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Green Key Global Eco-Rating Program Readies for New Site Launch, Stepped Up Social Media Efforts

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OTTAWA, ONT.—The Green Key Global Eco-Rating Program, with its 3,052 rated properties, has long been a leader—especially by property quantity—among green lodging certification programs. According to Steve Ball, director of business development for Green Key Global, the program has 1,231 rated properties in Canada and 1,621 in the United States. In addition to Canada and the United States, there are 20 countries with rated properties. The Eco-Rating Program, which was launched by the Hotel Association of Canada (HAC) and run in the United States by HAC with LRA Worldwide, has garnered strong support in recent years from the American Hotel & Lodging Assn. and hotel companies/brands including Fairmont Hotels & Resorts, Motel6/Studio 6, Caesars Entertainment, MGM Resorts International, Carlson, Best Western International, Gaylord Hotels, Hyatt Corp., Kimpton Hotel & Restaurant Group, Delta Hotels and Resorts, Wyndham Worldwide, Canad Inns, Coast Hotels, Sandman Hotel Group, and Lakeview Hotels & Resorts.

Coming early this fall to consumers and end users is a relaunch of the Green Key Global website. Ball says it will include up-to-date program information and an improved end user interface. Green Key Global will also launch a social marketing strategy that will regularly highlight the successes of its members.

Propelling Green Key Global’s growth over the years has been not only its association and brand support but also its thoroughness, affordability, and user-friendly online self-assessment process.

Five Main Application Categories

The questions in the application for Green Key Global certification fall into five main areas of hotel operations: Corporate Environmental Management; Housekeeping; Conference & Meeting Services; Food & Beverage Services; and Engineering. U.S. and international properties pay $600 per year to participate; properties in Canada pay $400 + HST per year. Discounts are available to AH&LA members and to groups registering 10 or more properties.

Properties can achieve a rating of from 1 to 5 Green Keys. As of press time, most of the rated properties (1,478) had achieved 3 Green Keys. Only 54 had achieved 5 Green Keys. Green Key Global’s policy is to conduct yearly on-site inspections of a minimum of 20 percent of rated properties. Members who achieve a 5 Key Rating or have a valid complaint filed against them are considered priority visits.

“As our program grows and evolves we are working towards our hotel members to be inspected every three to four years,” Ball says.

Fees Paid Every Year

Green Key Global members are required to renew their self-assessments a minimum of every two years. Properties at any time can request for their self-assessments to be updated. From a fee standpoint, one’s Green Key membership expires one year from the time the property completes the self-assessment unless otherwise arranged.

In addition to the aforementioned website update and social media assistance, Ball says once a property is rated Green Key Global provides members with a variety of marketing/PR tools to share their successes.

“We provide templates for press releases, as well as logos, a certificate for their lobby, e-signatures, and promote their successes through a variety of affiliate channels,” Ball says.    

The Green Key Global Eco-Rating Program was last updated in 2011. The next version is scheduled to be launched in 2015. Green Key Global also has a Green Key Meetings Program that now has 95 rated members. The Program is scheduled to be updated this fall to better align with the APEX/ASTM Environmentally Sustainable Meetings Standards.

Go to Green Key Global.

***This is the second in a series of articles on green lodging certification programs. To see the first article in the series, click here. To read the third article, click here. To read the fourth article, click here.

Glenn Hasek can be reached at editor@greenlodgingnews.com.

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