This past week I had an opportunity to attend the inaugural West Coast Green Lodging Conference. It was held at the Embassy Suites Lake Tahoe—Hotel & Ski Resort. While attendance could have been greater—it was about 80 (not too bad for a first time event)—the quality of the speaker lineup was impressive. Kudos to the organizers at the Embassy Suites—David Hansen, chief engineer, and Bill Cottrill, director of sales and marketing, as well as yourmeetingpro.com’s Laura Bohannon and Diana Bolton, for planning such a successful event. David Hansen told me his team will be meeting this week to plan for next year’s event.
If you are going to hold a successful green lodging conference, you need someone passionate about sustainability. David Hansen was certainly that guy in this case. He has helped his hotel reduce its costs by hundreds of thousands of dollars annually (waste hauling costs recently sliced in half from $125,000/year to approximately $60,000) and is one of our industry’s all star engineers. (Last year, David was presented with Embassy Suites Hotels’ Spirit of Embassy Award for his accomplishments.) If you happen to have a chance to talk to David, you will quickly learn he is always looking for new ways to go green and cut costs while not inconveniencing guests.
Throughout the conference, one speaker after another made a solid case for investing in green building, products and technologies. Randy Gaines, vice president of engineering for Hilton Worldwide, summarized his company’s LightStay, an environmental impact measurement program officially rolled out earlier this year. LightStay helped Hilton Worldwide properties using the system reduce energy use by 5 percent, carbon output by 6 percent, waste output by 10 percent and water use by 2.4 percent in 2009 versus 2008. By December 31, 2011, all 3,500 properties within Hilton Worldwide’s global portfolio of brands will use LightStay.
Reasons to Pursue LEED Certification
If you are wondering whether or not it is worthwhile to pursue LEED certification for your hotel, I strongly suggest chatting with Gary Golla, LEED AP, Sera Architects, Inc., Portland, Ore., or Janine Chicourrat, general manager, Portola Hotel & Spa, Monterey, Calif. Both of these conference speakers did a great job explaining the LEED process, its upside and challenges, and the lessons they have learned from working with LEED. The Portola Hotel & Spa and the two hotels Gary has worked on in Portland, Ore.—The Nines and the Courtyard by Marriott-Portland City Center—have all benefited greatly from LEED.
During lunch on the first day of the conference, Craig Witt, owner and president of Full Circle Compost, talked about his company’s “WEcycle Waste Diversion Program,” a program in which the conference’s host hotel is participating. The diversion program has been instrumental in eliminating most of the Embassy Suites’ costs related to food waste. If you are ever in the need of a speaker to explain the compost process effectively and humorously (Craig refers to himself as a “shitologist”), Craig is most definitely your guy.
The biggest news of the conference? Kelly May, who is with the California Department of General Services’ California Green Lodging Program, said there are plans to add a third and fourth tier to the program’s two current Participation and Leadership tiers. Also, Sara Schoen, commercial real estate associate for the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), said USGBC is currently working with representatives of the lodging industry to rewrite some of the criteria for LEED points. Changes will address how USGBC scores efforts in these areas: commercial kitchens/restaurants, swimming pools and spas, laundry, light pollution, alternative transportation, integrated pest management, and daylighting and views. Watch for more news on this later this year and in early 2011.
The conference and trade show season is heating up. Be sure to visit our website for previews and coverage. (Click here for Events.) And, be sure to watch here for the dates for next year’s West Coast Green Lodging Conference.
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