MERRILLVILLE, IND.—White Lodging recently announced that the Marriott in downtown Indianapolis has been named a Certified Green Hotel. The Green Seal Certification was bestowed upon the hotel by the Washington, D.C. based nonprofit Green Seal.
“We are the first hotel in Indiana to be recognized by Green Seal and only the third Marriott hotel in the nation,” said Phil Ray, the property’s general manager. “This is truly an honor.”
The Green Seal Standard for Hotels and Lodging Properties (GS-33) is one of the most stringent environmental standards in the hospitality industry. In order to receive GS-33 certification, the Marriott Indianapolis Downtown had to meet and adhere to guidelines that included requirements in waste management, energy efficiency, water conservation, wastewater management and green procurement. Green Seal conducted an on-site audit of the hotel and Ray and his staff must submit to annual monitoring to ensure the hotel’s continued compliance.
“To achieve our green status, we examined all we were doing in the hotel and made some adjustments that are more eco-friendly,” Ray said. “We have 622 guestrooms and suites, so we go through a lot of laundry. We’ve instituted a program for towels and sheets—asking guests to reuse their linens if possible.” Ray said the Marriott Downtown Indianapolis is also using non-toxic or less toxic cleaners and sanitizers, and that they’ve converted to LED lighting and their light bulbs to energy efficient compact fluorescents.
Green Seal was founded in 1989 and provides science-based environmental certification standards.
Go to Green Seal.
