With its LEED Green Building Program, the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) has certainly changed the way developers and architects approach hotel design and operations. Walking its talk, USGBC has made its new headquarters in Washington, D.C. a standing example of what to strive for. In fact, USGBC just announced that its headquarters has been awarded a prestigious triple Platinum certification in LEED, TRUE, and WELL. This trio of certifications reflects USGBC’s commitment to healthy, productive, sustainable, and responsible work environments. The headquarters, which also houses Green Business Certification, Inc. (GBCI), reflects the changing office landscape, with a clear emphasis on decarbonization, indoor environmental...

Boutique Design New York BDNY is less than two weeks away. It will be held November 12 to 13 at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center. The list of hundreds of exhibitors can be accessed by clicking here. Expect to find many products with a sustainability story. For example, this week I heard from Greenington, maker of fine bamboo furniture, and the sustainable, artisan-made kitchen & bath brand Native Trails. BDNY will also feature a slate of conference sessions focused on some aspect of green design. Those sessions include: Sunday, November 12 Making of a Designed Space: Designed by Nature NEWH Green...

How do Americans currently feel about tipping at hotels? A new survey by Forbes Advisor revealed that 22 percent of Americans do not think they should have to tip hotel employees. That is just one of the findings about tipping from the survey of 2,000 Americans by market research company OnePoll. Some additional findings: Sit-down restaurants is where people tip the most (58 percent). For hotel services: 24 percent. A vast majority of respondents (64 percent) reported leaving a tip at least 11 percent higher when they tip digitally compared with tipping in cash. It’s possible that buyers don’t feel the...

While high levels of tourism are welcomed by governing bodies of most nations due to the revenue it generates, local residents in tourist hotspots aren't so thrilled to have millions of globetrotters on their doorstep. In fact, some countries have had just enough that fines, taxes and bans have been put in place in a bid to discourage visitors. In a new study by MoneyTransfers.com, the most visited cities and countries in the world were compared with the resident population in each to find out where in the world residents are most outnumbered by tourists. The Most Over-Touristed Cities in the U.S. The United States boasts...

Is there a connection between ESG commitment and financial performance? A new study by Kroll, a leading independent provider of global risk and financial advisory solutions, says yes. The ESG and Global Investor Returns Study analyzed data on over 13,000 companies across a variety of industries around the globe and found that companies with better ESG ratings outperformed their peers with lower ratings. “The future of ESG and sustainability investing will depend on investor confidence in the reliability of ESG ratings and ESG disclosures, and their relevance as an indicator of public company performance,” says Carla Nunes, Managing Director and Global Leader of the Valuation...

It is not something that is common where I live in Florida but yesterday there was an air quality alert due to a cloud of Canadian wildfire smoke that drifted down my way. The smoke originated in British Columbia and Alberta. It traveled thousands of miles to Eastern Canada by circulating winds and then was dragged southward by the remnants of Ophelia, as the storm petered out in the Atlantic Ocean. Wildfire smoke is just one of many environmental factors that impact outdoor air quality, and indoor air quality (IAQ) as well. IAQ was on my mind recently when the Asthma...

A news item that I posted in our Vender News section caught my attention this morning. Spotnana, a Travel-as-a-Service platform modernizing the infrastructure of the travel industry, announced the release of Spotnana Carbon Removal, a new offering that enables corporations to remove carbon from the atmosphere through advanced technology that is fast, exact, and permanent. What technology? It is a system offered by Creturner Group, which uses a Bio Carbon Capture and Storage (Bio-CCS) process to convert wood-based waste products into coal that is deposited into old, end-of-life mining pits. This process ensures that a precise amount of carbon...

I have mentioned the Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC) many times on Green Lodging News. For those of you not familiar with GSTC, it establishes and manages global standards for sustainable travel and tourism, known as the GSTC Criteria. One need not be a certifying organization to join GSTC. In fact, the organization states, “Membership is open to all interested parties….” GSTC just welcomed Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts as a member to the Council. Founded in 1960 by Isadore Sharp, Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts is a globally renowned hospitality company specializing in luxury hotels, resorts, and residential properties, striving...

A new report published by the Law, Ethics and Animals Program at the Yale Law School (LEAP) and American Bird Conservancy (ABC) reveals how local laws and policies are speeding up protections for birds, such as the Blackpoll Warbler, from deadly building collisions. The first-of-its-kind report, “Building Safer Cities for Birds: How Cities Are Leading the Way on Bird-Friendly Building Policy,” unveils critical insights and data that will help inform building design standards to significantly reduce avian mortality. “A growing number of U.S. cities and counties have emerged as leaders in advancing bird-friendly building design and practice over the past two decades, in the absence of...

When was the last time you stayed at a hotel with a PTAC and noticed an extra air filtration cover over the PTAC? You most likely have not experienced this but at a trade show earlier in the year I discovered a company, RZ Industries, that makes an air purifying filter that attaches to the front of the PTAC. Called the RZ AIRflow, it improves the air quality of the guestroom by removing 99.7 percent of airborne particulates from inside and outside. The system uses carbon filters and a HEPA filter. There is no added noise when using the...