With an inventory of more than 4,100 hotels and more than 600,000 guestrooms, it is incredibly important for the InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) to pay attention to its carbon impact. As of September 30, 2008, the company had 1,700 hotels in its pipeline. If those hotels were to open today, they would add another 243,000 guestrooms to the more than 600,000 currently open. IHG’s brand portfolio includes InterContinental Hotels & Resorts, Hotel Indigo, Crowne Plaza Hotels & Resorts, Holiday Inn Hotels and Resorts, Holiday Inn Express, Staybridge Suites and Candlewood Suites.
Recognizing its environmental impact and the potential for significant resource and cost savings, IHG has launched an internal program called “Green Engage.” It is Web-based software that will give representatives of IHG properties access to a 108-point checklist that will act as a guide for greening their hotels. The list does not include steps that require huge investments, but reasonable action steps hotel owners can take to rapidly reduce their energy and water consumption. I spoke with David Jerome, Senior Vice President Corporate Services & Corporate Responsibility for IHG, and he believes Green Engage eventually will help IHG hotel owners save at least $200 million.
Green Engage is currently in the testing phase, with several hotel owners participating. By the middle of this year, IHG intends to make the program available to all of its hotels. For franchisees the program will be optional but IHG’s 600 managed properties and its much smaller number of owned hotels will definitely participate. Of course IHG wants every hotel involved. What is great about Green Engage is that it is based on hard numbers. General managers will be asked to input monthly data pertaining to energy and water consumption, as well as waste generation. They can then benchmark their properties against other hotels and set demanding, but achievable reduction targets.
Metrics Worth Talking About
Green Engage will prompt owners and operators to start green teams, switch to green cleaning products, launch recycling programs, and much more. It will give each hotel the ammunition it needs to show meeting planners, corporate clients and leisure travelers that they are indeed taking the steps necessary to green their operations. “We will have a clear metric for telling people that we are green,” Jerome says. Here are few more reasons why Green Engage is a great idea:
• If the owner of a 150-room Holiday Inn wants to benchmark the energy performance of his hotel against another Holiday Inn of similar size, he can do it. If he discovers his hotel is using 50 percent more energy than the other property, he can see why and take immediate steps to stop the energy waste.
• Green Engage will help prepare hotels for the time when efficiency and carbon reporting are required by local, state or national governments.
• The program will give IHG the data it needs to create an internal awards program if it so desires—one recognizing hotels that strive to be the best in their brand.
• For those at IHG in franchise sales, Green Engage will be one more selling point. Being able to tell potential franchisees that a tool is already in place to help them reduce energy costs by up to 25 percent is a real plus.
• It will allow IHG to link energy performance data to occupancy data. Do you know your energy costs by room night? Water costs? Carbon impact? IHG will know this for each of its hotels.
• From an overall company marketing standpoint, it will position IHG as an environmental leader—an enterprise that is walking its talk, with hard numbers to prove it. Jerome says IHG is far from ready to be crowing about Green Engage, but the day will come when it will be able to.
To help make the rollout of Green Engage a success, IHG is providing an online training tool to support the system. “We want to make sure that every G.M. knows how to use this tool,” Jerome says.
Be sure to continue to visit Green Lodging News for updates on Green Engage.
Green Lodging News Adds Three Companies as Directory Partners
Green Lodging News welcomes three companies as Product & Service Directory partners: DryFast B2B, VASKA, and Dyson. DryFast B2B is the lodging industry’s No. 1 supplier of the DryFast Energy Saving Dryer Blanket. Inserted into the laundry dryer, the blanket can save 15 to 25 percent on energy costs and time drying laundry. Other benefits include: reduced wear on dryers and linen, faster linen turnaround, lower labor costs, and a smaller environmental footprint. For additional information, call (800) 713-3892, e-mail dryfastb2b@verizon.net, or go to www.dryfastb2b.com.
Dyson’s Airblade hand dryer wipes hands dry with a 400 mph sheet of air in just 12 seconds. It removes 99.9 percent of bacteria from the air used to dry hands. The Airblade contributes to LEED accreditation and is the recipient of the Green Excellence Award for North American hand dryers. When compared to paper towels, the Dyson Airblade offers operating cost savings of nearly 98 percent. It uses up to 80 percent less energy than other hand dryers. For additional information, call (800) DYSON-AB, e-mail airbladeinfo@dyson.com, or go to www.dysonairblade.com.
VASKA offers an “EPA Design for the Environment” approved laundry care product system. VASKA’s high-performance botanical solutions for laundry and housekeeping are all-natural, plant-based formulas and are used in LEED certified resorts and spas. VASKA saves money by eliminating unnecessary chemicals and by protecting fabrics. VASKA cleans in both cold and hot temperatures, and in either hard or soft water, so laundries can save on shortened cycles and water temperatures. For additional information, call (510) 644-2111, e-mail info@vaskaproducts.com, or go to www.vaskaproducts.com.
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If you are a supplier selling green products, be sure to call me at (440) 243-2055 to discuss your advertising plans for 2009. Several premium spots are currently available, including the top banner position on the website. A 2009 media kit is now available by request or by clicking here. Thank you to all of those companies that consistently support Green Lodging News.
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