SAN FRANCISCO—The San Francisco Marriott Marquis got a head start on its resolution to create a cleaner community when the downtown hotel launched its “Own Our Block” program on December 4, 2017. Since then, San Francisco Marriott Marquis volunteers have clocked in 156 hours of cleaning sidewalks and streets and removed approximately 780 pounds of trash from the surrounding neighborhood.
“Our grassroots effort has improved the look of our community,” says General Manager Chuck Pacioni. “Hotel colleagues are proud to support this ongoing, seven-day-a-week program. We’re part of San Francisco’s thriving hospitality industry and are doing our part to make San Francisco shine.”
San Francisco Public Works Director Mohammed Nuru applauded Pacioni and his staff for stepping up to help steward San Francisco.
“San Francisco is a beautiful and dynamic city, and it requires a team effort to take care of it,” Nuru said. “The Marriott Marquis’ ‘Own Our Block’ initiative exemplifies a game-changing model of civic pride. It’s only through partnerships like these where we can make a real, meaningful difference to address the challenge of keeping our great city clean.”
Block Cleaned Twice a Day
Teams of hotel colleagues—equipped with safety vests, gloves, trash bags, buckets and garbage picker tools—clean the neighborhood every morning and afternoon for approximately 30 minutes.
Executive team members are assigned a day of the week when they are responsible for leading and organizing teams to beautify Fourth Street between Market and Mission Streets and Yerba Buena Lane.
San Francisco Marriott Marquis pioneered “Own Our Block” to clean, green and beautify the hotel’s prime SoMa location. General Manager Chuck Pacioni is working with SF Travel, the Hotel Council of San Francisco and San Francisco Public Works to encourage businesses citywide to adopt a similar program.
“San Francisco is one of the world’s most popular destinations and we continually seek ways to enhance the city’s appeal,” says Pacioni. “A guest’s sense of arrival starts before he or she walks through the hotel’s front doors. We want to ensure seamless satisfaction throughout a guest’s stay in San Francisco.”
In May 2017, The City of San Francisco and Recology honored the San Francisco Marriott Marquis for recycling and composting 85 percent of its waste through a community partnership with Toolworks, a local nonprofit agency that provides job training and employment for people with disabilities.
