Our power, our planet: how Marriott helps nature thrive | News
At Marriott International, caring for the places we live, work and travel isn’t just something we focus on once a year; it remains central to the way we do business and is led by our sustainability and social impact platform, Serve 360.
On this Earth Day, Marriott is proud to share how our associates, hotels and guests help bring our Serve 360 efforts to life, including our goal to conduct 35,000 activities by 2030 that protect, restore or enhance nature in the communities where we operate.
From reforestation and marine conservation to responsible operations and community partnerships, we are proud of the progress we have made in 2025:
“The health of our business is closely linked to the health of our planet. When we protect the environment and invest in our communities, we want to ensure that destinations remain vibrant places to live, work and visit for generations to come.”
– Anthony Capuano, president and CEO of Marriott International
Marriott properties and employees around the world have dedicated their time and resources to helping nature thrive on land and at sea. Learn more about the efforts happening across our Marriott Bonvoy portfolio.
On land: reforestation of critical ecosystems – tree by tree
Healthy forests do more than look pretty: they filter water, cool waterways, stabilize soil and create shelter for wildlife. By 2025, Marriott helped plant more than 32,500 trees in critical ecosystems across the U.S. Gulf Coast through our partnership with the Arbor Day Foundation. The goal of the initiative is to restore a diverse mix of bottomland hardwood and upland pine forests in Alabama, Florida, Georgia and Mississippi as part of the Gulf Coast Reforestation project. These reforestation efforts support local recovery from hurricanes, coastal flooding and land-use changes – and help improve the health of regional watersheds by reducing pollution and erosion that can flow into streams and ultimately the ocean. As canopy returns along waterways, it can improve habitat for aquatic species such as mussels, spiny lobsters, oysters, Gulf sturgeons and manatees, while also supporting terrestrial wildlife such as gopher tortoises, eastern indigo snakes and the endangered red-cockaded woodpecker.
Through Good Travel by Marriott Bonvoy® and partnership with the China Green Foundation’s Million Forest Project, guests helped reach a milestone of 10,000 donated shrubs to support anti-desertification efforts in Gansu Province, China.
Closer to home in Maryland, we continued to support the Chesapeake Bay Foundation’s efforts to plant trees that protect waterways. By 2025, approximately 4,000 trees were planted across the state, with another 10,000 seedlings potted in nurseries and nurtured for future reforestation.
At sea: protecting coastlines and marine life
Coastal ecosystems are powerful and vulnerable. In Costa Rica, volunteers from W Costa Rica – Reserva Conchal and The Westin Reserva Conchal, an all-inclusive golf resort & spa, supported Back Home, a program dedicated to returning shells to the sea. Using science, innovation and collaboration, an artificial intelligence application helps identify whether shells seized at the airport belong to the Pacific Ocean or the Caribbean Sea, so they can be recorded and reintegrated into their native habitat. Restoring shells helps secure microhabitats for animals and microorganisms and can help minimize the effects of coastal erosion.
In the Caribbean and Latin America, properties continue year-round programs focused on sea turtle conservation. By 2025, these efforts will have contributed to the release of more than 63,000 turtles into their natural habitat.
Marriott also partners with the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) to support healthier oceans through the Peru Mahi Mahi Longline Fishery Improvement Project – an effort aimed at strengthening management practices and protecting the broader marine ecosystem.
Our strength is people: converting commitment into action
None of this work happens without people. In 2025, employees, hotels and Marriott Business Councils reported participating in 7,500 biodiversity-related activities – from cleanups and ocean conservation to reforestation – reflecting everyday actions aimed at helping protect the places we live, work and travel. In support of World Environment Day 2025, more than 8,300 volunteers across 230 hotels supported community and conservation efforts – planting nearly 95,000 trees and more than 11,000 mangroves, in addition to activities such as beach cleanups and coral plantings.
Guests and members of Marriott Bonvoy also play an important role. Through Marriott Bonvoy’s annual member choice benefit, members have helped raise more than $280,000 for the World Wildlife Fund to support global conservation efforts. And across our portfolio, stewardship of the natural world continues to be recognized: 93% of US and CALA golf properties and 100% of UK golf properties were recognized for their environmental management practices by the Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary Program for Golf.
Powering a more resilient planet together
From forest restoration projects designed to help strengthen watersheds to protecting the coastlines and marine species that keep our oceans thriving, the story is the same: our strength is greatest when we act together. This Earth Day, we celebrate the employees, guests, owners, members and community partners who help protect biodiversity around the world and are committed to helping our planet continue to thrive.
“We remain committed to being thoughtful about the way we build, operate and collaborate with community stakeholders so that our hotels can reduce their impact on the environment while continuing to support local ecosystems around the world.”
– Robert Guidice, Chief Operations Officer, Marriott International
We believe that every tree planted, coastline restored and habitat protected brings Marriott closer to our 2030 Serve 360 goal of 35,000 nature-positive activities – and reinforces the company’s belief that hospitality can be a force for good.
Learn more about Serve 360: Doing Good in Every Direction at serve360.marriott.com.
