Marriott International has announced the launch of a new program—Connect Responsibly with Marriott Bonvoy Events (Connect Responsibly)—designed to help meeting planners incorporate sustainability into their events at participating hotels within the Marriott Bonvoy portfolio. Connect Responsibly will offer meetings and events customers access to detailed Meeting Impact Reports to measure the environmental impact of their events and provide options to purchase carbon credits. The program is expected to go live at managed and franchised properties across participating brands globally by the end of October.
"With the Connect Responsibly program, we are giving our meetings and events customers options to better understand the impacts of their meetings as we collectively strive to create a more resilient future for travel,” said Erika Alexander, chief global officer, global operations, Marriott International.
The user-friendly Meeting Impact Report will be available after an event, capturing event details, property-specific sustainability practices implemented, and the event’s carbon and water footprints, calculated using established hospitality industry methodologies. Marriott expects the Meeting Impact Report to be offered in 11 different languages, depending on location.
In collaboration with South Pole, a carbon asset developer and climate consultancy, Marriott also plans to offer meetings and events customers the ability to access select carbon offset projects. Through the Meeting Impact Report, these customers will have the option to utilize the South Pole online shop to choose from a range of carbon offset projects—verified by independent third-party organizations—that can be purchased as part of their event.
This announcement is part of Marriott’s efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions at properties and in the supply chain. As of April 2024, Marriott is the largest global hospitality company to receive approval from the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTs) for both near-term and long-term science-based emissions reduction targets. To drive progress toward its SBTs, Marriott launched the company’s Climate Action Program (CAP), which includes property-level carbon reduction goals and actions.
Connect Responsibly supports Marriott’s Sustainability and Social Impact Platform, Serve 360: Doing Good in Every Direction. For more information on the company’s Serve 360 initiatives, visit www.marriott.com/serve360.
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