As posted on Green Lodging News earlier this week, Host Hotels & Resorts, Inc., the nation’s largest lodging real estate investment trust, released a Corporate Responsibility (CR) Highlights report for the very first time. The 2018 report provides a summary of results and progress over the last reporting year along with future commitments. I read through the report and this is what I found most compelling: Host achieved 2020 environmental targets three years ahead of schedule, including a greenhouse gas target verified by the Science Based Targets initiative. Host says it is the first hospitality company to have its...

A day after Congress passed the Frederick Douglass Trafficking Victims Prevention and Protection Reauthorization Act of 2017, (see article—The new U.S. anti-trafficking law, passed in Congress on December 17, says when federal employees travel they should choose travel and hospitality companies that follow the six points of the ECPAT Code of Conduct), Polaris reported that the number of cases of human trafficking reported to the National Human Trafficking Hotline are projected to jump at least 25 percent in 2018 compared to 2017. This is based on early numbers released by Polaris, which has been operating the National Hotline for...

To determine its 2019 Just 100 list, Forbes partnered with Just Capital, which asked 81,000 Americans about what they most want to see from the nation’s biggest businesses. The most popular answers? Pay workers fairly; treat customers well and protect their privacy; produce quality products; minimize their environmental impact; give back to the communities they operate in; commit to ethical and diverse leadership; and create abundant job opportunities. With those seven priorities in mind, Forbes ranked 890 of America’s largest publicly-traded companies to determine which are the best corporate actors. The result of this data-crunching: the 2019 Just 100. These...

From now until February, guests at the Paradisus Los Cabos in Mexico can participate in the luxury resort’s Welcome to Life initiative. The initiative protects the endangered wildlife native to the Los Cabos region. Paradisus Los Cabos is now home to a nesting colony of three vulnerable turtle species—Leatherhead, Black and Olive Ridley. Paradisus Los Cabos is one of only three hotels in the region authorized to host a sea turtle conservation program. This is in part due to the location of the property, which lies in an area conducive to the natural environmental conditions necessary to serve the...

Wellness tourism is exploding and data about the industry sector is becoming increasingly available. For example, according to the Global Wellness Institute, wellness tourism grew from a $563 billion market in 2015 to $639 billion in 2017, or 6.5 percent annually, more than twice as fast as tourism overall. Recently, the Wellness Tourism Association (WTA) released results from its first Wellness Travel Survey focused on what consumers desire from wellness vacations. A total of 2,566 respondents participated in the just under eight-month long, online consumer survey. Among key findings unveiled at the WTA’s inaugural Meeting of Members: Just under half...

Two recent hotel emergencies highlight the importance of placing carbon monoxide detectors throughout an entire hotel building—not just in guestroom areas. First, last Friday morning, a Jacksonville, N.C. Holiday Inn Express was evacuated after a carbon monoxide leak. Sixteen people required medical treatment at a local hospital. The cause of the leak is yet to be determined. Some of those evacuated were homeowners displaced after Hurricane Florence. Yesterday morning, emergency crews evacuated a portion of the Westin Hotel in downtown Nashville after a carbon monoxide leak was detected in the building. According to fire officials, the leak sickened 14 people, and...

In less than two weeks I will be moderating a panel discussion on electric vehicle (EV) charging stations at HX: The Hotel Experience. The session will be held on the trade show floor from 1 p.m. to 1:45 p.m. on Monday, November 12. If you will be at the show, be sure to catch this session. In preparing for the panel discussion I learned just how large the electric vehicle segment is and how large it is expected to become. A Research Report Insights (RRI) report revealed that the global market for electric vehicles crossed $99 billion in terms of...

When packages are delivered to your property, they often come from UPS. You may not know it, but UPS is doing a lot to reduce its environmental impact around the world. UPS has a long history with electric vehicles, having first introduced them into its U.S. fleet in the 1930s. UPS now has more than 1,000 electric and hybrid electric vehicles deployed worldwide. The company’s fleet of approximately 9,300 alternative fuel and advanced technology vehicles now drives more than 1 million miles each day. Since 2008, the company has invested over $1 billion in alternative fuel and advanced technology vehicles...

FORTUNE just released its annual ranking of the “World’s Best Workplaces” and one hotel company made the top five: Hilton. Hilton climbed seven spots to the highly coveted second spot on the list of the top 25 companies and is the only hospitality company in the top 10. Team Members from Hilton say Hilton’s culture, benefits and travel perks make it a great place for a career. Hilton offers programs to help Team Members thrive personally and professionally with global career development opportunities and global training. Benefits include: parental leave, adoption assistance, GED support and discounted stays at Hilton properties...

If you operate a hotel or motel in California, you need to be aware of two new laws that help combat human trafficking. The first is Senate Bill (SB) 970. The new law requires hotels and motels subject to the Fair Employment and Housing Act to provide at least 20 minutes of classroom or other effective interactive training and education regarding human trafficking awareness to each employee likely to interact or meet victims of human trafficking. This training must be completed by January 1, 2020 for workers employed as of July 1, 2019, and within six months of hire...