EAST LONGMEADOW, MASS.—XLERATOR high-speed, energy-efficient hand dryers are now available with ADA compliant stainless steel paper towel dispenser retrofit kits. The new kits provide a simple, cost-effective solution for replacing built-in paper towel dispensers with XLERATOR hand dryers. A stainless steel panel allows the dryers to mount where dispensers existed. XLERATOR completely dries hands in 10 to 15 seconds—three times faster than conventional dryers. It uses 80 percent less energy and delivers a 95 percent cost savings versus paper towels, while creating a more hygienic restroom. “XLERATOR hand dryers and retrofit kits are being specified by facility managers who are...

CLEVELAND, OHIO—Low Cost Janitorial Supplies has launched a new section on its website exclusively devoted to 700 green products and supplies. All products are identified with an Enviro-conscious logo, meaning they do not contain hazardous solvents, utilize recycled materials, incorporate recyclable components, or otherwise reduce the impact on the environment. As the company offers more than 4,000 products, finding the environmentally-conscious options could take extra time. According to company president Scott Hays, “We wanted to make it easy for customers to find green products without hunting through dozens of other items.” The company’s green products meet various third-party environmental standards, such...

NIANTIC, CONN.—When the Bardessono Hotel in Yountville, Calif., deployed the Room Expeditor (REX) tool from MTech in March 2009, it became the first property in the world to equip its room attendants with an iPod Touch to instruct them on which is the next most important “vacant” room to clean, based on a collection of variables. Today, the 62-room luxury property, managed by MTM Luxury Lodging, is first once again to benefit from streamlined technology integration between MTech’s REX and INNCOM’s Integrated Room Automaton System (IRAS) that now alerts staff when stay-over rooms also are ready to be refreshed. “Being...

When it comes to many of the more general cleaning tasks that hotel housekeepers perform every day, transferring to a green cleaning system may be as easy as simply selecting environmentally preferable cleaning products. While housekeepers may also need to be trained on how to use the green products, for the most part using many green cleaning chemicals is not that much different from using conventional products…it’s just that the green ones are healthier. However, that is not necessarily true when it comes to floor care. Although great strides have been made in developing green floor care chemicals such as...

CINCINNATI—Procter & Gamble Professional, a division of Procter & Gamble, announced the launch of the P&G ProLine Floor Care System, a product lineup of floor care solutions formulated to work together. The P&G ProLine Floor Care System features a low-odor floor finish stripper, seven new floor finishes and neutral-impact cleaners. P&G Professional’s latest innovation also features EPA Designed for the Environment (DfE)-certified floor finish and cleaner, which exceed Green Seal’s GS-40 standards for industrial and institutional use. “Finished floors and floor care maintenance are a major investment for many businesses and commercial cleaning contractors,” said Matt Koloseike, North America Marketing,...

The United States and much of the world, for that matter, have had so many pressing issues to deal with that one—possibly the most important one—keeps getting pushed under the carpet, so to speak. That is water. It’s a green issue, a life issue, a business issue—an issue that will impact hotels and hospitality facilities throughout the world and one we are all going to have to deal with eventually. Consider the following: • According to the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a U.S. think tank, water is a growing concern that is set to become the world economy’s single most...

CLEVELAND, OHIO—Hasek Communications, the Cleveland, Ohio-based publisher of Green Lodging News, welcomes USBedBugs.com as a Green Product & Service Directory partner. The company offers a growing assortment of pesticide-free bed bug protection and prevention products. Solutions include the following: mattress encasements; monitors, traps and barriers; dissolvable laundry bags; the PackTite portable heating unit, used to heat treat non-washable items in an infested guestroom; mattress disposal bags; dry vapor steam cleaners; luggage encasements; bed bug spray; sofa/couch encasements; and bed bug books and information guides. For more information, e-mail info@usbedbugs.com, call (888) 587-2332, or go to www.usbedbugs.com.

WEST CHICAGO, ILL.—Tornado Industries, a leading manufacturer of professional cleaning equipment, has prepared a special bed bug newsletter and white paper to be distributed this month. The newsletter and white paper are designed to help clarify why the bed bug problem has resurfaced in the United States after being dormant for so many years.   More important, the white paper addresses ways cleaning professionals can help eradicate bed bugs, employing ways that have less impact on the environment. It was written by Michael Schaffer, a senior executive with Tacony’s commercial floor care division and president of Tornado Industries. “This is an...

MIAMI—MTech has extended support for the mobile version of its popular HotSOS solution, H2GO, to Android, the new mobile operating system powered by Google. H2GO responds, creates and maintains work orders efficiently and accurately via any Android mobile device. “As the Android platform continues to grow in popularity, we acted quickly to provide options to its user base,” said Luis Segredo, MTech founder and president. “Today, HotSOS has gone mobile and it’s spicing up service across the globe via the most popular wireless platforms.” HotSOS (pronounced Hot Sauce), MTech’s Hotel Service Optimization System, enables lodging and gaming operations to reduce...

BUFFALO, N.Y.—From 2004 to 2009, PURE Solutions installed innovative “PURE allergy-friendly” rooms in 40 top hotels. In 2010, consumer acceptance and business innovation quadrupled these rooms to 5,000 rooms in 200 hotels worldwide. Hyatt, Hilton, Doubletree, Marriott, Wyndham, Fairmont, Westin, Sheraton, Residence Inn, Embassy Suites, NYLO, and Radisson now offer PURE rooms. PURE is available in hotels in 32 U.S. states and internationally in China, Taiwan, India, Australia, Greece, Malaysia, Aruba, Canada, Caribbean and Puerto Rico. PURE Solutions’ aggressive growth in a difficult economy can be attributed to developing a creative way to help hoteliers provide these badly needed rooms...