Quite a few years ago I had the opportunity to stay at one of the first Hilton Home2 Suites hotels. Every now and then while traveling with my family I stay at the property. I like the fact that Hilton has made many of the features of the brand sustainable and brand standards. I also like the spaciousness of the rooms—part of the appeal of the brand in the extended-stay niche. About two years ago I wrote about a Hilton Home2 Suites that reached the rare LEED Platinum level. While not a green brand through and through, Home2 Suites is one of the few brands in the industry that has made sustainability a “key pillar.” That is how Leonard Gooz, Global Brand Head of Hilton Home2 Suites explained it to me when we spoke recently.
This year Home2 Suites celebrates its 10th anniversary. For Hilton, the number of Home2 Suites has grown quickly and significantly. As of December 31, 2020, there were 463 open and 409 in the pipeline. According to Hilton, the 500th Home2 Suites is expected to open by the end of this quarter. STR says Home2 Suites saw the most supply growth industry-wide of any brand in the United States last year, with nearly 80 openings. STR adds the brand has the largest development pipeline industry-wide in North America. Lodging Econometrics named Home2 Suites the No. 1 brand in terms of hotels in the construction pipeline, and with the most openings last year.
Outside the United States, Hilton’s partner in China, Country Garden, has committed to develop 1,000 Home2 Suites. The first Home2 Suites there will open in the third quarter this year. The rising middle class in China has made such growth possible. By 2030 the brand may have 2,000 hotels worldwide.
Some Examples of Sustainability
The following are some of the sustainable features one will find at every Home2 Suites:
- The countertops in the Oasis community space are made of 85 percent pre-recycled and 100 post-recycled content, as well as the Humanscale desk chair made of 98 percent recycled product.
- The landscaping includes indigenous-only plants that significantly minimizes water usage and irrigation needs.
- Home2 Suites properties that offers pools as an amenity feature eco-friendly saline pools.
- Home2 Suites has partnered with Clean the World, the world’s largest organization to recycle hotel soap and bath amenities.
- Guest suites feature low-flow showers and faucets, LED lighting, biodegradable food trays, recycled flooring, and carpet tiles (carpeting contains 60 percent recycled content) and Energy Star appliances.
- Home2 Suites incorporates Hilton’s LightStay system, which measures energy use, water consumption, waste, and carbon output to help minimize the environmental impact of each property.
- Appliances are highly efficient.
- Real glass and chinaware are used.
“We have a strong recycling program in place,” Gooz says. “The bulk amenities have been well received.”
“Hilton has been very committed to sustainability with its 2030 goals,” Gooz adds. (See recent Hilton 2020 ESG Report article.)
Home2 Suites is also about efficiency. For example, a combined laundry and fitness area, Spin2 Cycle, allows for multitasking.
“Everything we approach we approach through the lens of our customers,” Gooz says.
Any new hotel built today should be highly efficient. Kudos to Hilton for keeping that in mind as it evolves its Home2 Suites brand.
Green Lodging News Adds Advanced Vapor Technologies Case Study to Website
Green Lodging News has added an Advanced Vapor Technologies case study to its website that highlights the use of the company’s MondoVap® 2400 machines at Aiken, South Carolina’s The Willcox and Lake Toxaway, North Carolina’s The Greystone Inn—lauded for their southern hospitality by readers of the world’s leading travel publications. Owner Shannon Ellis is using MondoVap® 2400 machines from Advanced Vapor Technologies to keep the properties sparkling clean and disinfected with just one ingredient: ordinary tap water.
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“When COVID-19 hit, I began researching new ways to clean and sanitize our hotels,” Ellis said. “We had already implemented best practice sanitizing protocols. I was interested in how the TANCS® technology with the MondoVap® 2400 allowed you to clean and disinfect within seven seconds with no residual product left behind. I also liked that it was sustainable—no chemicals and no problem for people with allergies.”
Advanced Vapor Technologies’ proprietary Thermal Accelerated Nano Crystal Sanitation (TANCS®) technology is a factory-installed internal component that utilizes nanotechnology and minerals—the same minerals found in tap water—to kill microscopic organic matter such as germs, bacteria, and viruses in seconds.
To read the entire case study, click here.
Who is Your Sustainability Champion?
Green Lodging News is always looking to profile sustainability champions in our Personnel Profile section. If you would like to nominate someone for this section of Green Lodging News, contact me at (813) 510-3868, or by e-mail at greenlodgingnews@gmail.com.
Looking for Guest Columnists
Every two weeks Green Lodging News posts a new guest column on its website. (Click here for examples.) The guest column also appears in the weekly e-newsletter. Green Lodging News is currently in need of industry experts to contribute occasional guest columns. Experts may include consultants, architects, designers, suppliers and those who own or operate green lodging establishments. Columns may be articles that take a stance on a particular subject or be strictly educational in nature. Columnists benefit by having their photo included along with a one paragraph description of their company. Interested in writing a column? Contact Glenn Hasek, publisher and editor, at (813) 510-3868, or by e-mail at greenlodgingnews@gmail.com.
Get in the Green Suppliers Spotlight!
Green Lodging News, lodging’s leading environmental news source, publishes Green Suppliers Spotlight, an e-blast to 23,955 subscribers that features the lodging industry’s leading green products and services. The e-blast features multiple vendors—unlike the current Green Supplier Spotlight that allows one supplier to “own” the Green Lodging News subscriber list for one e-blast. (Click here for a Green Suppliers Spotlight sample.)
Green Suppliers Spotlight is published weekly on Thursdays to general managers, owners, management companies, directors of sustainability, directors of engineering, facilities managers and many others who are either in purchasing positions or who influence purchasing decisions. Suppliers of green products and services throughout North America and beyond are invited to participate in the e-blast. (Minimum two suppliers per e-blast.) Green Suppliers Spotlight was created to give vendors an opportunity to reach a high number of industry purchasers at a very low cost—as low as $200 per e-mail. (Click here for rate sheet.)
Those advertising in Green Suppliers Spotlight can include up to 100 words, one image, contact information and multiple links to their website in their ad. At the end of each month, a report will be sent to each supplier with information on delivered e-mails, opens and click-throughs.
Planning Advertising for 2021?
Green Lodging News is accepting reservations for advertising spots for 2021. Many excellent spots are available on our website and in the weekly e-mail newsletter. Many Green Supplier Spotlight dates are also available. Interested in receiving a 2021 media kit? Be sure to contact me as soon as possible at (813) 510-3868, or by e-mail at greenlodgingnews@gmail.com. Media kits can also be accessed by clicking here. Thank you to all those companies that consistently support Green Lodging News.
Newsletter & Green Supplier Spotlight Circulation
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