Courtyard by Marriott Los Angeles Westside Developed a Proprietary Corporate Program, EarthView, Which Encompasses a Triple-Bottom-Line Approach to Sustainability
LABBC CASE STUDY
PROPERTY OWNER
Marriott
PROPERTY TYPE
Hospitality
SQUARE FEET
170,000
Sponsoring Organizations
3.3%
Energy Reduction in 2019
2020 Innovation Awards: Energy Project of the Year Finalist
“A triple-bottom-line approach to sustainability is the key to implementing projects – it aligns financial benefit with environmental and social good. However, we have learned that in addition to being stewards of the planet and our communities, implementing sustainability-focused projects also allows us to be well positioned to take advantage of growing market trends. Guests are increasingly seeking more from their travel experiences. With our approach to sustainable hospitality characterized by robust sustainability programs, projects, and initiatives at our hotels, we are well poised to capture this growing interest.”
EMILY WEI
Sr. Sustainability Analyst, Hersha Hotels & Resorts
CHALLENGE
At Hersha Hotels and Resorts, the owner and management group for the Courtyard by Marriott Los Angeles Westside (Courtyard - LA), sustainability has always been an integral part of their business. To put this into practice, Hersha has committed to setting science-based targets and developed a proprietary corporate program, EarthView, which houses their environmental and social best practices and allows the company to build a set of initiatives required at all their managed hotels, encompasses a triple-bottom-line approach to sustainability. The program delivers environmental and conservation initiatives that positively impact the hotels’ bottom lines, while simultaneously improves the well-being of guests, employees, communities, and the planet. Hersha used EarthView to identify efficiency project opportunities at their Courtyard-LA property, along with input from their onsite team.
As with all buildings in hospitality, Courtyard-LA’s major challenge was to push against a prevailing view that guest satisfaction and sustainable hospitality conflict. “It can be difficult at times to deliver on high guest expectations for a comfortable hotel experience; while at the same ensuring guests have a low environmental footprint during their visits, and enabling guests to continue their sustainability-minded habits during their stay” says Emily Wei, Sr. Sustainability Analysis at Hersha Hotels & Resorts. But Hersha believes guest satisfaction and sustainable hospitality are complimentary.
STRATEGY
They overcame the challenge of choosing between guest satisfaction and sustainable hospitality by developing solutions and implementing projects that address. Solutions included LED lighting and guestroom energy management systems, laundry water reuse, training property management associates and housekeeping teams, and continuing to monitor guest feedback for overall satisfaction and future initiatives and programs.
For their on-site laundry, Courtyard-LA installed a laundry water reuse system that filters, disinfects, cleans, and reuses laundry water from prior cycles for future washes, reducing laundry water consumption by 70-80 percent and reducing the amount of natural gas needed to heat laundry water for subsequent cycles. They also installed efficient refrigeration retrofits that allow compressors in walk-in coolers and freezers to turn on in reaction to changes in food temperature rather than air temperature.
IMPACT
However, over the years, we have striven to demonstrate to our internal teams and partners that sustainability can in fact go hand-in-hand with elevating guest experience.
The projects implemented at the Courtyard-LA helped the hotel achieve increased energy and water efficiencies, which alleviated the pressure of increasing utilities costs. From a financial perspective, reductions in energy and water usage leads to higher margins, stronger net operating income (NOI), and increased long-term valuations. Every dollar of savings from reduced energy and water usage, and lower waste production, flows directly to the bottom line. Courtyard – LA shows 9.2 percent reduction since ownership took over.
Furthermore, increased efficiencies and progress towards more sustainable hospitality practices has led to additional revenue from group and corporate travel managers increasingly focused on sustainable travel, and internally, greater retention of guests and associates who increasingly prefer staying at or working for companies with values that resonate with theirs.
