Name: Michelle R. Veasey
Title: Sustainable Lodging & Restaurant Program Manager
Organization: New Hampshire Lodging & Restaurant Assn. (NHL&RA)
Years with NHL&RA: Six
Primary responsibilities: “I promote the [New Hampshire Sustainable Lodging & Restaurant Program] and its members. I certify new members and recertify existing members. At the Environmental Champion level, it involves going to the property. I am responsible for the education arm of the program.”
Organization’s most significant environment-related accomplishment so far: “The most significant has been getting a lot of the larger facilities to get involved in composting. Energy is an easy sell. Composting is the most significant challenge but very rewarding. In Portsmouth, hotels have gotten involved in composting.”
Organization’s most significant environment-related challenge: “We are trying to reach out more to restaurants in the state. We think it’s important to get people more focused on local foods.”
CONCORD, N.H.—By population, New Hampshire may be one of the smaller states in the country but its Sustainable Lodging & Restaurant Program is one of the nation’s strongest—due largely to the work of Michelle Veasey, Sustainable Lodging & Restaurant Program manager. Veasey, who has a Master’s in Environmental Education from the University of New Hampshire, has been leading New Hampshire’s state program for the last six years.
Veasey is employed by the New Hampshire Lodging & Restaurant Assn. (NHLRA) and is the person who first got New Hampshire’s program up and running. The program now has 92 businesses participating, a dozen of which are restaurants. Businesses can participate at three different levels: Endorsing Partner, Environmental Partner, and Environmental Champion.
Endorsing Partners commit to evaluating at least one initiative in each focus area. Environmental Partners achieve 100 points through implementation of sustainable initiatives defined in the NHLRA self-certification booklet, and Environmental Champions earn at least 150 points. Endorsing Partners are not audited. Environmental Partners are audited by phone or by random on-site audit, and Environmental Champions all undergo on-site audits.
Important Change in 2010
As part of the Sustainable Lodging & Restaurant Program application process, participants are asked questions pertaining to energy efficiency, education, water conservation, landscaping and waste reduction. Veasey says the program is always evolving. In 2010, participating lodging properties began tracking yearly savings and reductions in environmental impact connected to program participation. Maine, with its Green Lodging Certification Program, was the first to do this. This year, participating restaurants will begin to track savings.
Like other states that have green lodging programs, funding is constantly a challenge. Veasey says, however, that New Hampshire is fortunate to have received support through grants from the EPA and USDA, and through corporate sponsorships. Participants in the Sustainable Lodging & Restaurant Program pay no fee.
For businesses participating in the Sustainable Lodging & Restaurant Program, the advantages are many. “Even just going through the application process, participants get a lot of ideas,” Veasey says. There are also marketing advantages. Travelocity, for example, lists program participants on its Green Hotel Directory.
For those states that do not yet have their own green lodging program, it is a missed opportunity to reach out to businesses in a positive way, Veasey says. It is also a missed opportunity to market to tourists coming to the United States—from regions such as Europe, for example.
Important Advice for States
Veasey offered some advice to those states considering a statewide green lodging program.
“It is hard to approach this from a fee from application,” she says. “You will only attract hotels with deep pockets. Make sure it is structured so the little guys can get involved. Make sure your focus is business oriented and explain what the business benefits of participating are.”
In addition to managing the certification process for the Sustainable Lodging & Restaurant Program, Veasey also organizes the annual New England Eco-Hospitality Expo and a regional green hospitality event, conducts webinars, and publishes an e-newsletter.
Earlier in her career, Veasey worked in software development for almost 20 years. An event in her personal life prompted her to transition to work in environmental education. Six years into her job as Sustainable Lodging & Restaurant Program manager, Veasey has already had a significant positive impact—not only on the hospitality industry in New Hampshire but the entire New England area as well.
Click here for more information on the Sustainable Lodging & Restaurant Program.
Glenn Hasek can be reached at editor@greenlodgingnews.com.
