Next month will see the release of the second annual Green Lodging Trends Report. I wrote 13 articles for this year’s report—survey results in categories ranging from Air Quality to Water Conservation. Be sure to watch for this year’s free report. Being a communicator myself, I am always interested in how hoteliers communicate their sustainability initiatives to their guests and employees. While there are many who do a great job at it, there are many—for whatever reason—who keep their green story a secret. For this year’s report we asked, “Does the property have space on its website dedicated to sharing...

In case you missed it, Caesars Entertainment Corp. just released its 2017 Citizenship Report. The report, entitled “People Planet Play,” which covers 2016 and select content from the first half of 2017, details Caesars’ sustained progress and leadership across its many corporate social responsibility initiatives. There were many things that stood out as exemplary in the report. First, in terms of progress over the long term, Caesars coordinated the following: -23 percent energy reduction per air-conditioned square foot since 2007; -35 percent greenhouse gas emissions reduction per air-conditioned square foot since 2007; -19 percent water use reduction per air-conditioned square foot since 2008; and 43 percent of...

BRADENTON, FLA.—Can the hotel building community learn green lessons from the residential building community? Of course. If you get a chance to visit a green home community, do it. This past weekend my family and I stopped by Mirabella in Bradenton, Fla. USGBC just awarded the owners of the 70 completed and occupied Mirabella homes LEED Platinum, the highest LEED designation. Mirabella currently has 37 homes under construction with 53 lots remaining, with plans to have those 90 properties also earn the same level of certification. What I noticed first when entering the model home was how quiet it was. Extra...

I am in the middle of writing the articles for the second annual Green Lodging Trends Report. Be sure to look for the final report in September. This year’s survey for the report has produced some interesting data. For example, for the first time we asked if hoteliers have a formal action plan in place to address human trafficking at their property. Fifty percent said they did. Human trafficking and slavery are increasingly being addressed by the hotel industry. Did you know that the American Hotel & Lodging Association (AHLA), in partnership with Marriott International, ECPAT-USA, and the Polaris Project, is now offering...

There are many animal activist groups and they are having a significant impact on what is available or not available through the world’s largest booking sites. Last fall, TripAdvisor announced its commitment to launch a set of industry-leading actions, including changes to its policy on selling tickets to animal attractions, and the launch of a new education portal to help inform travelers about the standards of care for wild, captive, and endangered species in tourism and their interactions with tourists, and their impact on wildlife conservation. TripAdvisor and its Viator brand have discontinued selling tickets for specific tourism experiences...

With 2017 past the half-way point it is time to begin thinking about the fall trade show season. The busiest month will be November when the HX: The Hotel Experience and Boutique Design New York trade shows will take place November 12 to 13 at the Javits Center in New York. I am working on putting together a sustainability panel for HX. Be sure to watch for more details soon. About 400 exhibitors are expected at HX, many of whom will be selling products to help you reduce your hotel’s environmental footprint. At BDNY, expect at least several sustainability-focused...

Would you build a marketing program around an event that is going to last just one minute and 24 seconds? That is what many Marriott hotels are doing for August 21, the date of the first solar eclipse that has traveled the path of the continental United States since 1918. At The Lincoln Marriott Cornhusker Hotel, the Solar Eclipse Package includes: overnight guestroom accommodations for two, breakfast buffet for two in The Café and complimentary valet parking. Exclusively added to this package are two disposable Solar Eclipse Glasses, Special Edition Solar Eclipse Patch from Homestead National Park, Special Edition...

It is a great idea and worth replicating at your hotel—a Sustainability Fair. The Fairmont Washington, D.C. will hold its eighth annual Sustainability Fair on Friday, August 25 from 11:30 a.m. until 1:30 p.m. in the hotel’s Colonnade Room. Diana K. Bulger, Area Director, Public Relations for the 413-room property, has been involved in all eight fairs. At first it was called the Green Fair, she says. Today it is an event that draws from 200 to 300 people. “Every year it gets bigger,” Bulger says. The fair is the idea of the hotel’s sustainability team. “We are always trying...

MGM Resorts International recently released its 2016 Annual Corporate Social Responsibility Report. I recently wrote about Hersha Hospitality Trust’s 2016 Sustainability Report and just posted about the Javits Center releasing its first Sustainability Report. It must be reporting season. MGM Resorts’ report describes its CSR philosophy, governance and culture, and summarizes its developments in the pillars of Diversity and Inclusion, Philanthropy and Community Engagement and Environmental Sustainability. The report is long—173 pages—but MGM has a lot of good stories to tell. For example, in 2016, 5,600 employees donated 103,000 volunteer hours of community service. MGM achieved LEED Gold certification...

Allow me to move away from green lodging this week—although it does impact green lodging—and write a bit about communication. Phone communication. You remember, the kind that Alexander Graham Bell invented? (“Mr. Watson--come here--I want to see you.”) Perhaps this rant will not solve a thing but if one person is affected positively by it, I will consider it a success. My main rant: What is it about talking on the phone that scares so many people today? And I mean run for the hills level of scared. Are people just so busy that they cannot take even a...