From April 23 to 26, the 13th China Hotel Culture Festival and International Hotel Healthy Sleep Conference was held in Shaoxing, Zhejiang. This cultural festival is themed "New Consumption, New Momentum, New Growth", fully demonstrating the new industries, new models and new momentum that reflect the new quality productivity of the industry, such as brand culture, innovation culture, health culture, and catering culture that currently lead the high-quality development of the accommodation and catering industry. At the event, Yu Guogang, Chief Development Officer of Marriott International Greater China, accepted an exclusive interview with CCTV.com on topics such as green groupization and corporate sustainable development.

Question: At present, green environmental protection and sustainable development have become a global consensus. The concept of sustainable development has penetrated into all walks of life and has become one of the hot topics of concern to the international community. With the growing demand of consumers for green consumption, sustainable development construction has become an important measure for hotel companies to enhance their brand competitiveness. In this context, how do you view the responsibilities and opportunities of the hotel industry in sustainable development? Please share Marriott International's latest initiatives and achievements in promoting green environmental protection and sustainable development.

Yu Guogang:After more than 90 years of development, Marriott International has always adhered to the corporate culture of "serving the world with people as the core". In the expansion of its business around the world, we are committed to having a positive impact on local communities and the environment and promoting sustainable development. According to the seven future travel trends forecast for 2024 released by Booking.com, "practicing a new sustainable trend" has become a highlight, focusing on green and environmentally friendly travel habits. 83% of Chinese travelers want to travel sustainably. In response, Marriott International actively responded to the country's "dual carbon" goals, formulated short-term and long-term emission reduction goals based on science, and recently obtained the approval of the Science-Based Targets initiative (SBTi), becoming a large international hotel management company approved worldwide.

In fact, as early as 2017, Marriott International launched a sustainable development and social impact platform - Serve360: Doing Good in Every Direction. Guided by this platform, we promote sustainable development practices in the global market, create value for employees, guests, owners, the environment and the community, and support the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals.

In Greater China, the Group's sustainable operations focus on five core areas: sustainable certification, energy conservation and emission reduction, responsible procurement, waste reduction and water consumption reduction. We have launched a sustainable development scorecard to measure the hotel's sustainable development progress in these areas. Every hotel in the group has received a customized, science-based energy and carbon reduction target based on actual conditions.

Question: In recent years, the hotel industry has paid increasing attention to environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG). "Green groupization" is a highlight of Marriott International's development strategy. Can you briefly introduce Marriott's experience in this regard? How do you think the hotel industry can better integrate the concept of sustainable development and achieve a win-win situation in economic and environmental benefits?

Yu Guogang: Profit is the premise of sustainable development of an enterprise, but taking social responsibility is the foundation and core of an enterprise's operations. This responsibility includes environmental responsibility, safety responsibility, and responsibility to guests, customers and suppliers. But the difficulty is that it is difficult for the hotel industry to complete all aspects of sustainable development independently, including cooperation with all parties in the supply chain, balancing the benefits of owners, ensuring guest experience and cultivating employee awareness. In this regard, we actively listen to guests' feedback and collaborate with partners, owners and suppliers to not only ensure that the guest experience is not affected, but also actively meet the growing expectations of contemporary consumers for "sustainable travel".

Empowering green hotels with artificial intelligence. Marriott International's Greater China hotels work with third parties to use AI and big data to trace, monitor and reduce food waste. According to statistics, more than 70 hotels in Greater China have reduced food waste by an average of 65% after participating in the project for four months, gradually achieving a win-win situation of cost reduction and efficiency improvement. Through Marriott Bonvoy's "Travel Together" project, guests can establish a deep connection with the local community and environment. Currently, 37 Chinese hotels offer this experience.

In terms of energy conservation and emission reduction, we actively promote sustainable certification of hotels in Greater China, promote the use of renewable energy, install solar energy in hotels, provide water and electricity supply to some areas of hotels, and install heat pumps on demand. At the same time, by cooperating with suppliers, we give priority to environmentally friendly products and materials, so as to build and manage a green supply chain. In terms of responsible procurement, we actively promote cage-free eggs, responsible pork, seafood provided by suppliers certified by the Marine Stewardship Council, and paper or recycled paper that complies with the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification. From the perspective of recycling and reuse, the recycling of plastic bottles and large-sized bath product pump bottles in guest rooms has been launched in Greater China, and we have cooperated with suppliers to recycle them and then process them into hotel uniforms or other products. For example, the staff uniforms of W Hotel in Studio City, Macau use recyclable plastic as the main fabric.

