Everyday initiatives for real change
Green Key eco label
As of December 2025, all our hotels have achieved Green Key accreditation – a leading international tourism eco-certificate covering 150 strict environmental and socially-responsible criteria.
From Aberdeen to Amsterdam, our teams reached this sustainability milestone via a thorough audit process. As each hotel’s status is reviewed annually, this recognition provides a valuable framework to measure our current performance and identify even better ways to care for our customers, our communities and our planet.
This commitment to embedding sustainability into every department, every decision and every interaction helps us turn pledges into progress. And, by being transparent about our approach, we hope guests, partners and employees can sleep even easier knowing they’ve chosen a hotel that takes its environmental and social responsibilities seriously.
Water conservation
Each hotel reviews its individual water reduction plan every year to find new ways to save water.
At the beginning of 2025 we fitted aerator tap restrictors across our portfolio to decrease water flow by 23%. Several properties are also trialling further water-saving measures, including shower limiters which cut down water flow by 24%, and sticker prompts on dual-flush toilets to encourage guests to choose the lower water option where possible.
Our towel and linen reuse programme lets guests get involved, while the “Your Choice” scheme offers 250 Marriott Bonvoy reward points per day for anyone opting out of housekeeping services.
Waste reduction
Plastic waste
Mindful of the cost of plastic pollution, we have steadily phased out avoidable plastic waste from our operations. From promoting mobile check-in to reduce plastic keys to using large, refillable toiletries, we removed all single-use plastic at the end of 2025, seeking out recyclable or biodegradable alternatives.
Our hotels said goodbye to plastic straws in 2019 (ahead of the UK’s ban), our UK hotels replaced plastic water bottles with recyclable alternatives in 2023. Since October 2025 they have used Tetra Pak-style water cartons instead. Made from 88% plant-based materials, these custom-branded containers have a much lower carbon footprint than traditional plastic bottles (approximately 74%), and their lightweight stackable design cuts transport emissions.
We also have water dispensers available in every hotel so that guests can easily refill their own water bottles and all our takeaway coffee cups and lids are fully recyclable.
Food Waste
As part of our commitment to reducing the waste we generate, our hotels have several strategies to minimise food waste.
One is our Eat Smart – Waste Less campaign, encouraging guests to take only what they need from the buffet and return as often as they like. Leftovers are weighed, and this tracking process informs smarter purchasing, production and portioning decisions.
While our aim is to eliminate food waste altogether, each hotel actively participates in food saving schemes such as Too Good To Go and Les Restos du Cœur to redistribute surplus snacks and excess meals.
Reuse & redistribution
We look for ways to avoid landfill and keep usable items in circulation, whether that means donating, redistributing or discounting them. When furniture needs refreshing, we prioritise re-upholstering wherever possible to extend the lifespan of sofas and booth seating before considering replacement.
In January 2024, we became the first hotel management company to partner with A Good Thing. This online platform makes it easy for our UK hotels to give any no-longer-needed stock to local charities, turning furniture, linen and equipment into much-needed community resources.
Our first donation was several hundred pillows to a charity which provides free accommodation so that families can stay together while their critically ill children receive treatment. In the first year alone our hotels gave 3,891 items a new life, from five smartphones to 500 shaving kits.
Another initiative adopted by many of our hotels is our coffee to compost scheme, inviting guests and staff to take home free takeaway bags of used nutrient-rich coffee grounds to use in their own garden.
Recycling & paper use
We minimise waste and recycle wherever possible, providing recycling bins in every guest room and office.
We only use FSC-certified paper and favour digital processes in our offices to keep printing to a minimum. Where printed statements are not legally required, guests receive electronic folios for paperless transactions, and in February 2026 we began trialling a QR code ordering platform in one of our London hotels to further reduce paper use.
Eco-friendly cleaning
We use ecologically-approved cleaning and hygiene products that meet high guest standards, while being safer for the environment. Our hotel teams have used Ecolab products since autumn 2024
We ensure this focus on sustainable practices and solutions extends to the partners we work with, from housekeeping (WGC) to laundry (Johnson Service Group in England, Fishers Laundry Service in Scotland).
Sustainable transport
To complement the bike rental already offered at many of our hotels, in early 2025 we partnered with Brompton Bikes to offer a dedicated bike package that promotes more environmentally-friendly city travel. This “Urban Unlocked” initiative includes 24-hour hire so guests can explore the area at their own pace.
As more drivers switch to electric vehicles, we have also introduced on-site charging stations in eight of our hotels plus head office to encourage guests and staff to make sustainable transport choices.
Environmentally-friendly umbrella hire
In April 2023 we partnered with Dripdrop to make sustainable umbrellas available for guests to hire in every hotel. Designed for repeated use, each storm-proof umbrella is made from high quality recycled materials, including five plastic bottles, and removes 4.5 times more plastic from the environment than it contains.
Until summer 2025, one tree was planted with the Eden Reforestation Project for every umbrella, with guests contributing to 3,001 trees between January and August. Since completing its mission to plant one million mangrove trees in Mozambique, each rental now removes the equivalent of six plastic bottles or 113.6g of ocean-bound plastic waste through RePurpose Global.
Protecting green spaces
Whilst the majority of our hotels have limited outdoor areas, those that do take steps to protect the green spaces on their doorstep.
Several hotels have planted installed planters to create an urban allotment where they could grow their own herbs, York guests are greeted on arrival by a living wall, and two of our Scottish hotels have installed bug hotels to support biodiversity and protect declining insect populations. Meanwhile in France, one of our Moxy hotels introduced a beehive in September 2025, boosting natural pollination in its gardens and producing around 12kg of honey annually for guests to enjoy at breakfast.