PITTSBURGH—Fairmont Hotels & Resorts announced the opening of the Fairmont Pittsburgh, the city’s first premier luxury hotel. Featuring 185 guestrooms, 12,000 square feet of event space and a 6,000 square-foot health club, Fairmont Pittsburgh has made its home at Three PNC Plaza, one of the largest mixed-use buildings to be certified by the United States Green Building Council in accordance with its LEED rating system. Later this year, Fairmont Pittsburgh expects to receive LEED certification at a Gold level, which complements the company’s industry leading Green Partnership, a program focused on operational sustainability and responsible tourism practices. Guestrooms...

LAS VEGAS—Las Vegas Sands Corp., a leading international developer of multi-use integrated resorts, has launched its Sands Eco 360° Global Sustainable Development program. The program’s launch was highlighted by an announcement that the company’s Venetian Resort and Sands Expo and Convention Center in Las Vegas have achieved LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) for Existing Buildings Gold as part of the U.S. Green Building Council’s building certification program. The combined Venetian, Sands Expo, and Palazzo Las Vegas, which in 2008 received LEED for New Construction Silver certification, now comprise the largest LEED building in the world. “The launch of...

ORLANDO, FLA.—The Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) recently welcomed the Gaylord Palms Resort & Convention Center into the Florida Green Lodging Program. The 1,406-room resort is one of the largest in the state to participate, and the first in Osceola County’s popular Kissimmee resort corridor. In addition, the resort announced the upcoming rollout of a new guest communications program, called “We’re Eco-Logical,” designed to share the spirit of the resort’s eco-friendly initiatives with guests and meeting planners, while encouraging them to take an active role in the programs. “Together with the citizens of Osceola County, we have created...

SANTA MONICA, CALIF.—Convention center hotels in Denver are set to gain new competition when a new 403-room Embassy Suites hotel opens directly across from the Denver Convention Center in December 2010. Windsor Management Services, the hotel management arm of Windsor Capital Group headquartered in Santa Monica, Calif., has reached an agreement with developer, White/Peterman Properties, Inc. in Merrillville, Ind., to manage the new Denver hotel. The new Embassy Suites hotel development, constructed by WPM Construction, boasts 403 rooms and 17 function rooms, totaling 21,000 square feet of meeting and banquet space, and features unique design elements such as a 13-story...

KAANAPALI NORTH BEACH, MAUI—The newest full service hotel development on Kaanapali Beach, the Honua Kai Resort & Spa, has unveiled details of its comprehensive sustainability program—in line with the traditional Hawaiian concept of “malama aina,” (caring for the land). Honua Kai’ practices begin with the ocean, protect the surrounding beach, and extend to every room at the property. Honua Kai, which opened in January 2009, has its own director of sustainability, Lance Gilliland. “We call it ‘Eco-nomics,’—practices that are ecologically sound and economically feasible,” Gilliland says. “It just makes sense to conserve energy, re-use, recycle and protect the beautiful natural...

BIG CYPRESS, FLA.—Developers including Florida Everglades Resort, LLC and the Seminole Tribe of Florida are in discussion with potential investors who would help raise $23 million for a unique eco-resort within the Florida Everglades. The Florida Everglades Resort will be built on a 15-acre site (formerly a citrus grove) and within the 72,000-acre Seminole Reservation near Big Cypress. The site is located adjacent to Billie Swamp Safari, a 2,200-acre nature and wildlife park that already attracts more than 135,000 visitors per year. Jupiter, Fla.-based Florida Everglades Resort, LLC is the result of a multi-year collaboration between EcoExperience Development, Inc. (EDI)...

SAINT-HYACINTH, QUEBEC—IHG (InterContinental Hotels Group) announced that the company’s first sustainable hotel in Canada and the first of its type in Quebec officially opened in Saint-Hyacinthe, Quebec. The Holiday Inn Express and Suites Saint-Hyacinthe has been built to meet the criteria of the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating System for its sustainable practices. The Holiday Inn Express and Suites Saint-Hyacinthe features several key amenities that create a green environment, with a high efficiency energy distribution, ultra-insulated building, and LED and low voltage fluorescent lighting. The property has employed several key factors to reduce...

PARK CITY, UTAH—The 56-suite Treasure Mountain Inn, Park City’s only 100 percent wind powered and 100 percent carbon-neutral “eco-tique” hotel, has taken an additional step towards sustainability by adding solar power to its host of green initiatives. The 18-panel system was appropriately launched on the first day of winter, the darkest day of the year, and is now generating green power for the lodging property’s spa and courtyard. Andy Beerman, Treasure Mountain Inn’s co-owner and general manager, said the solar system cost about $35,000. The inn’s owners were unable to obtain tax credits for the installation because the inn is...

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y.—Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. announced the opening of its first Element hotel in New Jersey and the seventh Element hotel globally, Element Ewing-Hopewell in Ewing, N.J., just 10 minutes outside Princeton. The hotel is owned through a joint venture between American Properties Realty, Inc. and Hersha Hospitality Management, L.P., which is also the manager of the hotel. Element, Starwood’s green trailblazer, made history when it launched as the only major hotel brand to mandate that its properties pursue the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification for high-performance buildings. With 127...

KOLKATA, INDIA—ITC’s new luxury hotel in Bengaluru, the ITC Hotel Royal Gardenia, was conferred the highest rating for green buildings in the world—the LEED India Platinum Rating. This recognition makes it the world’s largest platinum rated hotel and is another manifestation of ITC’s leadership in sustainability practices. ITC is the only company in the world to be carbon positive, water positive and solid waste recycling positive. The LEED Platinum rating for the ITC Hotel is one more green milestone for ITC. It is close on the heels of the ITC Green Centre in Gurgaon—one of the world’s largest green buildings....