ORLANDO, FLA.—Wyndham Vacation Ownership (WVO), the world’s largest vacation ownership company and a member of the Wyndham Worldwide family of companies, recently received a Lodging Sustainability Award for “Lodging Brand of the Year” at the Lodging Green and Sustainability Conference & Expo in Las Vegas.The Lodging Sustainability Awards “recognize the contribution of individuals, groups and corporate entities who exemplify the meaning of sustainability in the hospitality industry. The winners stand as role models whose work embodies the industry’s efforts to be strong advocates for corporate social responsibility in doing what’s best for both the environment and for the business...

LEESBURG, VA.—The National Conference Center, one of the largest conference training centers in the country, and West Belmont Place, an events center with a 16,000 square foot ballroom, were hosts to an unusual event earlier this month when a rescued bald eagle was released on the property to the delight of about 200 people who came out to see the bird released back into the wild. The National Conference Center and West Belmont Place have received awards for their environmental stewardship of the property and the eagle release highlighted the conference center’s commitment to protecting the environment.The National Conference...

EXETER, N.H.—Hay Creek Hotels is now providing Tesla electric charging stations at all of its properties. “The Tesla stations are a great service to be able to provide to our guests and we are proud to be able to offer this amenity to our travelers,” said Norman MacLeod, President & CEO of Hay Creek Hotels. “We continue to seek ways to surprise and delight our guests, and hope these charging stations make them feel at home, while providing us with an opportunity to contribute to the environment.”The Tesla connectors provide a convenient and fast charging solution for Tesla owners...

NEW ORLEANS—The world’s largest sustainable building conference, The Greenbuild Conference and Expo, featuring the first “net zero” exhibit space, was held in New Orleans, October 22 to 24, with 23,000 attendees and 600 exhibitors.The New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center helped Greenbuild set up the first “net zero” exhibit space by utilizing the building’s balcony as the location for solar generated panels that powered an on-site microgrid, generating power to the exhibit booths. The Net Zero Zone showcased how booths in the exhibit hall can unplug from the utility grid and operate totally on power generated by solar...

NATIONAL REPORT—Hotel bars and restaurants operate, at least in terms of energy efficiency, much the same as free-standing commercial restaurant operations. Small energy inefficiencies add up in the same ways that they do in commercial operations. When you create any personal budget, the first thing that you do is look at how much you’re currently spending.  Saving energy in your commercial kitchen begins the same way: know what your energy expenditures are. •    List everything that uses power. •    Make notes about appliances that you use on a constant basis. •    Watch the kitchen’s operation and take notes on the practices and...

ORLANDO, FLA.—Ebola cases continue to rise “frighteningly quickly” in parts of Sierra Leone, according to a report from The Africa Governance Initiative (AGI). As transmission accelerates in some areas, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that hand washing frequently with soap and water is one of the best ways to protect against Ebola. Clean the World is supporting infection-control measures in West Africa by shipping 5 million bars of soap to the region.Operation Soap Blitz is a new Clean the World campaign with the goal of reducing the spread of viral diseases both overseas and in North...

WASHINGTON, D.C.—The American Hotel & Lodging Educational Foundation (AH&LEF), the not-for-profit affiliate of the American Hotel & Lodging Association (AH&LA), is awarding 104 hospitality scholarships to minority students. This total represents more than one-third of the 338 scholarships awarded by AH&LEF this year, which distributed approximately $558,000 through all of its scholarship programs. Two of the scholarship funds, offered by Hyatt Hotels and Resorts and JHM Hotels, are earmarked exclusively for minority hospitality students. These scholarship opportunities provide students with the freedom they need to build a brighter future for themselves and their families and to pursue additional career...

NEW YORK—Turks & Caicos has deepened its commitment to advancing renewable energy by joining the Carbon War Room’s Ten Island Challenge. The Premier of Turks and Caicos, The Honorable Doctor Rufus Ewing, and Carbon War Room’s Operations Director, Justin Locke, signed a Memorandum of Understanding, committing to work together to reduce the island’s dependence on fossil fuels through increased renewable energy production and improved energy efficiency.The Ten Island Challenge provides the Government of TCI the opportunity and platform to define and realize its own vision of a clean economy. In order to achieve this vision, the Carbon War Room,...

CHARLOTTE, N.C.—The ultimate holiday viewing experience will come to life at The Ritz-Carlton, Charlotte this year, as a brilliantly colorful winter wonderland is set to occupy the entire hotel lobby level beginning Thanksgiving Day. Highlighted by a larger-than-life, often edible series of seven Holiday Sweet Scenes, the vibrantly walkable tour of every child’s holiday fantasies will feature the world’s largest croquembouche pastry tree standing eight feet in edible height; a 12-foot-tall holiday tree made of 8,000 hand-crafted French macarons; a whimsical 10-foot-tall gingerbread house offering its own charming clock tower; two glistening, eight-foot-tall upside-down trees suspended from the lobby...

PORTLAND, ORE.—Provenance Hotels, with six locations in Washington and Oregon, is raising the bar on sustainable travel by partnering with the experts in car sharing services and electric vehicle technology—Zipcar and Tesla Motors—to make it even easier and more affordable for guests to use alternative transportation when visiting the eco-conscious cities of Portland, Seattle and Tacoma.Provenance Hotels’ art-filled hotels are conveniently located downtown within steps of each city’s light rail routes, making them the perfect getaways for those who want to go car free. When guests who are Zipcar members need or want to venture further, Zipcar, the world’s...