"Protecting the environment and conserving energy make good business sense and are the right things to do, both locally and globally," said Gary Hurst, senior vice president of International Engineering, Marriott International.

Eco-themed competitions, including a poster contest, are being offered at hotels worldwide to generate momentum among associates. The following provides highlights of other hotel initiatives from around the world:

Egypt -- On April 8, 275 associates from seven Marriott hotels in Egypt cleaned up trash on the streets and beaches to create a cleaner and healthier environment.

Jordan -- Associates at all three Marriott hotels in Jordan will host a roundtable discussion with an energy consultant; learn more about local eco- systems through the Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature during Earth Day on April 22; participate in clean-up efforts in their local communities; and contribute funds to care for the endangered species in a local wildlife reserve.

United Kingdom -- At Marriott's regional office in London, a newly formed environmental committee is launching an awareness campaign among the office's 400 associates to increase recycling, decrease waste, and conserve energy.

United States -- 

• The engineering team at the New York Marriott Marquis, which in the last year has installed new energy-efficient lighting throughout the hotel and re-commissioned its air handling units for better air quality and lower energy consumption, will install lighting motion sensors in the hotels' forty linen closets.
• The San Francisco Marriott, adjacent to the Moscone Convention Center, is the first hotel in the city to have a compactor dedicated to composting foodstuffs, and its associates are putting it to good use. They are more than halfway to reaching their goal of composting a million pounds of material from the hotel's restaurants and cafeterias. On average, 85 percent of the hotel's food refuse can be composted and reused to help revitalize the soil within the region. Last year, the hotel composted half-a-million pounds of material -- enough to fill its lobby from floor to ceiling.
• In the Washington, D.C., metro area, approximately 100 associates from Marriott Headquarters and nearby Marriott hotels participated in the Potomac Watershed Clean-up Day on April 8. Volunteers removed trash and debris from the shorelines of Theodore Roosevelt Island, a national landmark protected by the National Park Service.

MARRIOTT INTERNATIONAL, INC. (NYSE: MAR - News) is a leading lodging company with over 2,700 lodging properties in the United States and 66 other countries and territories. Marriott International operates and franchises hotels under the Marriott, JW Marriott, The Ritz-Carlton, Renaissance, Residence Inn, Courtyard, TownePlace Suites, Fairfield Inn, SpringHill Suites and Bulgari brand names; develops and operates vacation ownership resorts under the Marriott Vacation Club International, Horizons, The Ritz-Carlton Club and Grand Residences by Marriott brands; operates Marriott Executive Apartments; provides furnished corporate housing through its Marriott ExecuStay division; and operates conference centers. Marriott is also in the synthetic fuel business. The company is headquartered in Washington, D.C., and has approximately 143,000 employees. In fiscal year 2005, Marriott International reported sales from continuing operations of $11.6 billion. For more information or reservations, please visit our web site at http://www.marriott.com.