COLUMBIA, S.C.—“It just happened that way,” says Hema Patel, in regard to her company’s Holiday Inn & Suites Columbia-Airport opening on Earth Day 2010. Planned or not, it certainly was appropriate that the five-story, 122-room hotel opened on a day that recognizes the birth of the modern day environmental movement. The hotel, which is owned by Patel and her husband’s Capital Hospitality, LLC and operated by the couple’s Courtesy Management Inc. of Orangeburg, S.C., is expected to earn LEED Gold certification from the U.S. Green Building Council in early 2012. Patel says the intent initially was not to build...

CHICAGO—Cintas Corporation has released a complimentary white paper for hotels. The paper provides hotel owners and operators with critical information on how to maximize the appearance, quality, and longevity of assets such as tile and carpeting and air-conditioning (A/C) units through deep cleaning solutions. Offering an in-depth overview of the process—complete with statistics and testimonials—the white paper reveals how deep cleaning solutions improve guest satisfaction, audit scores and the bottom line. “Tile, carpeting and A/C units undergo a lot of wear and tear and are significantly expensive to replace,” said Todd McKeown, vice president of Hospitality, Cintas. “The white paper...

NIANTIC, CONN.—The Waikiki Beach Marriott Resort & Spa recently upgraded its guestroom temperature control system to a networked energy management system utilizing the Deep Mesh Network (DMN) architecture from INNCOM. Since the 1,310-room property converted to this wireless environment nearly eight months ago, energy consumption has dropped by 21 percent without requiring the 40-year-old facility to undergo an extensive or costly installation effort. “Over the past few years we have witnessed the need for a robust and reliable wireless architecture that is available at a lower installed price than traditional wireless systems, and that has the capability of adapting to...

MILWAUKEE, WIS.—Telkonet, Inc., developer of the EcoSmart energy management platform incorporating patented Recovery Time technology, announced that New York City’s Crowne Plaza Times Square Manhattan has become the latest hospitality leader to select Telkonet’s cloud-based EcoSmart energy management platform. This 770-room, full service hotel located on Broadway in Times Square is one of New York’s leading and most successful hotels.The Crowne Plaza Times Square selected PAC Consultants to deploy Telkonet’s EcoSmart System throughout the property to optimize guest comfort while reducing energy consumption and operating costs.“We installed a number of test rooms and Telkonet performed exceptionally well throughout the...

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C.—Verve Living Systems, developer of wireless, battery-less room controls and one of the brands of Masco Corporation, announced that they have signed a preferred vendor agreement with Hospitality International, a privately held company that has offered inexpensive franchising alternatives for hotel owners and developers since 1982. The new agreement establishes Verve Living Systems as the preferred supplier of energy saving room controls for Hospitality International’s franchisees. Hospitality International hotel brands include Red Carpet Inn, Passport Inn, Scottish Inns, Master Host Inns, and Downtowner Inns across the United States, Canada and the Bahamas. The network of 300 hotels will now...

ATLANTA—Atlanta Marriott Marquis has implemented several high-tech energy saving management systems. Beginning this month, all 1,569 guestrooms and 94 suites will feature a door switch and a motion detecting thermostat that are tied into the central energy management system server (EMS). Upon door switch activation, the motion detector looks for movement. Once movement is detected, the room goes into occupied mode and the guest has full control of the guestroom heating and cooling. When the door switch is activated upon the guest leaving the room, the motion detector automatically searches for movement and if none is detected, the temperature...

RYE BROOK, N.Y.—American DG Energy Inc., a leading on site utility offering clean electricity, heat, hot water and cooling solutions to hospitality, is now operating a 375 kW combined heat and power (CHP) system at Doral Arrowwood Hotel and Conference Center in Rye Brook, N.Y. The company estimates the total revenue from this project to be approximately $10 million over the term of the agreement. “As a premier hotel in Westchester County, N.Y., we are dedicated to providing our guests with the highest quality experience; we believe this includes delivering an eco-friendly approach our guests can feel good about,” said...

BRADENTON, FLA.—American ALDES is now working with the top hotel chains to implement highly effective strategies to save energy at existing properties by installing devices that automatically regulate ventilation systems to save energy and provide good indoor air quality. Many energy experts have reported the cost of ventilation systems in hotels as 4 percent, but the often overlooked real cost of ventilation is the load it places on heating and cooling systems. Energy saving programs often address the effects of energy waste rather than the cause. These tactics often focus on less consumption by improving the efficiency of the HVAC...

WASHINGTON, D.C.—WGL Holdings, Inc. announced its agreement to provide $30 million of project capital to Skyline Innovations for the financing and deployment of commercial-scale solar water heating systems in key markets nationwide. Skyline Innovations, based in Washington, D.C., finances, installs and maintains solar water heating systems. Customers have no upfront costs and receive guaranteed energy savings by keeping a fixed percentage of utility bill savings. The remainder of the savings is shared with Skyline. The Skyline “guaranteed energy savings” model enables customers to achieve both utility bill savings and environmental benefit without the burden of financial risk, eliminating a critical...

CINCINNATI—Cintas Corp. launched a nationwide air-conditioning (A/C) coil cleaning service called ChemTron Coil Cleaning by Cintas. The service enables hoteliers to lower energy bills, extend the life of air-conditioning units and improve indoor air quality, resulting in higher guest satisfaction scores.  “Air-conditioning units that are not properly maintained can lead to high energy bills, premature unit failure, odors, allergies and other health issues,” said Fred Wehby, senior director of Deep Clean Services, Cintas. “ChemTron Coil Cleaning by Cintas ensures that all units are properly cleaned to run at maximum efficiency. On average, hotel owners using the service achieve a 28...