NATIONAL REPORT—Travelers want to relax and feel refreshed during every stay. Indoor air quality influences guest satisfaction scores and brand reputation. Boosting your hotel’s air quality goes beyond upgrading filters. Focusing on integrated design, material selection, and operational discipline will make guests feel comfortable and healthy. Upgrade Filtration & Monitoring High-performance filtration no longer qualifies as a luxury upgrade. Many operators now install MERV 13 or higher filters in guestrooms and common areas to capture fine particulates, including combustion-related pollutants common in urban markets. Real-time air quality monitoring has also moved from niche to mainstream. Smart sensors track CO2, PM2.5, and humidity...

Sustainability in hospitality has come a long way. Energy use, water savings, and green certifications are now standard parts of hotel development. But there’s one system that still surprisingly gets far less attention than it deserves. Often overlooked, yet one of the most influential systems affecting guest comfort, wellness, and energy performance is the in-room HVAC system. For most hotel guests, the room is where sustainability becomes personal. It’s where they sleep, breathe, and recover. And no matter how much lobbies and public spaces showcase a property’s green credentials, guests will remember (and will comment on) if the room is...

I typically only hear from attorneys by press release when there are cases of guests suing because of bed bugs or Legionnaires’ disease. This week I learned about two Legionnaires’ disease cases thanks to Pritzker Hageman, a national law firm with a Legionnaires’ disease practice. In the first case, Pritzker Hageman and a Las Vegas office led by attorney Raymond Trueblood initiated a lawsuit against two Las Vegas casino hotels: The Grandview and South Point Hotel Casino & Spa. The lawsuit arises from the wrongful death of a guest who contracted Legionnaires’ disease after staying at both properties in 2023. Legionnaires’ disease is a severe form of...

In hospitality environments, cleanliness is inseparable from comfort. While the visible cleanliness of fabrics (linens, towels, upholstery, and staff uniforms) often attracts the most attention, microscopic contaminants invisible to the naked eye may play a more important role for the health and wellbeing of guests and employees. Increasingly, hotels are recognizing that allergens and chemical residues in textiles can undermine indoor environmental quality and contribute to discomfort, particularly for individuals with asthma, allergies, or chemical sensitivities. Fabrics as an Allergen Reservoir Soft furnishings and textiles act as reservoirs for allergens such as dust mite debris, pet dander, and pollen. Through everyday...

ATLANTA—ASHRAE and the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) have approved a new two-year work plan titled “Life Cycle Refrigerant Management (LCRM)”, reinforcing their long-standing partnership to advance sustainable refrigerant practices worldwide. The plan was adopted during the 2026 ASHRAE Winter Conference in Las Vegas. As the refrigerating and air-conditioning (RAC) industry transitions to alternative refrigerants, comprehensive management across the full refrigerant life cycle, from production and installation to recovery, reuse and disposal, has become increasingly critical. Some legacy refrigerants can deplete the ozone layer if released, while certain alternatives introduced to replace them have high global warming potential (GWP). Effective life...

ODESSA, FLA.—Green Lodging News has added Next Step Flooring Solutions to the “Flooring/Mat” category of its Green Product & Service Directory. Next Step Flooring Solutions, now part of the T2 Site Amenities family, delivers commercial grade, custom designed mats proudly made in the USA. From branded entrance and lobby mats to durable elevator mats, the company provides tailored solutions for hotels, luxury apartments, mixed use developments, educational facilities, and office environments. There is no limit on logo, color, shape and size (including wrapping around revolving doors). Floor mats can contribute 1.5 points toward LEED certification. The backing on floor mats...

FAIRFIELD, CONN.—AtmosAir Solutions, an indoor air purification, sensor, and monitoring technology company, announced a partnership with Smartcon Solutions, which provides smart building solutions and integrated cloud software to improve energy efficiency and operational efficiencies for properties within the hospitality market. Together, this partnership will make buildings healthier, more energy efficient, and sustainable by combining AtmosAir Solutions patented bi-polar ionization (BPI) HVAC air purification and its 24/7 Awair real-time monitoring technology with NeuroCore, advanced building automation and energy management platform Smartcon is currently deploying at hotel properties nationwide. By integrating AtmosAir’s Awair, an innovative real-time sensor technology with NeuroCore, the collaboration aims...

NATIONAL REPORT—Commercial buildings depend on air handling units to deliver consistent airflow, regulate indoor conditions, and keep energy consumption manageable. For decades, a single, large centrifugal fan, or blower, was the standard choice. While effective in their time, these systems carry a significant drawback: a single point of failure. If that singular fan fails, the entire system can go offline, creating costly disruptions and forcing invasive repairs. Replacements often require structural modifications to the building just to move these massive fans in or out of the air handler, making projects long, expensive, and highly disruptive. Fan arrays were introduced in...

Who slept in your hotel room last night? Or sat at your dining room table? Were they sick? Whether you are staying for pleasure or business, getting sick while traveling stinks. In the hospitality industry, providing a safe, comfortable, and positive experience is key. While factors such as service quality, aesthetics, and amenities are commonly emphasized, indoor air quality (IAQ) is often overlooked despite its critical impact on guest satisfaction, staff well-being, and operational success. IAQ, an afterthought before the Covid pandemic, has increasingly become a priority in hospitality for health, wellness and sustainability. Major brands like Hilton, Marriot, Sheraton, and Hard...

At Boutique Design New York in November, I was introduced to Nextac, “the next evolution in PTAC and VTAC technology.” It was the Nextac PTAC unit that caught my eye primarily because of its size. It protrudes only 6 inches from the wall compared to a traditional PTAC with a 12-inch protrusion. According to Ephoca, the maker of Nextac PTACs/VTACs, its PTACs uses 75 percent less power while recovering up to 80 percent of exhaust heat. Nextac units were designed to reduce carbon emissions and meet evolving regulations. ThermaSleeve insulation prevents air leakage to boost performance and lower energy costs....