At this cultural festival, we officially reached a new partnership with the China Hotel Association in the field of sustainable development, helping Marriott Hotels in mainland China obtain the national standard "Green Hotel" certification, continuously improving the sustainable operation level of Marriott Hotels, and helping consumers make more environmentally friendly travel choices.

Question: At the two sessions of the National People's Congress held not long ago, the "Government Work Report" pointed out that we should vigorously develop a green and low-carbon economy and promote the green transformation of industrial structure, energy structure, transportation structure, and urban and rural construction. A series of measures will push China towards a greener and more sustainable development model, providing policy support and market opportunities for enterprises to implement sustainable development strategies in the Chinese market. In the future, what is Marriott International's sustainable development strategy in the Chinese market? What are your prospects for the future development of the Chinese market?

Yu Guogang:Marriott International actively responds to the country's "dual carbon" goals. Adhering to the concept and responsibility of "360 degrees of good deeds", the group plans to reduce its landfill waste and kitchen waste by 45% and 50% respectively by the end of 2025, while reducing water consumption by 15%, carbon emissions by 30%, and achieving at least 30% of electricity from renewable energy, and achieving the goal of net zero greenhouse gas emissions in the value chain by 2050 at the latest.

In the future, sustainable operations in Greater China will continue to focus on five major areas: sustainable certification, energy conservation and emission reduction and the use of renewable energy, responsible procurement, waste reduction, and water consumption reduction, in order to achieve the Group's global sustainable development goals and high-quality development.

First, we will continue to rely on the scale effect of our layout in Greater China to establish and strengthen the hotel's traceable environmental management system at the hotel level. At the same time, the environmental data of the Group's hotels will be scientifically and effectively monitored and managed through the Marriott Environmental Sustainability Hub-MESH. In 2024, the Group has launched a hotel sustainability scorecard in Greater China to track and measure the progress of work in five major areas.

Second, we will continue to explore the application of new technologies in energy conservation, environmental protection, clean energy, and service facilities in hotel scenarios. We will continue to work with third parties to use big data to track, measure and analyze food waste in hotels, and introduce electronic signatures to reduce paper consumption.

Third, we will drive new business modules through refined operations and promote recycling. On the one hand, we promote recycling, including recycling plastic bottles, coffee capsules, soaps, and electronic waste, while reusing recycled materials for other products, promoting the use of renewable energy including solar energy in the hotel area, helping to improve the effective use of energy, saving costs, and further promoting hotel sustainable certification.

Fourth, we cultivate the sustainable awareness of all employees. We have established the Greater China Sustainable Development Committee to link various departments and gather a strong vitality to promote the high-quality and sustainable development of the group. In daily life, we hold quarterly sustainable development seminars and offer training courses on climate issues to enhance employees' sustainable knowledge and awareness. We have launched the first China Hotel Industry ESG Innovation Competition with the China Hotel Association. We jointly implement the standard requirements of the "ESG Management System Requirements for the Accommodation Industry" and the "ESG Evaluation Guidelines for the Accommodation Industry" to help China achieve its "3060" dual carbon goals and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Fifth, we continue to advocate consumers' attention to sustainable consumption and promote the formation of a social environment for green transformation. This year, we are about to launch a sustainable food week experience, which will deliver delicious food while also conveying the concepts of corporate social responsibility and a friendly environment. In addition, we will continue to expand the Marriott Bonvoy Travel Program, combining green and low-carbon themes to provide travelers with more ways to build a deeper bond with their destinations.

Sixth, we will strengthen cooperation with industry partners. We will actively participate in the formulation of ESG industry standards for the tourism and accommodation industries. We will work with the China Green Foundation to support sand fixation and wind resistance in desertified areas of Gansu. We will work with the China Hotel Association to support more hotels in obtaining the China Sustainable Hotel Certification.

With the Chinese government's series of positive policies to support the revival and sustainable development of the tourism industry, and consumers' growing attention to sustainable travel experiences, the Group will continue to use sustainable operating concepts, low-carbon footprint product supply, and management systems to achieve the Group's sustainable development goals while promoting the green transformation of China's tourism industry.

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