Home Sales & Marketing Leading Hotels of the World, STI Partner on Carbon Neutral Program

Leading Hotels of the World, STI Partner on Carbon Neutral Program

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BOULDER, COLO., NEW YORK—The Leading Hotels of the World, Ltd., the largest global luxury hotel brand, announced the launch of the Leading Green Initiative. This innovative program will enable and encourage guests to make a conscious decision toward greener travel by actively supporting Sustainable Travel International (STI), a leading nonprofit organization focused on responsible tourism.

The Leading Green Initiative is a carbon neutral program whereby The Leading Hotels of the World will directly absorb the cost to offset guests’ energy consumption for stays at any of its 440 hotels worldwide.

“We are extremely proud to be the first luxury hotel brand to provide a carbon offset program with STI,” says Paul M. McManus, president and CEO, The Leading Hotels of the World. “While many companies offer the opportunity for customers to voluntarily make donations, we feel strongly about taking a leadership position in environmental responsibility and setting the example. We are, therefore, delighted to be making the financial contribution on our guests’ behalf.”

Commitment Makes ‘Cents’

“We will make a donation of 50 cents to STI for every night of a guest’s stay when their reservation is made through www.lhwgreen.com, or when ‘Leading Green’ is mentioned to any one of our worldwide voice reservations centers,” McManus adds. “The investment per guest represents 29.3 kilowatt-hours of electricity supplied by new wind and solar power, which equates to 33.7 pounds of greenhouse gas emission reductions. The Leading Green Initiative is entirely underwritten by The Leading Hotels of the World corporate entity; prices have not been augmented to support this effort.”

“We are excited to be partnering with The Leading Hotels of the World to educate their guests and hotels to reduce their environmental footprint by the efficient use of energy and minimization of waste,” says Brian T. Mullis, president of Sustainable Travel International. “We are most pleased to see how seriously Leading Hotels executives are taking this partnership as they have already committed to offsetting the energy consumption of their upcoming annual Sales & Marketing Conference, which will be held in Stockholm May 9-12, 2007. A corporate donation will be made to STI to offset the energy consumption of all nearly 200 attendees, not only including accommodations, but also air transportation, meeting rooms and common areas.”

The Leading Hotels of the World and STI are evaluating a number of other programs, including sustainable tourism certification, travel philanthropy, and the potential implementation of environmental management systems by Leading Hotels. Additional information can be obtained by visiting www.lhwgreen.com.

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