So, you’ve made the decision to “go green” at work. You are taking a stand for sustainability. But somehow, the green starting line feels like a lonely place. Sure, you’re committed and ready to move forward, but how will you get your team in the same mindset? It may have taken you some time to make the decision to be green, so don’t be alarmed if your staff is slow to start connecting the eco-dots. Change is hard, even good change. But there are a few things you can do to encourage your team to jump onto the green bandwagon...

As Americans, we often take certain things for granted. Although gasoline and energy costs appear to be fluctuating upward—and will likely increase in future years—water, in comparison, is nothing less than cheap. In fact, according to a recent Water Performance white paper based on studies conducted by a variety of respected private and public organizations, including the General Accounting Office, some water users pay as little as one-sixth of water’s true value. However, water experts question whether we are really “lucky” when it comes to the low cost of water. These experts feel that future substantial costs could be coming...

Guest health and wellness is of prime importance to hoteliers, and one of the most challenging areas is indoor air quality because you can’t see it, feel it, or hear it, and most times you can’t even smell it. It often takes someone getting sick to raise the air quality to everyone’s attention. Indoor air is a difficult topic to get your arms around, no pun intended, and occupant health is a central concern when discussing indoor air quality. Indoor air quality refers to monitoring and reducing indoor air contaminants and providing a place that building occupants can function well...

The economic situation in 2009 led to a dire year for the lodging industry. Room occupancy is estimated to have fallen to around 55 percent, a drop that has only been matched twice since the 1920s. Revenue per available room, one of the main measurements for profitability in the hospitality industry, was off by 17 percent when compared to the previous year, with an even bigger drop for the luxury segment. Although 2010 is expected to bring the green shoots of recovery, hotels are currently struggling. Despite these hardships, customers expect hotels to continue to maintain high standards. This includes...

As a hotelier, you are probably benchmarking most aspects of your business. For example, you already track how your average daily rate, your occupancy, and your RevPAR stack up against those of your competition. Benchmarking your hotel’s energy performance provides the same type of information, helping you to understand facility operations and compare your performance to your competitors while reducing operating costs. Now benchmarking energy performance is even easier, with a number of energy information service providers offering tools to automate the process, giving hoteliers easy access to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) energy performance rating system. As a...

As more and more hotels are seeking to implement environmentally-friendly practices, many are looking to certifications to help them achieve their goals. The ISO 14001 certification, which is applicable to business across many industries, provides a valuable management system and standards for an organization looking to implement environmental practices. Ewald Biemans, owner of Aruba’s Bucuti Beach Resort, recently answered some questions about ISO 14001 certification and why Bucuti chose to pursue it. What is the ISO 14001 Certification? The ISO 14001 certification was published by the International Standards Organization in 1996 and is essentially a road map for organizations seeking to...

Green products have inundated the marketplace and the number of companies making green claims has also exploded. The timing has never been better for the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to address green marketing claims so that consumers can trust that the products they purchase really do have the environmentally friendly attributes being marketed to them. On August 11, 2009, the FTC placed the green world on notice and charged several companies with making unsubstantiated, false and deceptive claims regarding bamboo fabric and other textile products that were being marketed as “green” and “environmentally friendly.” Why is this important to the...

Hotels and restaurants that have been taking steps to green their cleaning operations may mistakenly be setting back their green cleaning programs as a result of H1N1 and other public health concerns that have surfaced in recent years. The problem is that eradicating from surfaces the germs, bacteria, and pathogens that can spread these diseases often requires the use of powerful, EPA-registered, hospital-grade disinfectants which they erroneously believe cannot be part of a green cleaning program. In the United States today, there are no disinfectants that can be marketed or labeled as green. Currently, disinfectants are classified as pesticides, which are...

This is the first in a series of regular columns. It is the result of conversations with many top industry professionals regarding the greening of lodging properties. Throughout those discussions there were several threads regarding how best to make impactful, cost effective green measures happen. Engaging employees, developing a sound plan, and successfully implementing it all involve the human side of the organization, not just the hardware. In a service sector company, there is even more of a need to better understand the process, not just the products. Most travelers share similar experiences: sleeping in a strange bed, eating different...

Social media applications such as Facebook, You Tube and Linked In are becoming quite popular, but what is really making an impact, since Oprah Winfrey discovered it, is Twitter. Tweeting, as many refer to it, is sending a 140-character real-time virtual message from just about anywhere. You can send it from your cell phone or computer; wherever you are as long as you have the right applications. It’s quite easy. According to Nielsen Claritas, which provides in-depth segmentation analysis of consumer behavior, online data shows that about half of the U.S. population visited a social networking website in the last...