NATIONAL REPORT—By raising over $1.8 million through Kickstarter, FinalStraw will officially launch in November 2018. With over 150,000 pre-sale FinalStraws sold, it’s apparent that people are excited about convenient, earth-friendly alternatives to straws. Unlike the alternatives that are difficult to carry around, FinalStraw comes in a key-chain-sized carrying case made of recycled plastic. At $20 a straw, FinalStraw’s mission is to replace plastic straws making way for a “Straw free Earth by 2023”. FinalStraw’s founders are two young entrepreneurs on a mission to rid the world of single-use plastics. The CEO, Emma Cohen (32), holds a master’s degree from Harvard in Environmental...

TORONTO—The Metro Toronto Convention Centre (MTCC) announced that it will continue to increase the presence of local food and wine in its menu offerings, an initiative that reflects the facility’s continued commitment to supporting local businesses and showcasing the best Ontario has to offer. Last year the MTCC welcomed over 1.5 million attendees from around the world, and for every person attending a dinner or reception one glass of Ontario wine was served. The MTCC proudly supports local farms by actively buying local ingredients for its culinary team in large volume. Overall, approximately 65 percent of all food and beverage...

LOUIS, MO.—Hyatt Regency St. Louis at The Arch, a premier business and leisure hotel located in the heart of downtown St. Louis on the iconic Gateway Arch grounds, helped to feed more than 600 local families this summer through volunteering and packing family meals at Operation Food Search. “At Hyatt Regency St. Louis at The Arch, it is our honor to help those in our local community and we are thrilled that we had the opportunity to aid in feeding more than 600 families this summer in our area,” said Randy Thompson, General Manager of Hyatt Regency St. Louis at...

SAN JOSE DEL CABO, MEXICO—Hotel El Ganzo, which has followed a sustainable model since its inception, has put a stronger plan into action to continue advancing its sustainability efforts. The boutique hotel located at the base of the Puerto Los Cabos Marina in Los Cabos, Mexico is known for its chic, laid-back vibe and robust arts program. However, guests will also find an eco-friendly culture in a hotel that prides itself in going a step beyond encouraging guests to reuse towels and sheets. El Ganzo now equips every room with its own branded cantimplora, a reusable, BPA-free water bottle guests can...

FAIRFAX, VA.—Guest Services Inc. announced that the organization will entirely abandon the use of plastic straws at its owned and managed properties by the end of 2018 to significantly reduce its environmental footprint. This multi-faceted campaign, “Skip the Straw,” will be executed in several phases throughout the remainder of the year—ultimately eliminating millions of straws a year while bringing awareness to an important issue for the hospitality industry to address. Over the past several decades, plastic straws have become an expected amenity in purchased beverages and have subsequently grown into a major source of pollution. Straws are often disposed of incorrectly,...

ST. AUGUSTINE, FLA.—Premier hotel development and management company, Hollander Hospitality, has completed an $18 million renovation of the former Holiday Inn Downtown Everett and announced the official grand opening of the 232-room Delta Hotels by Marriott Seattle Everett, in Everett, Wash. The former Holiday Inn was the most recent acquisition for Bellingham, Washington-based Hollander Hospitality, a local, privately-owned Northwest company, committed to investing in the region. This is Delta’s first branded hotel in the Pacific Northwest and signals the continued global expansion of the brand since its endorsement into the Marriott signature portfolio. This latest project by Hollander Hospitality is...

CHICAGO—Great Wolf Resorts announced it will replace plastic straws at all 17 of its indoor water park resorts with more environmentally friendly paper straws. The family-friendly resort company pledged to remove plastic straws from all its food and beverage locations before the end of 2018, saving more than five million plastic straws from entering local landfills annually. “Over the past couple of years we have implemented several programs designed to reduce our environmental impact, ranging from energy-efficient LED lighting, to resort-wide recycling programs and low-flow showerheads,” said Great Wolf Resorts CEO, Murray Hennessy. “We’re excited to further enhance our environmental efforts...

It is survey season. The National Restaurant Assn. (NRA) just released “The State of Restaurant Sustainability 2018.” This past week the Greenview survey for the Green Lodging Trends Report 2018 closed. Be sure to watch for the Report in the coming months. I just learned that the goal for releasing the results of the 2018 Lodging Survey is December. That survey report is produced by the American Hotel & Lodging Assn., American Hotel & Lodging Educational Foundation, and STR. The 2018 Lodging Survey is focused on much more than sustainability trends. For its report, the NRA surveyed 500 restaurant owners...

NATIONAL REPORT—Remodels are not just for big rooms. Small rooms need them too. If anything, small rooms are in more dire need of renovation since they need to use every inch of space in the most efficient way possible. This is particularly the case with small kitchens because the work triangle—the space between the stove, the refrigerator, and the sink—is going to be smaller. Remodeling a small kitchen takes some design ingenuity, but it is ultimately not much more difficult than remodeling a larger kitchen. One upside to the renovation of a kitchen that is on the tiny side is...

MIAMI—Karisma Hotels & Resorts, which owns and manages properties in Latin America, the Caribbean and Europe, has taken a firm stance on sustainability since its inception in 2000, and most recently announced its decision to eliminate the production and distribution of plastic straws across all of its properties. The ban on plastic straws is the latest effort within Karisma Hotels & Resorts’ overall commitment to the environment. In 2013, Karisma created the Passion for Sustainability Program, which includes initiatives promoting conscious tourism, preserving ecosystems, protecting wild and endangered species, and responsibly using natural resources. As part of its most recent...