Marriott stops automatic daily newspaper service

Posted by Simon Day on April 14, 2009 at 1:27 PM

U.S. hotel chain Marriott International announced Monday that it will no longer automatically offer daily papers to guests, instead offering a choice of papers and if desired, no paper at all, Reuters reported.

Starting June 1, guest will have the option of receiving The Wall Street Journal, USA Today and a number of local dailies. Marriot predicts that making the papers optional will reduce newspaper distribution by 50,000 copies a day and 18 million copies a year.

"We were seeing a lot of unused papers and thought of the waste," Marriott spokeswoman Stephanie Hampton said, according to Reuters. "We also saw a shift in customer demand and expectations - 25 percent of them didn't read the hard copy any more, according to our preliminary studies."

This is an approach a number of corporations are taking in a commitment to more environmentally friendly operations. While the hotel's decision will hurt the newspaper industry, the company hopes it will benefit the environment. The company projects it will reduce its carbon emissions by 10,350 tons, Reuters reported.

The move, however, will not be a money saver, as the cost per paper will increase with the reduced demand.

"Since our new model is based on customer demand, it's hard to project what our hotel owners might save, if anything," Hampton told Reuters.