LAS VEGAS—Hoteliers, designers, architects and others seeking green product and service options had a plethora to choose from at this year’s Hospitality Design Expo + Conference. The May 15 to 17 event was held at the Sands Expo and Convention Center in Las Vegas. Attendance was up 15 percent from last year, according to show organizers, with about 7,000 in attendance and more than 900 exhibitors. There were many first-time green exhibitors, offering items ranging from hotel drinking water systems to energy-efficient LED light bulbs to a bed that transforms into a heat chamber to effectively kill dust mites...

SAN FRANCISCO—BSR and Hilton Worldwide launched the Center for Sustainable Procurement today to help global business procurement managers integrate sustainability into their purchasing decisions—providing a unique set of research and information that will help make sense of the increasingly available product sustainability data.“Thanks to the important efforts of the Sustainability Consortium and a large number of industry and product-level programs, buyers now have access to more information on products’ sustainability attributes,” said Eric Olson, senior vice president, Advisory Services, BSR. “But they still lack the knowledge and guidance to use this new information alongside existing priorities like price, quality,...

FISH CAMP, CALIF.—Delaware North Companies Parks & Resorts has earned double Silver LEED certification at Tenaya Lodge at Yosemite, an all-season resort located just outside of Yosemite National Park in Fish Camp, Calif. Both certifications follow a yearlong project that expanded Tenaya’s banquet, event and meeting spaces and office area, plus added a destination spa.Delaware North, which owns and operates Tenaya, followed a process laid out by its environmental program, GreenPath, to ensure environmental stewardship and measurable green practices. The company worked with Layton Construction Company and architect Peter Grove of Collaborative Design Studio.The Silver LEED-certified expansion brings Tenaya...

QUITO, ECUADOR—Mashpi Lodge, a luxury property three hours northwest of Ecuador’s capital Quito, opened its doors recently to receive its first guests, following four years of construction and 14 years since the land was first acquired.The lodge ranks among the most exciting hotel openings in South America this year. It has already garnered international media attention, including being featured in Outside magazine’s inaugural annual Travel Awards as Best Eco-Lodge.Mashpi Lodge is set to raise the bar in environmentally-sensitive lodging as its project embraces the protection of a 1,300 hectare (3,200-acre) reserve, while funding scientific research, providing sustainable opportunities for...

SAN RAFAEL, CALIF.—The California Coastal Commission has approved a final forest preservation and development plan for Pebble Beach in the Del Monte Forest of Monterey County. The compromise ends decades of conflict about how to develop the remaining Pebble Beach Company lands in the Del Monte Forest, and will permanently set aside more than 635 acres of pristine native Monterey Pine forest while allowing the development of a new 100 room hotel, expansions of the existing Lodge at Pebble Beach and the Inn at Spanish Bay, and 90 new homes in and adjacent to existing developed areas.The plan also...

CHICAGO—Hyatt Hotels Corporation announced the launch of Food. Thoughtfully Sourced. Carefully Served., a global philosophy focused on sourcing and providing food and beverage options that are good for Hyatt guests and associates, good for the planet, and good for local communities. This philosophy will guide food and beverage planning at Hyatt properties from the operational level to the guest experience. With this new global identity, Hyatt properties will work to anticipate and satisfy the evolving preferences of its guests, ensuring that travelers have more options to fit their lifestyles while staying in Hyatt hotels around the world.Driven by insights...

LAS VEGAS—NEWH Inc.—the Hospitality Industry Network is partnering with the 2012 Hospitality Design Exposition & Conference (HD Expo) to bring a series of green programming to the annual tradeshow at the Sands Expo Convention Center in Las Vegas, May 15 to 17.The premier event is the Green Voice Luncheon: The Sustainable Design Competition Awards and Green Panel Discussion with the Experts, which will take place on Tuesday, May 15, from noon until 1:30 pm. Panelists include Herve Houdre, general manager, Intercontinental Barclay, New York, a noted author and speaker on sustainable lodging practices; Kathryn Fernholz, executive director, Dovetail Partners,...

INTERIOR, S.D.—Big changes are afoot at Cedar Pass Lodge, a Forever Resort and the only accommodation located inside Badlands National Park in South Dakota. The historic property, which originally opened in 1928, is adding new cabins built to LEED Gold specifications, in time for the 2012 summer season.New features at Cedar Pass Lodge include: •    New cabins featuring wood paneling salvaged from Black Hills pine trees felled by beetles. The wood bears the distinctive “beetle-kill” markings of grey streaked wood. •    New cabins are furnished with regionally sourced handcrafted lodge pole pine furniture felled by beetle kill and repurposed wood...

LAS VEGAS—Registration is now open for the Fifth Annual WaterSmart Innovations (WSI) Conference and Exposition, scheduled for October 3 to 5 at the South Point Hotel and Conference Center in Las Vegas. Full registration for the urban water efficiency conference includes admission to the WaterSense Partner of the Year Awards luncheon October 4, hosted by the Alliance for Water Efficiency and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s WaterSense Program.Last year’s event drew nearly 1,100 participants from more than 30 states and nine nations. WSI 2011 also featured more than 130 professional sessions and an expo hall with more than 50...

ORLANDO—On the heels of InterContinental Hotels Group’s (IHG) announcement that it would partner with Clean the World—potentially adding 3,274 properties to Clean the World’s 1,400 hospitality partners—Green Lodging News spoke with Clean the World’s co-founder and CEO, Shawn Seipler, about the impact of the partnership.“It means a number of things,” said Seipler, whose organization recycles and donates partially used soap and amenities to those in need around the world. “It is another major chain on board with us. It demonstrates continued acceptance of our program by the industry. In the first year of our partnership with Starwood, we added...