CHICAGO—Reiterating his passion for clean hotels, Anthony Melchiorri, hotel restoration expert, has endorsed Cintas Corporation’s hotel cleanliness systems. Given that guest satisfaction within hospitality has recently declined—down seven index points from last year according to the J.D. Power and Associates 2012 North America Hotel Guest Satisfaction Index Study—Melchiorri points to the importance of using professional services such as tile and carpet cleaning and A/C cleaning to help deliver positive guest experiences. “One of the biggest and most basic expectations of any hotel guest is that their hotel is clean and smells nice,” said Melchiorri. “However, when I’m traveling around...

TOLEDO, OHIO—Betco Corp. announces its new Symplicity Green Earth Pot & Pan Detergent and Symplicity Sanibet Multi-Range Sanitizer. Betco's Symplicity Green Earth Pot & Pan Detergent is a solid non-phosphate machine detergent which removes heavy food soils over a wide range of water conditions in both high and low temperature dish machines. Its soil suspension agents and water conditioners combat challenging water conditions and promote free and complete rinsing at the same time, preventing lime deposits on dish machine interiors.Betco's Symplicity Green Earth Pot & Pan Detergent is recognized by the EPA’s Design for the Environment (DfE) program as...

CLEVELAND, OHIO—Hasek Communications, the Cleveland, Ohio-based publisher of Green Lodging News, welcomes Dream Green Services as a Green Product & Service Directory partner. Dream Green Services provides air conditioner cleaning, installation and repair services. The company specializes in Packaged Terminal Air Conditioners (PTACs). The company has provided services for major brands including La Quinta, Motel 6/Studio 6, and Marriott International. A single annual cleaning with the company’s unique process could extend the life of PTAC units another three to five years. Also, an annual cleaning can decrease one’s electric bill up to 6 percent per month.For more information, e-mail...

NATIONAL REPORT—Aside from mattress protectors, heat, steam and freezing, which have been reported on here at Green Lodging News, there are many other eco-friendly ways to address bed bugs—either from a detection or treatment standpoint. It is a challenge keeping up with the number of products available, especially those that do not involve toxic chemicals that can put employees and guests at risk, but with some investigation and comparison, one can find green solutions that work.Using detection devices can help find bed bugs early and help minimize or even eliminate the use of chemicals down the road—something many hoteliers...

PETERBOROUGH, ONTARIO—Enviro-Solutions, a manufacturer of green cleaning products, announces the beginning of an ongoing feature on its Facebook site called “Ask Mike…About Green Cleaning.”The idea for the new feature came about as a result of questions posted on another social media site the company runs—Enviro-Solutions and Customers—which is a members-only site on LinkedIn.“We found we were receiving quite a few questions about green cleaning,” says Mike Sawchuk, vice president and general manager of Enviro-Solutions. “Because of this, we decided to open this up to more people and put it on Facebook.”One of the most common questions that Sawchuk thought...

LONGBOAT KEY, FLA.—Longboat Key Club & Resort, a strong proponent of green hospitality, has taken its commitment one step farther with the implementation of green golf course technology as standard procedures for their golf course maintenance programs.Long before “green” became the industry buzzword it is today, Longboat Key Club & Resort was well on its way to identifying sustainable and energy saving initiatives that have been widely implemented throughout the resort. When the focus turned to refurbishing their golf courses, they relied on the expertise of John Reilly, director of agronomy, to find a system that would accomplish the...

SAN LUIS OBISPO, CALIF.—Now available for iPhones and iPads, the new iTunes App from ClearWater Tech greets users with a sliding bar calculator. On the far left side, it shows the yearly savings a ClearWater ozone system can produce for a 10,000-gallon capacity pool. Slide the bar to the right and the user sees the amount of yearly savings go up correspondingly as the capacity of the pool grows to 80,000 gallons. As to the savings, the App’s calculator shows that they can range from $300 to $2,400 a year depending on the size of the pool. The App...

ST. PAUL, MINN.—Ecolab Inc. introduces a new line of bio-based hard surface cleaners that deliver effective cleaning performance and are USDA BioPreferred and Green Seal certified. Designed for lodging, commercial and facility operations, Ecolab’s bio-based facility care solutions are made from plant-derived natural resources and designed to remove soils from hard surfaces safely and effectively. The full product line includes a Peroxide Multi-Surface Cleaner, Glass Cleaner, Acid Bathroom Cleaner and Neutral Bathroom Cleaner. “Ecolab’s new line of bio-based hard surface cleaners were designed to deliver effective cleaning performance with staff interactions in mind and do not require personal protective equipment...

NATIONAL REPORT—Lodging owners are increasingly turning to service companies to handle the cleaning and maintenance of their packaged terminal air conditioners (PTACs). Benefits include increased air flow and energy efficiency, improved indoor air quality within the guestroom, elimination of unpleasant odors, fewer breakdowns, the extension of the life of the PTACs by as much as three to five years, cost savings, and peace of mind knowing that the job has indeed been done. A few of the companies that now offer cleaning and maintenance services throughout the United States include Cintas Corp., Dream Green Services, LLC, and Fibercare. These...

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Green Seal announced that PortionPac Chemical Corporation’s Pot & Pan Detergent and NeutraPac Floor Neutralizer have achieved certification as the first Green Seal-certified specialty cleaning products on the market. Meeting the GS-53 standard (Specialty Cleaning Products for Industrial and Institutional Use) means that these products meet strict environmental criteria and perform as well or better than others in their class. “We applaud PortionPac for developing new products that meet the stringent requirements of the GS-53 standard,” said Arthur Weissman, Ph.D., president and CEO of Green Seal. “PortionPac’s continued leadership in sustainability is an inspiration for the entire industry.” Green Seal’s holistic...