Marriott makes sustainability statement with LEED Volume Program

Marriott was the first in the hospitality industry to launch a green hotel prototype that has been pre-certified by USGBC as part of its LEED Volume Program, meaning that any developer that chooses to follow these plans will earn basic LEED certification, or possibly higher, upon USGBC final approval. The company is also the first in the hospitality industry to have three brands approved to receive the LEED Volume Program pre-certification. In 2010, Marriott was approved for the Courtyard brand and, so far this year, the company has been approved for the TownePlace Suites and Residence Inn brands. Both the Fairfield Inn and SpringHill Suites brands will be approved for the Volume Program by the end of 2011, helping Marriott reach its goal to certify 300 hotels through the LEED certification system by 2015. We have nearly 85 hotels across all brands that are LEED-certified or registered by the USGBC.


In fact, North America’s first LEED-certified hotel and conference center flies the Marriott flag—The Marriott Inn and Conference Center University of Maryland University College in Hyattsville.


We encourage partners to join us on the mission to create LEED hotels. We have used the Volume Build Program to make it easy and affordable. For example, our Courtyard hotel owners who build through the LEED Volume Program save about $100,000 in soft costs and six months of design time. The operational savings in energy and water consumption of 25 percent sets the break-even point, including all construction costs, at five to six years. Factoring in government incentives can reduce that time frame to one year. The bottom line is that Courtyard owners and operators realize the benefits of building green up front, plus they earn an operational return on investment for the rest of the building’s life. And, according to the USGBC, LEED-certified buildings typically save 35 percent in carbon emissions, 40 percent in water emissions and 70 percent in solid waste. Re-sale values for LEED-certified buildings are often higher than comparable buildings that are not LEED-certified.