By Parker White, MF/MBA ’24
This article was written in response to a seminar given by Denise Naguib, Global Vice President of Sustainability and Supplier Diversity at Marriott International, Inc., in an EDGE Seminar at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business in Spring 2023. This article voices one student’s perspective and does not necessarily represent the views of either Duke University or the seminar speaker.
On April 5th, Marriott’s Global Vice President of Sustainability & Supplier Diversity, Denise Naguib, gave an excellent, candid presentation to our EDGE Seminar class about sustainability impacts and opportunities in the hospitality industry. Ms. Naguib highlighted the tradeoffs that can often arise in choosing one sustainable improvement over another, especially under the pressure from a variety of internal and external stakeholders. Activist investors can force shareholder resolutions, while NGO stakeholders have an insatiable drive to push progress on an ever-changing list of topics. A 2022 report on consumer attitudes from The Morning Consult highlighted the importance of avoiding greenwashing or misrepresenting your business’ improvements and impact, as trust is necessary to attract environmentally educated travelers.[1]
While most of our readings and Denise’s presentation focused on improvements and tradeoffs in existing hotels, I’ll propose one way that sustainability can be incorporated from the ground up in Marriott’s future developments. By building new Marriott properties with mass timber instead of hard-to-abate steel and concrete, Marriott can reduce its hotels’ carbon footprint, lower construction time and costs, and create aesthetically pleasing structures that can withstand seismic activity and fire risks.
As a dual degree Master of Forestry and MBA student, I have been fascinated by mass timber since my first forest economics class at Duke’s Nicholas School of the Environment. We learned from Radhika Lalit, Chief Strategy Officer at Mission Possible Partnership, that heavy industrial materials like steel and cement could become net zero internally by 2050 if drastic changes occur immediately across all developed economies.[2] CO2 emissions from the building construction industry account for about 40% of global carbon emissions, and the proliferation of concrete and steel each contribute around 5% respectively.[3] While a lifecycle assessment of mass timber is complicated by factors ranging from forest management practices to harvest and transportation emissions, it is a construction material that stores embodied carbon for the life of the building and emits far less than concrete and steel. Mass timber is an engineered wood product that makes more efficient use of trees for the final product compared to traditional dimensional lumber that is used to frame residential homes. To the architect’s specifications, practically every part of a harvested tree can be cut, chipped, compressed, glued, and laminated into a building material. This is a significant improvement to traditional dimensional lumber that only uses the trunk of a harvested tree that is reasonably large, straight, and without excessive branching.
I was pleasantly surprised to find, while searching for sources on this topic, that Marriott’s own design director, Tom Kostelecky, is part of a “Mass Timber + Hospitality Research Team.” The U.S. Forest Service’s Wood Innovations Grant has made it economically feasible for architects, engineers, foresters, and researchers to take mass timber hotels from a sketchbook to reality. One of these grants has enabled the development of a prototype mass timber hotel that is comfortable, aesthetically pleasing, durable, cheaper, and faster to complete.[4] The prototype hotel’s 73,000 cubic feet of wood products reduce carbon emissions by 22% compared to the typical concrete and steel hulks in most city skylines.[5] This estimate says nothing of the carbon that will remain embodied in the building for life, which translates to a reported 86% carbon footprint reduction over the estimated life of the hotel.[6] Beyond carbon footprint benefits, wooden structures reduce guest and employee cortisol levels and blood pressure while improving air quality and microclimate temperatures through the wood’s antimicrobial properties, as compared to typical materials.[7]
As with any new design and construction methodology, mass timber construction has drawbacks. While quicker to build in theory, it takes time for construction workers to gain experience with these materials to realize the time efficiencies.[8] Additionally, the panels are more susceptible to moisture damage than typical materials, and weather delays can cause additional costs through wasted, unusable panels. Height is also a limiting factor, with the 2021 International Building Code approving mass timber construction up to 18 stories.[9] This is a limiting factor in densely packed cities, but Marriott can certainly build sprawling resorts with multiple wings that offer a luxurious experience to their guests within these limitations. There will naturally be complications in sourcing the various types of mass timber in markets without mills to create these newly viable products. However, this more sustainable form of construction’s modular nature could out-compete traditional construction methods in carbon emissions even if the pieces are transported from afar.
Marriott has recently announced plans to build 47 additional hotels in China and another 35 hotels worldwide in 2023. It is time to move mass timber from prototype to standard operating procedure.[10] It is unrealistic to say that Marriott can use this more sustainable material in all new hotels planned for this year, but I propose that this should be the goal wherever mass timber is feasible for future construction. The prototype is ready to build anywhere in North America based on 2021 building codes, and designs can be adjusted to meet most international coding requirements. Additionally, Marriott could protect their brand reputation and integrate sustainable construction into their business model by partnering with regional mills worldwide to support hotel development and the economies they benefit from. By building new facilities with mass timber, Marriott would well-positioned to be an industry leader in committing to the environmentally sustainable construction of luxury hotels in the future while differentiating itself from competitors in a significant way.
[1] Roeschke, Lindsey. “What Sustainability Means to Consumers: Travel & Hospitality.” The Morning Consult, September 2022. Accessed April 3rd, 2023.
[2] “Mission Possible: Reaching Net-Zero Carbon Emissions from Harder-to-Abate Sectors by Mid-Century.” Energy Transitions Commission, November 2018. Accessed March 20th, 2023.
[3] Robbins, Jim. “As Mass Timber Takes Off, How Green is This New Building Material?” Yale Environment 360, April 2019. Accessed April 8th, 2023.
[4] Kostelecky, Tom. “Mass Timber + Hospitality: The Operator’s Perspective.” SERA Architects, Inc, September 28th, 2020. Accessed April 7th, 2023.
[5] Cavanaugh, Stephen. “Mass Timber Innovation: The Hospitality Prototype.” DLR Group, March 17th, 2023. Accessed April 8th, 2023.
[6] Cavanaugh, Stephen. “Mass Timber Innovation: The Hospitality Prototype.” DLR Group, March 17th, 2023. Accessed April 8th, 2023.
[7] Kotradyova, Veronika et al. “Wood and Its Impact on Humans and Environment Quality in Health Care Facilities.” National Center for Biotechnology Information, September 2019. Accessed April 8th, 2023.
[8] Ahmed, Shafayet and Arocho, Ingrid. “Mass Timber Building Material in the U.S. Construction Industry.” Oregon State University School of Civil and Construction Engineering, 2020. Accessed May 5th, 2023.
[9] Breneman, Scott et al. “Tall Wood Buildings in the 2021 IBC.” Woodworks Wood Products Council, 2022. Accessed May 5th, 2023.
[10] Zhou, Jessica. “Marriott International Announces Planned Expansion in Greater China and Anticipates Surpassing 500 Hotels in 2023.” Marriott International News Center, March 28th, 2023. Accessed April 9th, 2023.
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