RIYADH: In line with Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030, hospitality group Marriott plans to make sustainability a key pillar of its projects in the Kingdom, said one of its top executives.
Speaking to Arab News on the sidelines of the Future Hospitality Summit in Abu Dhabi, Sandeep Walia, chief operations officer of Marriot International Middle East, said the company is working to reduce carbon emissions, cut food waste, and ensure the use of renewable energy in its projects.
“Vision 2030, for instance, is focused on a big pillar (such as) sustainability ... Marriott is equally focused on sustainability. So, we have different elements to it, whether it is food waste reduction by 50 percent or whether it is renewable energy ... to get to 30 percent,” said Walia.
He also pointed out that the company is testing how to get the most benefit from clean energy.
“We have done different experiments. So, one of the Marriott hotels in Riyadh put solar panels on their roof to see how we can use solar energy, which has been a big success. In fact, a lot of hotels are experimenting, and the results are very encouraging,” Walia said.
The hospitality giant has been present in the Kingdom for four decades, with 36 open hotels and an equal number in different project stages.
“It is nice and interesting to see hotels in Saudi Arabia changing from business travel endpoints to leisure destinations, and that’s why it is important to have about 36 projects in the making,” he said.
Commenting on Saudization in the sector, he believed it has brought much positive change to the country.
“I was talking about how important people are. We are starting to see young Saudi nationals work in our hotels. So today, out of the 36 open hotels we spoke about, more than 45 percent of the people making the workforce are Saudi nationals,” he said.
Walia added that his company is focusing on employing Saudi people in top leadership positions.
“We have a group of high-performing leaders who we feel can be hotel managers or general managers in the next two years because we feel that it would be great to have hotels that are led by Saudi nationals, which is a big focus for us,” he said.
The interview came as Marriott International announced hotels from two of its brands are to be built in NEOM’s mountain destination, Trojena.
A W Hotel will be constructed along with a JW Marriott facility in a solidifying of the partnership between the hospitality giant and the giga-project.
The opening of these new hotels aligns with Trojena’s mission to redefine mountain tourism on a global scale, embracing the ethos of ecotourism and setting a new standard for sustainable luxury, according to a statement.
