WASHINGTON, D.C.—What do HEI Hotels & Resorts, InterContinental Hotels Group, MGM Resorts International, Wyndham Worldwide, and Hilton Worldwide have in common? They are all participants in the U.S. Department of Energy’s Better Buildings Challenge, a program that had its hard launch three years ago last month (December 2011). As part of the Challenge, each of the hotel companies has made a commitment to assess their building portfolio to determine energy efficiency opportunities and publicly pledge to improve the energy intensity of their building portfolio by at least 20 percent over 10 years. Challenge Partners also have pledged to announce...

NEW YORK—The International Restaurant & Foodservice Show of New York is an all-encompassing event for thousands of restaurant, foodservice and hospitality industry professionals from throughout New York and the tri-state region. In 2015, Urban Expositions, owners of the event, along with the event’s sponsor, the New York State Restaurant Association, are excited to offer several ways for vendors and restaurateurs to participate in this trade show and conference scheduled for Sunday, March 8 to Tuesday, March 10 at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York City.“We invite restaurant owners, operators, caterers, and chefs to join over 16,000...

SAN FRANCISCO—Airbnb, the world’s leading community-driven hospitality company, announced a unique social challenge that acts on the company’s core principles of hospitality, belonging, and opening doors around the world. As a community known for embracing the spirit of belonging, Airbnb is ringing in the new year with one goal in mind: to turn strangers into friends.Airbnb has invited its global community to help rid the world of strangers through personal and creative acts of hospitality through #OneLessStranger. Beginning today, the company will give approximately $10—or the equivalent in foreign currency—to 100,000 Airbnb community members worldwide, totaling $1 million. Airbnb...

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Between 1970 and 2010 populations of mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fish around the globe dropped 52 percent, says the 2014 Living Planet Report released recently by World Wildlife Fund (WWF). This biodiversity loss occurs disproportionately in low-income countries—and correlates with the increasing resource use of high-income countries.In addition to the precipitous decline in wildlife populations the report’s data point to other warning signs about the overall health of the planet. The amount of carbon in the atmosphere has risen to levels not seen in more than a million years, triggering climate change that is already destabilizing ecosystems....

CHICAGO—Environmental sustainability, sustainable seafood and food-waste reduction are among the top trends at restaurants in 2015, according to the National Restaurant Association’s annual What’s Hot culinary forecast. The NRA, as it does every year, surveyed approximately 1,300 professional chefs—all members of the American Culinary Federation—to determine the industry’s hottest trends, and in 2015 sustainability is going to be center of the plate, the respondents said.“We’ve been seeing strong trends toward sustainability in the food space for several years now and that’s going to continue to grow,” said Annika Stensson, the NRA’s Senior Manager of Research Communications. “Chefs and restaurateurs...

BROOKLYN, N.Y.—Now more than ever, when you check into NU Hotel Brooklyn, you stand a very good chance to land a guestroom that features a locally-inspired mural painted by a Brooklyn artist, as the hotel now has a total of 15 guestrooms outfitted in NU Perspectives, a program which brings local Brooklyn artists into the guestrooms and allows them to use the walls as their canvas.“What started as a side project has really transformed the character and personality of our guestrooms,” said Independent Collection Area General Manager Javier Egipciaco. “It’s an honor to showcase the unique work of such...

HALF MOON BAY, CALIF.—The Ritz-Carlton, Half Moon Bay is welcoming Tesla owners to pull up and plug in at the resort’s new Tesla Wall Connector. The connector supplies power at 20 kW allowing guests and visitors the ability to replenish the battery at a rate of 58 miles of range per hour at maximum power.“We are thrilled to be able to offer this service to guests and visitors to Half Moon Bay, the most beautiful place to charge your Tesla,” said General Manager George Munz. “So many of our guests drive to the coast to spend a relaxing day...

DENVER—Xanterra Parks & Resorts, dba Xanterra South Rim L.L.C., reached an agreement with the National Park Service to continue to operate most concessions at the South Rim of Grand Canyon National Park—just as it has for more than a century—under a temporary contract.Xanterra’s current contract commenced in 2002 and is set to expire at the end of 2014. The contract was extended three times and, by law, cannot be extended again. The National Park Service issued three RFPs for bids to operate concessions at the South Rim of the Grand Canyon, but no concessioner—including Xanterra—submitted a responsive bid.“We are...

MIAMI—InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) announces the opening of the Holiday Inn Express Hotel & Suites Bogota Zona Financiera. The new-build, 99-room hotel is a LEED Gold certified property and is located in the heart of Bogota’s financial district. The hotel is part of a mixed-use development comprised of two towers, one of which houses the hotel and a second offices and retail stores. The new Holiday Inn Express & Suites Bogota Zona Financiera hotel is the fifth IHG-branded hotel in Bogota and is 15 miles from El Dorado International Airport. The property is conveniently located near local businesses, embassies,...

ST. JOHN’S, ANTIGUA—Antigua and Barbuda will implement a new tourism action agenda, following consultation with more than 50 tourism stakeholders in the private and government sector. The action plan will focus on three destination stewardship initiatives: the development of a sustainable tourism strategy, new community-based cultural tourism products, and the mapping of cultural heritage sites.Stakeholders developed the action plan in August during a sustainable destination assessment workshop coordinated by the Ministry of Tourism, The Antigua and Barbuda Tourism Authority and conducted under the banner of the Sustainable Destinations Alliance for the Americas (SDAA), supported through funding from Royal Caribbean...