The success of any corporation is anchored on its leadership and policies. One of the factors that have enabled Marriott to operate as a going is its belief in the culture of “spirit to serve.” For more than 80 years, Marriott has used the SERVE signature to render its services to communities, employees, and customers (Center for Social Value Creation, 2010). The following is a breakdown of each of the five letters in the word SERVE. S stands for shelter and food, E for environment, and R for readiness for hotel careers. V denotes vitality of children while E means embracing global diversity and inclusion. Over the years, Marriott’s CSR has zeroed in on issues of housing and hunger, a greener planet, training, helping vulnerable children, and offering workplace opportunities.
Notably, for almost 30 years, Marriott’s environmental efforts have been channeled towards energy and water conservation. In 2007, Marriott collaborated with a renowned global conservation organization, Conservation International, to craft a sustainable environmental strategy. It includes ways of educating guests and employees on how to conserve the environment, achieve carbon offsets, and create green construction standards (Center for Social Value Creation, 2010). Moreover, the strategy contains a plan to engage vendors to supply price-neutral greener products as well as the ways of reducing water and fuel consumption and the need for installing solar power at the hotel.
Most importantly, Marriott has paid more attention to rainforest preservation. To put it differently, 10 years ago, Marriott pledged $2 million with the objective of protecting 1.4 million acres of rainforest in Brazil’s Juma Sustainable Development Reserve. According to the Center for Social Value Creation (2010), more than 3,000 residents of the reserve benefit through the initiative in the form of employment, medical care, a “Bolsa Floresta” stipend, and education.
Notably, the company’s headquarters in Bethesda was awarded LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification. This Existing Building Gold Certification was issued by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC). Presently, over 30 Marriott’s hotel are working towards achieving the LEED certification.
