CANON CITY, COLO.—Fremont Economic Development Corporation, a 501c6 private not-for-profit focused on economic development in Fremont County and central Colorado, announced the opening of The Industrial Hotel, a 4-unit hotel in Florence, Colo.,, built from upcycled shipping containers. Located in an industrial section of south Florence, the project’s business partners, Barna Kasa, owner of KDevelopers, and Wyatt Reed, owner of Fire Age Designs, reclaimed a dilapidated lot on the bank of Coal Creek for a building site. To be billed as Fremont County’s most sustainable Airbnb, The Industrial showcases building design and furnishing principles based primarily on salvaged, recycled, and...

MIAMI—Overproof, the first and only business intelligence company that creates commercial planning, execution and tracking tools for the beverage alcohol and hospitality industries, is pleased to announce its not-for-profit virtual happy hour initiative, CompanyToast, generated $700,000 for the hospitality industry in its first year. Since May 2020, CompanyToast has worked with more than 300 bartenders, who have led virtual cocktail-making classes for more than 3,000 consumers. CompanyToast was created to offer an interactive way for companies to boost morale and keep remote teams engaged, while providing job opportunities for bartenders. Bartenders handle all aspects of the execution, including sourcing, packaging, and delivering kits...

ROCKVILLE, MD.—Choice Hotels International, Inc. announces the expansion of its emerging markets franchise development program with new development incentives for female owners, as part of the company’s ongoing commitment to diversity. The expansion builds upon Choice Hotels’ longstanding efforts to extend the opportunity of hotel ownership to underrepresented populations and increase diversity among the company’s owner base and across the hospitality industry. In March, Cheryl Goldberg, owner and CFO, IGO Legacy Hotel Group, was awarded the first franchise contract as part of these efforts. She celebrated the opening of her Comfort Inn Saint Paul East hotel last week. “The growth of our emerging markets franchise development program, directly around...

IBIZA, SPAIN—Palladium Hotel Group commemorated World Environment Day, which is celebrated on June 5, with the signing of the Global Tourism Plastics Initiative, promoted by the United Nations Environment Program and the World Tourism Organization, in collaboration with the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, an act with which the hotel group has strengthened its commitment to sustainability. The Global Initiative on Tourism and Plastics unites the tourism sector in a common vision to address the root causes of plastic pollution and enables companies and governments to take concerted action, leading by example in the shift towards circularity in the use of plastic. The...

SACRAMENTO, CALIF.—The California Energy Commission (CEC) took a major stride toward zero-carbon emissions buildings in the 2022 update of the statewide building energy code it just adopted. Energy use in buildings is responsible for a quarter of California’s climate pollution, and seven times more toxic nitrogen oxide air pollution than all the state’s power plants. CEC’s new code follows the lead of the 48 California Cities and Counties that have so far adopted local building energy codes that transition new homes and other buildings off fossil fuels. The state building code sets energy requirements such as minimum efficiency of walls, windows, and heating and...

WEST LAFAYETTE, IND.—By now, it’s well known that circulating outdoor air in buildings is safer than recirculating indoor air. That point was driven home by the pandemic. Problem is, it is just not cost-effective. That may soon change. Purdue University engineers have proposed a system that combines new membrane technology with the latest HVAC systems to make 100 percent outdoor air systems more energy-efficient and economically feasible—especially in warm, humid climates. They say their system could save up to 66 percent in energy costs for large buildings that choose to use the safer outdoor air. Previous research at Purdue has shown that...

JACKSONVILLE, FLA.—There have been many combinations of fibers that have come together in recent years to form towels that have been more sustainable in nature, but few companies have combined organic cotton and hemp. One such company is Anact. Anact was founded on Kickstarter by Brianna Kilcullen 2019. In that year she helped legalize hemp in Florida while founding her company. Prior to starting Anact, she worked in the apparel industry for prAna, a subsidiary of Columbia Sportswear and Under Armour. “I worked for Under Armour and got to see the impact of the textile industry,” Kilcullen says. “I ended...

LOS ANGELES—Following the release of the United Nations World Meteorological Organization’s (WMO) urgent climate warning, Los Angeles City Councilmembers Paul Koretz (CD5) and Mike Bonin (CD 11) got approved by City Council a motion institutionalizing their Regenerate LA healthy soils initiative, which they are calling “an antidote to global warming.” The legislative action will help to “drawdown,” or pull greenhouse gases from the atmosphere through a holistic, comprehensive effort by using the City’s annual estimated 280,000 tons of food waste to build healthy soils on parklands and open space. In the wake of the COVID-19 economic crisis, the additional...

SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO, CALIF.—Soul Community Planet (SCP)—a purpose driven Holistic Hospitality company—redoubled its commitment to its core values of healthy, kind, and green. Specifically, SCP announced it will become fully vegetarian across all its venues, will achieve net zero waste company-wide, and will standardize all its guestrooms on its signature “Peaceful Rooms” design, which provides sleep and relaxation experiences centered on non-toxic, plant-based bedding and Zen design elements, but which are free from traditional guestroom distractions such as clocks and TVs. SCP’s goal is to fully implement these three new programs during 2022. “Born out of a vision to help...

DALLAS—As the 2021 Hospitality Industry Technology Exposition and Conference (HITEC) nears, the event is ramping up its program and getting ready to welcome back the industry after a year off from taking place in-person. Now producers Hospitality Financial and Technology Professionals (HFTP) is planning for increased capacity as it was just given word from the convention center that there will be no attendance limitations. In consideration of the ongoing pandemic, health safety guidelines and protocols will remain in place for the protection of all attendees. HITEC North America is September 27 to 30, 2021 at the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center in Dallas. “The hospitality industry...