Keep America Beautiful’s America Recycles Day, the only nationally-recognized day dedicated to promoting and celebrating recycling in the United States, has opened registration for businesses, community organizations, government entities, individuals and others planning to host an America Recycles Day-themed event. America Recycles Day, which takes place on and in the weeks surrounding November 15, educates people about the importance of recycling to the economy and environmental well-being, and helps to motivate occasional recyclers to become everyday recyclers. “Our fall recycling initiatives highlight the power that we all have to make more mindful decisions in our daily lives about recycling and using products...

I just updated the “Green Videos” section of the Green Lodging News website. Be sure to check out the new videos. The first new video focuses on the Great Wolf Lodge property in Niagara Falls, Ontario and the many green initiatives there that fall under Great Wolf Lodge’s Project Green Wolf program. A sample of the green initiatives: recycling, conversion to LEDs, 50 percent of all food comes from Ontario, food digester, recirculate water constantly, low-flow fixtures, and smart thermostats. A second new video summarizes Radisson Hotel Group Community Action Month activities. A third new video features Bucuti & Tara...

Caesars Entertainment Corp. recently announced that the company found no meaningful differences in the average pay of men and women in almost all jobs. Together with Billie Jean King, sports icon and equal rights champion, Caesars Entertainment committed to work to close the gap and achieve 100 percent parity in pay for men and women. Caesars reviewed 2016 pay data for approximately 32,200 non-union employees from corporate headquarters and 40 properties. Ninety nine percent of women at the company’s corporate headquarters and 98 percent of women at the company’s 40 properties are in jobs with no meaningful differences between the...

As just reported on Green Lodging News, Scandic Hotels has decided to stop using eggs from caged hens. Each year, Scandic serves between 11.5 and 13 million eggs at its hotels, with the majority already from free-range hens, and from September 2018, the hotel will begin to gradually phase out eggs from caged hens in all products. The new policy will apply at all Scandic hotels. Eggs, and products containing eggs, from caged hens will be gradually phased out between September 2018 and 2020, with the exception of hotels in Norway where they will be completely phased out by...

I have written about living walls before—also known as green walls or vertical gardens. When I read about the 10-ton living wall at The Rubens at The Palace in London, I had to share the details with you. The four-star luxury property’s living wall is 350 square meters in size and includes 10,000 herbaceous plants. It was designed to provide blossoming plants throughout the year and includes 22 species of plants. The plants, some of which can grow one meter in length, are watered using a drip irrigation system. Rain water is caught and later used for irrigation. No...

Legacy Vacation Club is currently pursuing B Corp certification. I wrote about the company’s Sustainability and Social Responsibility Specialist earlier this year. For those of you not familiar with the program, Certified B Corporations are businesses that meet the highest standards of verified social and environmental performance, public transparency, and legal accountability to balance profit and purpose. The B Corp movement is 12 years old and certification is administered by Standards Analysts at the nonprofit B Lab. Standards Analysts are located at B Lab’s Pennsylvania, New York, and Amsterdam offices. The standards for B Corp Certification are overseen by...

It was in January of this year that the Wellness Tourism Assn. (WTA) was formed. Registered in the State of Colorado as a not-for-profit, privately-held organization, the WTA was established and designed to serve the booming wellness travel sector. Wellness tourism certainly deserves its own association. According to the Global Wellness Institute’s 2017 Global Wellness Economy Monitor, the wellness tourism segment is a $563 billion industry — growing faster than the tourism industry itself. In April this year, WTA defined wellness tourism and its associated terminology by issuing a glossary. According to WTA, wellness tourism can be defined as the following:...

Costa Rica’s Cala Luna Boutique Hotel & Villas recently launched initiatives that will help it meet its goal of becoming 100 percent solar-powered and carbon-neutral by 2019. The eco-luxury hotel, noted for its extensive sustainability efforts, organic and biodynamic food and beverage offerings and ethical practices, boasts the highest Sustainable Tourism certification (level five) from the Costa Rican Tourism Institute (ICT). As Cala Luna already uses solar-paneled water heaters, this next step will ensure the entire property is powered by solar means. In addition to its ICT certificate, the hotel also holds a Programa Bandera Azul Ecologica (Blue Flag Ecological...

Caesars Entertainment Corp. just announced the launch of its ninth annual corporate social responsibility (CSR) report, PEOPLE PLANET PLAY, which details sustained progress against the company’s CSR goals in 2017 and the early half of 2018, and its continued commitment to its employees, suppliers and communities. The following are some of the highlights of the report: In 2018, Caesars advanced its commitment to environmental stewardship by achieving approval from the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) for targets that are aligned with the level of decarbonization required to keep global temperature increase below 2 degrees Celsius. Caesars committed to reducing absolute...

At this year’s HITEC show I stopped by the Vocera Communications booth. Vocera is one of several companies offering “panic button” solutions for hospitality. Vocera’s system is a badge and primarily worn by housekeepers. I wrote about panic buttons earlier this year on Green Lodging News. A growing number of cities are requiring them. According to The Miami Herald, the latest city to get on board is Miami Beach. Beginning August 1, 2019, Miami Beach will be the third tourism town, after Seattle and Chicago, to mandate that hotels provide the devices. New York City hotels that are unionized...