Marriott has a companywide program called “Spirit to Preserve.” It’s a global effort to protect the planet. It’s up to each hotel to make it happen. I was visiting the Courtyard Newark Liberty International Airport Hotel around Earth Day and was shown new “green” airport shuttle vans. I’ve been in my share of shuttle vans, but these two run on natural gas. I learned that it’s during refueling that 50% of a vehicle’s fumes escape, and that natural gas vehicles emit almost zero greenhouse gases when refueling. On the road, natural gas vehicles emit a fraction of the greenhouse gases of regular gasoline engines and are cheaper to operate.
Thomas Friedman recently wrote, “We are in the midst of a natural gas revolution that is a potential game changer… This is helping to lower our carbon emissions faster than expected and will make us more energy secure.”
Our airport shuttles are on the front line of this “revolution.” While the payback may be years away, upgrading our shuttle van fleet to natural gas will make a difference. I learned some interesting statistics from the general manager. The Courtyard vans are in constant use and travel about 180 miles a day. That’s a lot of miles in a year. If you multiply that by the thousands of vans operating at our hotels around the world, you begin to see how Marriott can lead the way by converting to natural gas.
Our Courtyard Newark Liberty Airport Hotel has fired one of the lodging industry’s first shots in the “natural gas revolution.” That’s the spirit!
I’m Bill Marriott and thanks for helping me keep Marriott on the move.






