PARSIPPANY, N.J.—Wyndham Worldwide), one of the world’s largest hospitality companies, announced it received a perfect score of 100 on the Human Rights Campaign’s annual Corporate Equality Index (CEI), and is recognized by the Human Rights Campaign as one of the “Best Places to Work for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) Equality.” The CEI is the premiere national benchmark for LGBT workplace inclusion and provides an in-depth analysis and rating of large U.S. employers and their policies and practices pertinent to LGBT employees.The 2013 CEI rated 889 businesses, with 252 achieving the top rating of 100 percent and earning...

DENVER—The Colorado Convention Center (CCC) has become the first event and conference venue in the world to be certified to a new international sustainability standard introduced earlier this year to promote responsible environmental and social practices in the event industry. CCC achieved Level One certification with the ASTM Standard pertaining to the Evaluation and Selection of Venues for Environmentally Sustainable Meetings, Events, Trade Shows, and Conferences (E2774-11). E2774-11 is one of nine formal, voluntary standards developed by the meetings, conventions, exhibitions and events industry to provide event planners and suppliers with specifications for producing events in a more sustainable...

CINCINNATI—Hospitality Media Group LLC (HMG) has been awarded the International Hotel, Motel + Restaurant Show (IHMRS) management contract beginning in 2013 and continuing through 2015, according to Michelle Finn, president of HMG.“Hospitality Media Group was selected due to their innovative approach to trade show development and their team’s extensive hospitality experience, coupled with strong operational skills and attention to bottom line performance,” said Joe McInerney, CHA and AH&LA president and CEO and a member of the IHMRS Board of Directors. “We are delighted to have a partner in HMG that also values and is dedicated to providing superb service...

PORT ORFORD, ORE.—“It feels like you are on another planet.” That is how Michelle Duarte describes the WildSpring Guest Habitat that she and her husband own along the coast of Oregon in Port Orford. Their small, eco-friendly resort sits on five acres of 100-foot trees and includes five cabins. “The cabins are built like small homes,” Duarte says. “They are not rustic.”Just about everything possible was done to minimize the environmental footprint of the five cabin suites. Duarte’s husband, Dean, who once worked on Hollywood sets in construction, played an integral part in the building of the cabins. Only...

PORTLAND, ORE.—The Green Meeting Industry Council (GMIC) announces the official launch of the GMIC Greater Washington Area Chapter. The Greater Washington Area Chapter is headquartered in Washington, D.C. and serves GMIC members and the meetings and events community in Virginia, Maryland and the District of Columbia. The chapter’s mission is to improve the sustainability of events held within the Greater Washington Area and to enable local members, through education and collaboration, to plan and implement sustainable meetings across the world.The inaugural chapter officers and board members include Kimberly Lewis (past president) U.S. Green Building Council, Cara Unterkofler (president) Greenview,...

Stephen Farrant, Director of International Tourism Partnership, reflects back on 20 years of ITP leading the sustainable and responsible agenda in the hotel industry.It was in the wake of the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (the original Rio Earth Summit) that the International Hotels Environment Initiative, now known as the International Tourism Partnership (ITP), was formed. Over the last two decades, ITP has grown and evolved as part of the International Business Leaders Forum, a not-for-profit registered in the United Kingdom and United States, and with offices in China, India and Russia.Twenty years on, this is...

SAN FRANCISCO—The Hotel California on Geary Street in the heart of downtown San Francisco recently featured the second resident of its Artist-in-Residence program with Canada-based figurative painter, Lorena Ziraldo. Ziraldo inhabited The Hotel California for one month, from November 12, through December 12, 2012. The artist worked on a series of paintings that were on view each weekday evening in the reception room. During these times, the reception room was open to the public and patrons were invited to meet the artist and view her works in progress.Over the course of her residence at The Hotel California, Lorena Ziraldo...

TALLAHASSEE, FLA.—The Department of Environmental Protection’s Florida Green Lodging Program has released an improved designation application for hotels and resorts interested in going green and joining the program. The updated application comprehensively recognizes lodging properties based on their level of progress towards truly sustainable operations.In an effort to better recognize the state’s lodging properties for their commitment to protecting the state’s natural resources, the Florida Green Lodging Program is incorporating a four-level tiered designation. Facilities will be able to obtain different “Palm” levels based on the total number of points received when implementing criteria to receive their designation.“Green Lodging...

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Pursuant to an order from a U.S. District Court and as required by the Beaches Environmental Assessment and Coastal Health Act of 2000, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has recommended new recreational water quality criteria for states that will help protect peoples’ health during visits to beaches and waters year round. The science-based criteria provide information to help states improve public health protection by addressing a broader range of illness symptoms, better accounting for pollution after heavy rainfall, providing more protective recommendations for coastal waters, encouraging early alerts to beachgoers and promoting rapid water testing. The criteria...

UKIAH, CALIF.—In the midst of the recent recession, hotel owner Raakesh Patel was struggling to keep his hotel open. With fewer travelers visiting his part of California—wine country in Mendocino County—and competition from numerous chain branded hotels, he said he had to do something, and fast. What he did was begin to convert his family’s 54-room Super 8 Ukiah to a green lodging establishment, a long path that has resulted in numerous accolades, lots of free publicity, a much stronger bottom line, and an incredible number of more than 41,000 Facebook “likes”—far more than any LEED Platinum hotel in...