news & features

9/2/2010

AH&LA’s 2010 Lodging Survey Covers Many Green Subject Areas

NATIONAL REPORT—The American Hotel & Lodging Association is about to release the results of its 2010 Lodging Survey. Green Lodging News was provided with a copy of the survey results prior to the survey’s official release. The survey, which is conducted approximately every two years, was funded by the American Hotel & Lodging Educational Foundation and prepared by Smith Travel Research. A total of 48,954 hotels were polled. The response rate was 18 percent (more than 8,500 participants). The survey report covers 14 green-related areas: Allergy-Free Rooms, Air Purifiers, Liquid Soap Dispensers, Linen/Towel Reuse Program, Energy Management Sensors in Room, Recycling Program, Energy Efficient Lighting, Water Saving Program, Digital Energy Management System, Green Certification, Hotels with Vegetarian Menu Choices, 100 Percent Nonsmoking, Plan to Incorporate LEED, and Incorporated LEED in Renovations. According to the survey, 38 percent of responding hotels now offer allergy-free rooms (up from 24 percent in 2008). The category of hotels most likely to offer allergy-free rooms: luxury, with 66 percent of hotels in that segment indicating they offer them.

@greenlodging tweets

“Just posted a summary of the green findings from the AH&LA's 2010 Lodging Survey. GLN is the first media outlet to have the information.”

5 hours ago
featured vendor video
Fuel Cell Energy - For Hotels
Drastically Reduce Utility Costs, Emissions

Length: 7:55

Our ClearEdge 5 energy system generates both electricity
and heat, for less!

publisher's point of view
Lake Tahoe in August: Not a Bad Place to Be

This past week I had an opportunity to attend the inaugural West Coast Green Lodging Conference. It was held at the Embassy Suites Lake Tahoe—Hotel & Ski Resort. While attendance could have been greater—it was about 80 (not too bad for a first time event)—the quality of the speaker lineup was impressive. Kudos to the organizers at the Embassy Suites—David Hansen, chief engineer, and Bill Cottrill, director of sales and marketing, as well as yourmeetingpro.com’s Laura Bohannon and Diana Bolton, for planning such a successful event. David Hansen told me his team will be meeting this week to plan for next year’s event.

guest column
Getting E-waste Right

We are getting the little things right. We dutifully recycle plastic bottles. We’ve started bringing reusable bags to grocery stores. We even cut those plastic six-pack rings like the old public service announcements used to tell us to do. More and more, consumers are making environmentally responsible decisions. Why, then, are we still failing on some of the bigger things? In this case, our desire for new bigger things might be the source of the problem. In the past decade, televisions have grown bigger, then flatter, then bigger again. The emphasis is on the new: buy now, because your old television is clearly, decidedly obsolete.

featured product
ADVERTISEMENT
Environmentally Friendly Solid Woods and Recycled Metals

Impact Enterprises strengthens its environmental initiative by offering more creative designs in its solid wood products and recycled metal products. Live Nation Entertainment, Paramount Pictures, U.S. Military, Orange County Choppers, and other internationally recognized corporate names have extended their environmental initiatives to include the purchasing of Information & Product Packaging needs in ‘Green’ materials. Let Impact suggest creative ideas for your Menu covers and Guest Services Directory covers. Call (866) 370-0340. Go to www.impactenterprises.com.

green hotel focus
Mansion House’s Geothermal System Relies on Groundwater Below the Inn

VINEYARD HAVEN, MASS.—Until this summer, the 16,000 gallons of groundwater that runs below the Mansion House Inn, Health Club & Spa was a nuisance. Because the inn’s subbasement sits in the middle of the groundwater, the water constantly had to be pumped away to protect the structure. Now, the water is an asset. How so? It stores energy not only from the sun above the inn but also energy pumped into it via a sophisticated geothermal heat pump system. For Sherman and Susan Goldstein, the inn’s owners, realizing the water’s potential was like striking gold.

upcoming events
Sep
08
Ecotourism and Sustainable Tourism Conference 2010
Portland, Ore.

Wednesday, September 08, 2010

Sep
10
Florida Restaurant and Lodging Show
Orange County Convention Center, Orlando

Friday, September 10, 2010

Sep
13
Hospitality Design Boutique Exposition & Conference
Miami Beach Convention Center

Monday, September 13, 2010

personnel profile
One Word to Describe Peter Cooke’s Impact on State Green Certification Programs: ‘Measurable’

PORTLAND, MAINE—If imitation is the greatest form of flattery, Peter Cooke has good reason to be pleased with his work with Maine’s Department of Environmental Protection. In creating their own state green lodging certification programs, at least seven states and two cities have borrowed from the Maine Green Lodging Certification Program that Cooke runs. What makes Maine’s program attractive is its simplicity—it is points based—and the fact that so much research has gone into developing the criteria for inclusion. Maine is also the only state green lodging certification program in the United States to actually measure yearly savings and reductions in environmental impact connected to program participation.

blog post
Clean the World Needs Your Support in its Push for Pepsi Grant
11 hours ago

Clean the World, an Orlando, Fla.-based organization focused on collecting partially used soap and shampoo for those in need, is in the hunt for a $25,000 grant through the Pepsi Refresh Everything project. How can you help? Click here to cast your vote. You can also text 101319 to Pepsi (73774) one time a day. I do not typically endorse organizations here at Green Lodging News but I have been impressed with the work of Clean the World since their start last year. They are a perfect match for the lodging industry. Through their soap and shampoo collection efforts, they are reducing the volume of waste sent to landfills.

Home|Privacy Policy|Terms of Use|Advertising/Media Kit|RSS|Contact Us
Copyright ©2010 Green Lodging News. All Rights Reserved. Green Lodging News is a Hasek Communications L.L.C. publication.