Home Publisher's Point of View With Addition of 1,375 Marriotts, GreenLeaders Program Gets Big Boost

With Addition of 1,375 Marriotts, GreenLeaders Program Gets Big Boost

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Less than 10 months after officially launching GreenLeaders, TripAdvisor can now call its green accommodations recognition program the largest one in the United States. GreenLeaders got a big boost this past week with the addition of 1,375 U.S. Marriott International properties in one fell swoop. That happened thanks to a partnership with Green Hotels Global, a system operated by The Carbon Accounting Co. Marriott uses Green Hotels Global, a system that provides metrics-based information on the environmental footprint of hotels, to track the footprint of its more than 3,000 global properties.

Ian Lipton, President and COO of The Carbon Accounting Co., and Jenny Rushmore, Director of Responsible Travel at TripAdvisor, began a discussion last fall that resulted in the global partnership. Both of their organizations were already collecting similar data and it made sense that they find a way to work together. Through the partnership, hotel properties—not just Marriotts—participating in Green Hotels Global’s environmental sustainability benchmarking tool will now be automatically screened against the rating criteria of GreenLeaders. Those properties meeting the minimum criteria will be enrolled in the program.

Within GreenLeaders there are four levels of participation—Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum. Green Hotels Global, TripAdvisor and Marriott will be working with those Marriott properties entering GreenLeaders to help them reach higher levels of recognition. Lipton says the approximately 300 non-Marriott properties currently using Green Hotels Global also have an opportunity to quickly become a GreenLeaders hotel.

Partnership Has Room to Grow

While there are questions or data points common to the Green Hotels Global and TripAdvisor GreenLeaders programs, Lipton told me his organization will be working with TripAdvisor to better synchronize even more of them.

The partnership is a big win in many ways for all of the companies involved. For The Carbon Accounting Co., it is tremendous industry exposure.

“It gets the data directly in the hands of leisure travelers,” Lipton said. “That is a distribution channel we have not been able to hit.”

For TripAdvisor, it elevates GreenLeaders to No. 1 U.S. green hotel program status, it provides an opportunity to reach many more travelers seeking green accommodations, and opens the door to adding many more Marriott hotels once it takes its GreenLeaders program international.

“Our objective is to try and make it much easier for travelers to book green trips,” said TripAdvisor’s Rushmore. “Getting as many hotels as possible is important. The scale enables us to better work with hotels that had been considering it.”

An Incentive to Do More

Denise Naguib, Vice President, Sustainability and Supplier Diversity for Marriott International, said the partnership is “fantastic” for Marriott, adding that prior to the partnership there were fewer than 200 Marriott hotels that were GreenLeaders.

“It incentivizes hotels to do more as they see the value of bringing their levels up,” Naguib said. “It will drive improvements.”

The travel industry is still waiting for TripAdvisor to go global with its GreenLeaders program. Rushmore said it is something the company is working on. At some point TripAdvisor also plans to post the more than 20,000 comments it already has gotten about GreenLeaders’ green activities. Rushmore told me those comments so far have been more than two-thirds positive.

Interestingly, when TripAdvisor released its Travelers’ Choice awards for hotels last month, the top five hotels in the United States were all GreenLeaders properties.

Green Lodging News Adds Garage Juice Bar, Mustard Seed as Directory Partners

Green Lodging News welcomes Garage Juice Bar and The Mustard Seed of Central Florida as Green Product & Service Directory partners. The Juice Bar Electric Vehicle Charger and Green Garage Oasis Amenity Center are an upscale, sustainable branded experience and environment for electric vehicle driving guests and visitors to upscale hotels and resorts. Juice Bar EV charging stations are available as a Juice Bar Double, which includes one Level 2 plug and one Level 1 plug, and as a Juice Bar Quad, which includes two Level 2 plugs and 2 Level 1 plugs. Juice Bar’s premium product can charge up to four cars at the same time. Garage Juice Bar offers a shared savings program, a lease-to-purchase program and a purchase program. Garage Juice Bar has a large LED lit branding surface where hotel owners can add their own sustainability message and brand or a sponsor’s advertisement. Call (860) 308-2054, ext. 103, e-mail paul.young@freejuicebar.com, or go to www.freejuicebar.com for more information.

Since 2011, The Mustard Seed Recycle program has deconstructed more than 120,000 mattresses, saving more than 720,000 cubic yards of landfill space, reducing dump expenses and protecting the environment. This recycling produced bales of toppers, foam, shredable metal and mulched wood generating income to fund the furniture and clothing program. The Mustard Seed is the only furniture and clothing bank in Central Florida. Call (407) 875-2040, ext. 113 to get a quote for recycling mattresses and box springs. You may also contact kathy@mustardseedfla.org, or go to www.mustardseedfla.org for more information.

Who is Your Sustainability Champion?

Green Lodging News is always looking to profile sustainability champions in our Personnel Profile section. If you would like to nominate someone for this section of Green Lodging News, contact me at (216) 848-1406, or by e-mail at editor@greenlodgingnews.com.

Looking for Guest Columnists

Every two weeks Green Lodging News posts a new guest column on its website. (Click here for examples.) The guest column also appears in the weekly e-newsletter. Green Lodging News is currently in need of industry experts to contribute occasional guest columns. Experts may include consultants, architects, designers, suppliers and those who own or operate green lodging establishments. Columns may be articles that take a stance on a particular subject or be strictly educational in nature. Columnists benefit by having their photo included along with a one paragraph description of their company. Interested in writing a column? Contact Glenn Hasek, publisher and editor, at (216) 848-1406, or by e-mail at editor@greenlodgingnews.com.

Planning Advertising for 2014?

Green Lodging News is accepting reservations for advertising spots for 2014. Many excellent spots are available on the website and in the weekly e-mail newsletter. Many Green Supplier Spotlight dates are also available. Interested in receiving a 2014 media kit? Be sure to contact me as soon as possible at (216) 848-1406, or by e-mail at editor@greenlodgingnews.com. Media kits can also be accessed by clicking here. Thank you to all of those companies that consistently support Green Lodging News.

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As always, I can be reached at editor@greenlodgingnews.com.

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