Green Lodging News, as a publication name, works. I am biased, of course, but it is not a name that I spent hours or days thinking about. And, I certainly did not need to hire a consultant to come up with it. Green Lodging News is about as basic as you can get. I suspect a reader does not think about anything other than environmental industry news when reading it or hearing it. It is simple without being misleading or causing any confusion; it is what it is.
Names take time to establish. That is why companies spend money on public relations campaigns—to build brand recognition. Companies advertise later to support their brand names. We know a name works when it creates an immediate, positive impression. If, after reading a name you have no idea what that company is selling, the company probably has not done a good job marketing itself.
In the more than a year that I have been working on my new publication, I have come across hundreds of names of “green” companies, hotels, associations and products. Of course many of them include “eco” or “environment” in their names; many others do not. Here are a few of the names that I believe are the best.
• Krystal Air Inn & Suites—This hotel truly knows how to brand the fact that it is a nonsmoking hotel.
• Green Suites International—Chop off the word “International” and this name could easily be the name of a successful hotel franchise.
• FreshStay—Just like Green Suites, this brand name could easily sell hotel rooms. After being in several hotels where my stay was not so “fresh,” I would pull off the highway in a heartbeat to stay at a hotel with this name.
• Project Planet—I don’t know why, but when I hear this name, I immediately want to save the world or at least look up in the sky for Superman.
• The Gaia Hotel—A great name but all I can think of when hearing it is that there had better be granola in the solar-powered minibar.
One of the most interesting name patterns I have uncovered involves the word “logic.” Here are four examples:
• EcoLogic Solutions is the name of a company that sells cleaning products.
• Ecolab Inc. has a product line called EcoLogic.
• Xanterra Parks & Resorts’ companywide environmental program is called Ecologix.
• Enodis recently launched an environmental program called EnerLogic.
As the green movement continues to grow in the face of mounting energy costs and other concerns, it is likely we will continue to see creative and not so creative environmental name examples. Do not be surprised at all if a major hotel company introduces a green brand in the next few years. It would all seem very logical to me.
Glenn Hasek can be reached at greenlodgingnews@aol.com.
