SAN FRANCISCO—Comfort Inn by the Bay San Francisco, a franchisee of Choice Hotels International, Inc., recently partnered with Tradewater to become the first hotel in San Francisco to offer guests a voluntary carbon offset program while also offsetting the carbon footprint of the hotel. Tradewater’s easy-to-use carbon footprint calculator enables guests to offset the emissions from their travel to Comfort Inn by the Bay through the purchase of high-impact carbon offsets. These offsets are generated through Tradewater’s work collecting and destroying old refrigerants that are 10,900 times more potent than carbon dioxide. The resulting environmental benefit is measured in carbon offsets that...

NEEDHAM, MASS.—The Tripadvisor Foundation announced a $100,000 donation to the International Institute of New England (IINE) to support the organization’s ongoing efforts to welcome and resettle Afghan evacuees arriving in New England. This donation is part of Tripadvisor and the Tripadvisor Foundation’s broader efforts to support displaced populations and, most recently, Afghan arrivals. Just last month, the Tripadvisor Foundation announced a $1 million grant towards World Central Kitchen’s mobilization that has provided over 150,000 fresh meals, many from local restaurants, to thousands of Afghan families evacuating to the United States, Spain and Qatar. In response to the current needs throughout New England, IINE has created the Afghan Evacuee Support Fund. The fund will provide direct financial...

MONTEGO BAY, JAMAICA—In honor of Sandals Resorts International’s (SRI) late founder Gordon ‘Butch’ Stewart and his legendary entrepreneurial spirit and lifelong belief in the power of education, Sandals Resorts International announces the construction of the Gordon “Butch” Stewart International School of Hospitality and Tourism at The University of the West Indies (The UWI) and in conjunction with Florida International University's (FIU) Chaplin School of Hospitality & Tourism Management. Both leaders in tourism education, FIU in partnership with The UWI, will develop the next generation of international tourism and hospitality leadership, through fully accredited undergraduate and graduate programming. The new school will be located on the Western Campus...

RIYADH—The Red Sea Development Co. (TRSDC), the developer behind the world’s most ambitious regenerative tourism project, has signed two Memorandum of Understandings (MoU) with Blue Planet Ecosystems (BPE). Signed by John Pagano, CEO of TRSDC and Paul Schmitzberger, CEO of BPE, the first MoU sees the entities pledging to investigate the implementation of a viable solution for Sustainable High Tech, CO2 Negative Fish Production. The Blue Planet Ecosystems’ solution proposed will provide sustainable production of seafood and algae production in a desert environment. “In response to growing consumer demand for sustainable protein and to further contribute to the long-term protection and enhancement of...

NATIONAL REPORT—Recent weather disasters, social unrest and a heightened awareness of racial bias have prompted hoteliers to double down on their commitments to become better corporate citizens and do more to address environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues. These are moves toward a social good, sure, but also have ramifications on hotel company P&Ls. Marriott International is one good company example. It recently announced a commitment to reach net-zero emissions of greenhouse gases by 2050. The pledge follows the previous setting of goals by the massive global company to reduce single-use plastics, cut down on food waste by 50 percent and...

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Supply chain disruptions are impacting the operations of more than eight in ten surveyed hotels, and nearly three in four hotel operators say the disruptions are negatively impacting their business revenue, according to a new survey of American Hotel & Lodging Association (AHLA) members. Eighty-six percent of respondents reported that supply chain disruptions were having a moderate or significant impact on their operations. More than half (52 percent) say the problem has grown worse over the past three months. Seventy-four percent say supply chain issues are having a negative impact on business revenue. The impact on operations could have repercussions for employment,...

ORLANDO, FLA.—Clean the World Foundation, a leader in global health dedicated to water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) and global sustainability, in partnership with Las Vegas Sands, has selected the University of Saint Joseph Macao (USJ), Institute of Science and Environment as a 2021 recipient for the Drop By Drop Project. The Drop by Drop Project, a collaboration between Clean the World Foundation and Sands, reinvests capital from Sands’ water stewardship savings into innovative projects supporting water champions in its local regions. The University of Saint Joseph Macao, a returning Drop by Drop Project recipient, will continue its investigation into enhancing local water quality using...

MADRID, SPAIN—The Chairman/President of Palladium Hotel Group, Abel Matutes Prats, and the CEO of the company, Jesús Sobrino, together with the Secretary-General of the World Tourism Organization, Zurab Pololikashvili, have signed the Global Code of Ethics for Tourism promoted by the UNWTO. With this adhesion, the hotel company belonging to the Empresas Matutes Group, which has been developing and promoting the principles of the Code of Ethics for some time, reaffirms its commitment to sustainability in the field of tourism. After the signing, which took place at the headquarters of the World Tourism Organization, the Secretary-General of the UNWTO, Zurab Pololikashvilli,...

SILVERTHORNE, COLO.—The Pad, a boutique hotel with hostel-style rooms and a high-end mountain modern design, has opened its doors and welcomed its first guests in the heart of Silverthorne, Colo. along the banks of the Blue River. As the first newly constructed boutique hostel in the Rocky Mountains, The Pad incorporated 18 upcycled shipping containers into its environmentally friendly construction and design. The Pad is one of the country’s first lodging properties to be constructed using upcycled shipping containers and is on track to becoming the first Colorado-based lodging company to attain B Corp. certification. “We’re using upcycled shipping containers and...

WASHINGTON, D.C.—The national environmental and public health group Beyond Pesticides released its health and environmental effects factsheets and infographic for “40 Commonly Used Lawn Pesticides.” These comprehensive factsheets document with scientific citations a wide range of diseases and ecological effects linked to pesticides. The underlying analysis supporting the adverse health and environmental effects identified in the factsheets are based on toxicity determinations in government reviews and university studies and databases. What do the two factsheets disclose? Health Effects of the 40 Most Commonly Used Lawn and Landscape Pesticides reveals that 26 are possible and/or known carcinogens, 24 have the potential to disrupt the endocrine...