Marriott on Track to Reduce Greenhouse Gases by 1 Million Tons over 10 Years - 2000 to 2010

Summary

From 2000 to 2010 Marriott made it its mission to reduce Greenhouse Gases by one million tons. In order to achieve this goal Marriott supported several “green” programs and implemented some of their own. Marriott partnered with Clean Up the World to clean up rivers, parks, and beaches. They also participated in Global Tree Planting and planted over 3,000 trees in Marriott locations all over the world. Every tree planted can remove about one ton of carbon dioxide over its lifetime. Throughout those 10 years Marriott has worked to improve its recycling program. Currently 96% of Marriott locations actively recycle. Marriott has also worked to implement some environmentally friendly programs of their own. For example, the “Re-Lamp Campaign” introduced in 2006. This campaign replaced 450,000 light bulbs with fluorescent lighting and cut 65% of energy use. Marriott, as well as many other hotels, participates in the linen reuse program that encourages guests to reuse towels. This program helped cut hot water usage by 11-17%. They also installed 400,000 new shower heads to reduce water usage. Marriott has directors, architects, and engineers working to build the first Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certified hotel. Finally, each Marriott hotel location has an Energy and Environmental Ambassador who helps maintain an environmentally friendly property and looks for new ways to help conserve energy and preserve the environment.

Reflection

I completely support Marriott’s efforts to help conserve energy and help the environment. I’ve always like Marriott because of their customer service and I’ve always had good experiences with them. Finding out about their conscious efforts to go green makes me like Marriott even more. When people stay at hotels they don’t think a lot about conserving power and energy because they’re paying the same amount either way. The effort to make hotels more environmentally friendly has to come from the hotel executives and staff. Marriott has recognized the need to help and has taken steps to do so. By participating in outside programs they show that they really care and aren’t just trying to cut costs for their own benefits. This is showing customers and guests that they really do care and want to make a difference. I think all of Marriott’s efforts will make a change in the future and will be something guests can use to set Marriott apart from other major hotel chains.

Ross, Dasha. "Marriott on Track to Reduce Greenhouse Gases by 1 Million Tons over 10 Years - 2000 to 2010 ". Marriott News. http://www.marriott.com/news/detail.mi?marrArticle=163832

Making Hotel Loyalty Programs More Effective

Summary

This article discusses loyalty programs and some of the issues associated with them. In the United States there are 1.8 billion people participating in loyalty programs in every industry from airlines to grocery stores. With all of these people participating, you would think people find value in these programs. The truth is, however, 32% of people surveyed believe that loyalty programs “hold little or no value”. This article describes the two main problems with loyalty programs and the new trend that is becoming the solution. The first problem is “low-threshold” consumers. Many consumers feel that the reward is unobtainable. They only accumulate a low number of points way below the amount required to cash in on the reward. The other problem is the difficult redemption process. Once a consumer has accumulated the points to receive a reward, the process to redeem a reward is long, difficult, and has many restrictions. The solution to these problems is instant reward redemption through digital content. With this new technology people who participate in loyalty programs can receive instant rewards such as music, movies, books, and magazines for a low amount of points instead of having to accumulate a large amount of points to redeem cash and discounts. With instant rewards programs more people are likely to participate and 47% of consumers said they would prefer instant rewards over traditional discounts.

Reflection

I think this article addresses legitimate problems with loyalty programs. I’m sure we’re all members of at least one type of loyalty program but how often do we really benefit from them? And when we do, it takes so much time and effort to redeem our rewards. In certain loyalty programs I think the digital content would be really beneficial. There are some programs that require so many points to redeem rewards. In those programs I would definitely rather cash in points for digital content such as music and movies. There are some loyalty programs however that I would prefer discounts relating to that particular program for example, airline miles and hotels. The reason I would participate in these programs would be to receive free flights or a discounted hotel stay. I would take the inconvenience of the redemption process and the time it takes to gain enough points to receive a greater reward. For loyalty programs that offer smaller rewards I would prefer an instant reward program. Overall I think the idea of instant rewards will be really beneficial to many companies that offer loyalty programs.

Hure, Goldworn. “Making Hotel Loyalty Programs More Effective.” Ehotelier. February 2011. http://ehotelier.com/hospitality-news/item.php?id=A20432_0_11_0_M