Industry: Hospitality

The customer

Awarded the 2024 Tripadvisor Travelers’ Choice Award, the Kansas City Marriott Downtown offers premium guest experiences and business events with onsite restaurants and bars, multifunctional meeting spaces, a fitness center and pool, and access to downtown destinations. The hotel consists of two buildings: the Marriott main tower, 450,000 square feet of space, and the historic Muehlebach Hotel, 291,000 square feet of space. With a rich history dating back to 1914, the Muehlebach hosted American icons, including Babe Ruth, Helen Keller, Frank Sinatra, and former presidents. Most notably, it was the site where President Truman signed legislation as part of his post-war Truman Doctrine. Today, the Marriott continues to have a lasting impact on Kansas City’s vibrant downtown. 

The Marriott team was recently challenged with its aging onsite chillers and cooling towers, which were at risk of failing and disrupting the hotel’s daily operations. Replacing the 30-year-old equipment would have been a logistically complex and costly endeavor, requiring either craning equipment to the roof or demolishing part of the building’s exterior to install new chillers on the fourth floor. Additionally, the condensing water pumps and associated piping were aging, further escalating the potential cost of upgrades. To avoid this expensive capital project and limit disruptions to the hotel’s ongoing operations, the Marriott team selected Vicinity’s chilled water as the new cooling solution. By choosing district energy, the hotel unlocked capital savings for other critical infrastructure investments, including more efficient chilled water pumps and controls.

The Kansas City Marriott Downtown maintains a long history of reliable service for its guests

For nearly four decades, the Kansas City Marriott Downtown has leveraged steam from Vicinity’s district energy network for heating and domestic hot water to keep guests comfortable in the cold winter months. Steam service is critical for the domestic hot water to instantaneously heat for large volumes of hot water for guests preparing for the day. It also serves the high demand of laundry service hot water to allow the hotel to efficiently turn over rooms with new linens. Additionally, in the hotel’s kitchens, food-grade steam is used in steam kettles and steam tables for food preparation. Expanding its district energy services to include chilled water is yet another way the hotel demonstrates its commitment to uninterrupted, reliable service for its guests. With redundant power and back-up generation, Vicinity helps the hotel provide reliable cooling to the hotel when its guests need it most. 

The Kansas City Marriott Downtown paves the way for a more sustainable future

Adding district chilled water represents a pivotal moment in the hotel’s journey toward greater sustainability. In fact, the hotel is making significant strides in reducing its onsite greenhouse gas emissions, avoiding an estimated 9 million pounds of carbon emissions by leveraging district energy rather than relying on onsite equipment powered by the electric grid. As Vicinity progresses its nationwide decarbonization strategy and integrates state-of-the-art technology to electrify its central facilities, the hotel will have the opportunity to further reduce its carbon footprint and impact on the planet. The Kansas City Marriott Downtown serves as a model for how buildings can balance historic preservation with modern energy solutions by leveraging district energy. 

Benefits