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6/14/2013
One down and 49 more to go could soon turn into three down and 47 more to go. What I am referring to is efforts in the 50 states to create statewide recycling programs for used mattresses. As reported here on Green Lodging News, earlier this year Connecticut passed legislation to create the infrastructure for a mattress recycling program. Late last month, California’s State Senate approved SB 254, a bill which would create the same. Assembly hearings on that legislation, according to Ryan Trainer, president, International Sleep Products Assn. (ISPA), are expected to begin early next month. In Rhode Island, a bill similar to Connecticut’s is expected to be considered by the Rhode Island Senate in the next couple of months. This is all good news for the lodging industry.
6/7/2013
Several weeks ago, while in Las Vegas just prior to HD Expo, I had an opportunity to tour around The Palazzo Resort-Hotel-Casino. My guide was Jenny Yu, director, Global Sustainability for Las Vegas Sands Corp. I wrote about part of that tour in an entry on my blog. If you have never been to the complex that includes The Palazzo, The Venetian, and Sands Expo, I highly recommend it. The site features the largest hotel site solar thermal installation in the United States and other very unique green design and operational features. During a tour of one of the guestrooms at The Palazzo, Jenny told me about the very lengthy process her team went through to select the LED lighting for the guestrooms. I was pretty amazed and would love to know if your property or company has done something similar. I spoke with Jenny again this past week.
5/31/2013
Every now and then I get invited to join other journalists on a press trip sponsored by a hotel company or management company. I have had some memorable trips in my almost 20 years in lodging journalism. These types of trips include property tours, good food, trips to nearby attractions, and opportunities to do things one typically never would have a chance to do on one’s own—rafting down the Colorado River, zip lining, etc. On such trips, there is always an opportunity to chat with industry leaders who work either at the corporate office or individual property level. Putting together a successful press tour is a lot of work and takes a team effort. Whether you run a green establishment or not, press tours can help create media buzz surrounding a property.
5/24/2013
There really is no such thing as a nonsmoking room in a hotel that allows smoking in some of its rooms. Hoteliers who promote guestrooms as nonsmoking rooms in hotels that allow smoking in some areas are deceiving their guests—whether intentionally or not—into thinking they are sleeping in healthy spaces. And, any green lodging or green building certification program that makes room for properties with smoking rooms need to stop, push the restart button, and no longer accept them. Strong words? In case you missed the article that was posted on our website, research conducted by San Diego University and published online in Tobacco Control found strong evidence of third-hand smoke in the nonsmoking rooms of hotels that allocate some rooms as smoking rooms.
5/19/2013
A towel cabinet with a discreetly placed sensor that lets your housekeepers know whether or not towels were touched by a guest—saving you from washing unused towels. Shower curtains and liners made from recycled polyethylene terephthalate. Amenity dispensers that can be imprinted with any photo or image you wish. Architectural hardware made with antimicrobial bronze. Bed frames made from recycled railroad t-rail. Automatic sensor-based faucets with the look of luxury. A mattress company with its own mattress and foundation recycling program. These are just some of the unique innovations I came across last week while walking the floor of the Hospitality Design Expo in Las Vegas. As with other HD Expos I have attended, this year’s show was filled with FF&E with green features.
5/10/2013
Let’s be honest: If you have a bar or multiple bars at your place of business, do you automatically give straws to patrons, knowing that they will drink more—and ultimately buy more—because they drink through a straw (instead of sipping away without one)? What about elsewhere in your foodservice establishment? Do you also automatically give straws to guests? What ultimately happens to those straws that are most likely made of plastic? I suspect the local landfill is their ultimate destination. I had not thought about straw waste until I learned about the efforts of Milo Cress, an 11-year-old from Boulder, Colo. I spoke with Milo recently and was very impressed by his passion, knowledge and energy. If I turn on the news one day and he is shaking hands with the president, I would not be surprised at all.
5/3/2013
In coming years, will folks look back on 2013 as the year that interest in sustainability exploded in our industry? I have to wonder. What signs lead me to speculate? I see it with my own publication website which from January to April jumped from a little more than 19,000 different visitors to almost 29,000. There has been a noticeable jump in the volume of press releases that hit my in-box in recent months. It is a challenge to sift through it all. There appears to be no letup in interest in green certification with Green Key Global recently announcing that it had signed up its 3,000th property. TripAdvisor officially rolled out its GreenLeaders recognition program two weeks ago with more than 1,000 U.S. lodging establishments already participating. Don’t be surprised if TripAdvisor quickly passes Green Key.
4/26/2013
A number of companies made big announcements this past week—appropriate given that April 22 was Earth Day. You can read about the announcements on the Green Lodging News website in the News & Features section. The biggest announcement, however, was the official launch of TripAdvisor’s GreenLeaders program. It was just a little less than two months ago that TripAdvisor advised our industry that it would soon launch its green accommodation recognition program. “We were really pleased to launch on Earth Day,” said Jenny Rushmore, director of responsible travel at TripAdvisor. “We have had a great response from hotels.” Already, more than 1,000 lodging establishments have received recognition in the program that enables them to reach one of four levels on the TripAdvisor website.
4/19/2013
Almost every week I receive a press release from someone in our industry touting the recent installation of an electric vehicle charging station or multiple stations. While electric vehicles are still too expensive to purchase for most people, they can be very cost-effective to lease or rent. One hotelier I know dropped her monthly gasoline costs from $500 to $60 by driving a leased Chevy Volt. (The Volt is a plug-in hybrid.) Fortunately, the infrastructure to support electric vehicles is growing. Charging stations are becoming more common not only at hotels and resorts but also at auto dealerships and other businesses. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, there are now 5,734 electric stations in the United States (excluding private stations). In Orlando, there is an effort under way called Drive Electric Orlando.
4/12/2013
There was big news announced at this past week’s Green Meeting Industry Council Sustainable Meetings Conference in Chicago. After years in development, the final standard of the nine APEX/ASTM Environmentally Sustainable Meetings Standards—the one focusing on accommodations—has been published and is available for purchase. The long name for the standard is, “E2772-13 Standard Specification for Evaluation and Selection of Accommodations for Environmentally Sustainable Meetings, Events, Trade Shows, and Conferences.” If your property hosts meetings, you definitely need to become familiar with the standard. As mentioned previously on Green Lodging News, a lodging or other meeting destination can now be certified to an ASTM standard.
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