced by the company while implementing these
activities. But company can over come from these challenges if they make proper planning and
execute it in the real scenario.
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REFERENCES
Books and journals
Colantonio, A., & Dixon, T. (2011). Urban regeneration and social sustainability: Best practice
from European cities. John Wiley & Sons.
Tseng, M. L., Tan, R. R., & Siriban-Manalang, A. B. (2013). Sustainable consumption and
production for Asia: sustainability through green design and practice. Journal of Cleaner
Production. 40. 1-5.
Bebbington, J., Unerman, J., & O'Dwyer, B. (2014). Sustainability accounting and
accountability. Routledge.
Amini, M., & Bienstock, C. C. (2014). Corporate sustainability: an integrative definition and
framework to evaluate corporate practice and guide academic research. Journal of
Cleaner Production. 76. 12-19.
Crittenden, V. L and et. al (2011). Market-oriented sustainability: a conceptual framework and
propositions. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science. 39(1). 71-85.
Ashby, A., Leat, M., & Hudson-Smith, M. (2012). Making connections: a review of supply chain
management and sustainability literature. Supply Chain Management: An International
Journal. 17(5). 497-516.
Perego, P., & Kolk, A. (2012). Multinationals’ accountability on sustainability: The evolution of
third-party assurance of sustainability reports. Journal of Business Ethics. 110(2). 173-
190.
Littledyke, M., Manolas, E., & Littledyke, R. A. (2013). A systems approach to education for
sustainability in higher education. International Journal of Sustainability in Higher
Education. 14(4). 367-383.
Jain, S and et. al (2013). Fostering sustainability through education, research and practice: a case
study of TERI University. Journal of cleaner production. 61. 20-24.
McMahon, M., & Bhamra, T. (2012). ‘Design Beyond Borders’: international collaborative
projects as a mechanism to integrate social sustainability into student design practice.
Journal of Cleaner Production. 23(1). 86-95.
online
Sustainability Tourism And Its Impact. 2013. [online]. Available
Through:<http://myassignmenthelp.info/assignments/sustainable-tourism-and-its-
impact/>. [Accessed on 15th May 2017].
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