WASHINGTON, D.C.— Despite pending class action lawsuits in California over the addition of energy surcharges on its hotel folios, Marriott International extended its surcharges outside of the Golden State to offset rising energy costs across the country. This month Marriott began tacking on energy surcharges to its properties in New York City, Baltimore, Washington D.C., Philadelphia, Chicago, Boston, St. Louis, Denver, Seattle, Miami, Tampa, and several other cities. The surcharges range from $1.50 to $5, depending on the increase in energy costs in each city. New York City has the highest surcharge, at a rate of $5. “We dont like charging anything extra. We dont want our customers to feel like were nickel and diming them,” said Marriott spokesperson Roger Conner. “Were just trying to partially recoup, and reset the huge energy cost increases.” Marriott will join fellow hotel powerhouses, Starwood Hotels and Resorts and Hilton Hotels Corp., who already expanded their energy surcharges months ago. However, Hilton, Starwood, Marriott, and Hyatt Corp. have each been slapped with lawsuits in California over the legality of adding energy surcharges without the complete consent and knowledge of its hotel guests. As previously reported by HOTEL BUSINESS®, class action suits were filed in San Francisco and Los Angeles on May 9 claiming that guests were unaware of the surcharge when they agreed to, and initialed, the designated room rates. While Conner stated that he “could not comment on pending litigation,” he did say that Marriott has always, “communicated with guests at its hotels about the surcharge on their folios,” and that Marriott is now working to inform guests about the charge during the reservations point. “We identify it for what its for,” he said. “We dont try to hide or bury it in the room rate.” Conner added that Marriott has created a “formula” to determine which cities and which properties are in need of surcharges. “Theres nothing opportunistic,” he said. “If there is a surcharge, its necessary based on the increases.” Pat Maher, svp/engineering for Marriott, said only hotels that have seen energy increases of 20%-30% will be adding the surcharges. In addition, Marriott has begun a number of new initiatives to bring down its energy costs, including the development of a four-point energy plan. “Our goal is to see a 5% decrease in consumption,” said Maher. Step one of the plan calls for energy monitoring, which Marriott has been doing for the past few years. “Were monitoring the consumption at each property,” he said. As previously reported, the hotel chain signed a multi-year deal with Avista Advantage to receive energy management services, which include tracking the energy consumption, rates, and bills at every Marriott property in the country. The second phase of Marriotts plan is an Awareness Program, which designates one employee at each property as the energy champion. This person will be responsible for educating the staff on ways to reduce energy consumption. Part of energy champions responsibilities will be to continue upgrading the lights and thermostats in all guestrooms to ensure maximum energy efficiency, and to make sure any necessary adjustments are made to the hot water temperature and gas drying cycle times of each the hotels laundry machines. Marriott is also working to reduce its commodity procurement prices. As part of its new plan, the company will attempt to buy deregulated gas and electricity, wherever possible, for each of its North American properties. Finally the company is working to reduce its capital expenditures and to replace any old equipment with more energy efficient models. “We were tracking the energy consumption at our properties throughout 2000,” said Maher. “Were now seeing a 3% to 4% reduction in gas consumption.”
