Marriott launches first green hotel prototype

Marriott International has announced plans to develop its first property using its green hotel prototype in South Carolina, US.

The Courtyard Charleston/Summerville, set to open in early 2012, will be a LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) hotel, created in partnership with the US Green Building Council.

“This new programme packages all the basic requirements for LEED certification in a prototype,” said Karim Khalifa, senior vice president, architecture and construction for Marriott International. “It saves our owners valuable time and money in the planning process and allows us to provide a greener portfolio of hotels for our guests.”

The prototype was first designed at the end of last year, when Marriott announced plans to develop a green hotel prototype for its Courtyard brand that will save roughly US $100,000, six months in design time, and up to 25% energy and water savings for its owners.

Marriott is the first in the hospitality industry to launch a green hotel prototype that has been pre-approved by USGBC as part of its LEED Volume program, meaning that any Marriott hotel that follows these plans will earn basic LEED certification, or possibly higher, upon USGBC final approval.

This will help accelerate the company’s goal to have 300 LEED hotels by 2015.

Currently, Marriott has nearly 50 hotels across all brands that are LEED-certified or registered by the USGBC.

Based on the results of the Courtyard brand, Marriott has plans to create similar green hotel prototypes for Residence Inn by Marriott, TownePlace Suites by Marriott, SpringHill Suites by Marriott and Fairfield Inn by Marriott.