LAS VEGAS—The speaker lineup has been finalized for Green Day on May 17, an event held one day prior to the beginning of the 2011 Hospitality Design Exposition & Conference (The HD Expo). Both Green Day and The HD Expo are presented by Hospitality Design magazine and produced by the Hospitality Design Group and will take place at the Sands Expo and Convention Center in Las Vegas. Green Day will begin with a luncheon at which the winner of the NEWH Sustainable Hospitality Student Design Competition— Jamie Matthews Ivey, LEED AP—will be announced. The two winners of the Earth Minded...

LUCERNE, SWITZERLAND—The buzzword “sustainability” has been much discussed by the tourism industry of late and raises a number of questions. The Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts conducted an extensive study. In the first part—an online survey of more than 6,000 tourists in eight countries—researchers looked at how travelers define sustainable tourism and whether the topic of sustainability plays a role when people select a holiday destination or book a trip. In the second part, Swiss Kuoni customers were asked how much more they would be willing to pay for “sustainable holidays.” Nearly 30,000 customers of Kuoni and Helvetic...

LAS VEGAS—Oriens Travel & Hotel Management Corp., a boutique hotel brand operator, operating the Hotel PURE brand, announced that the company has entered into a definitive memorandum of understanding to design and build a green destination resort in Costa Rica. The agreement has been signed with S.V. International Developers S.A., a Costa Rican company that presently owns a partially developed 360-acre land parcel in the Puntarenas area of Costa Rica overlooking the Pacific Ocean. The property will be developed into a World Class Green Compliance Destination Resort that will incorporate both condominium villas and cabanas, a club house, multiple swimming...

MOUNTAINDALE, N.Y.—Forty-two properties in five New York Catskill Watershed Region counties are participating in phase one of a green lodging certification program called The Green Concierge Project. The program was launched last month in Sullivan, Delaware, Greene, Schoharie, and Ulster counties and is managed by Mountaindale, N.Y.-based Hospitality Green LLC. The initial two-year project is being funded through grants from the Catskill Watershed Corp. and the Empire State Development Fund. The types of properties eligible to participate for free include hotels, inns, bed and breakfasts, camps, campgrounds and rental condominiums. Participating properties receive one-on-one technical assistance to improve economic and...

DALLAS—Motel 6 celebrated Earth Day by joining with its local communities to support Ronald McDonald House Charities (RMHC). Beginning on April 22, Motel 6 and Studio 6 locations in North America began collecting pop tabs from aluminum cans to benefit RMHC. Guests and the general public are encouraged to contribute their pop tabs at their local Motel 6 location. The collection will last through August 1, 2011. Every pound of pop tops collected (approximately 1,500 pop tabs) will provide between 25 to 60 cents to support local Ronald McDonald House Charities Chapters, supporting their ability to provide a home...

NASHVILLE—Gaylord Entertainment announces the launch of “GET Green,” the leading hospitality and entertainment company’s corporate sustainability program. The program, designed to integrate within the overall business strategy, focuses on reducing Gaylord’s impact on the environment while improving its interactions with all of its stakeholders. As part of the launch of this initiative, the company also announced the first in a series of strategic, long-term goals and commitments. They include: reducing energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions per square foot by 20 percent by 2015; and pursuing LEED certification for all future developments, including major additions and new builds. “These are...

YOUNTVILLE, CALIF.—The Bardessono, a LEED Platinum certified hotel in Yountville, Calif., has partnered with Lexus, Tesla Motors, and AV Aerovironment to offer guests the option to use electric and hybrid transportation. The hotel has upgraded two of the existing 240 volt, 50 amp receptacles to the most universal adapter on the market, the type II. This type II connector is more convenient to use as it has a 15-foot cord. It will become the EV industry standard—able to accommodate most EV vehicles on the market today. The Bardessono has also announced a new “Hike the Day Away” package. “We are...

DENVER—Xanterra Parks & Resorts has completed its fourth Environmental Sustainability Report detailing both its environmental challenges and accomplishments. The report also outlines the company’s future goals for serving its clients while providing high-quality services to visitors of its properties in the most sustainable ways possible.  The report, which follows the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI)’s reporting guidelines to the extent possible, is a comprehensive, 52-page publication detailing the company’s environmental initiatives across all the properties and their related operations. GRI is a network-based organization that pioneered the world’s most widely used sustainability reporting framework. The company’s award-winning environmental program, Ecologix, was developed...

TORONTO—Fairmont Hotels & Resorts, an industry leader on environmental sustainability and responsible tourism for more than two decades through its Green Partnership Program, announced that it will further its commitment to greening with the introduction of a new Sustainable Design Policy. Establishing a formalized, worldwide policy, which addresses highly recognized environmental certifications such as the United States Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) for new development projects and renovation programs, also supports the brand’s larger pledge to reduce operational CO2 emissions as a member of World Wildlife Fund’s Climate Savers program. “When it comes to greening...

NEW YORK—The Princeton Review, in collaboration with the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), has released the second annual edition of its free guidebook saluting the United States and Canada’s most environmentally responsible “green colleges.” The Princeton Review’s Guide to 311 Green Colleges: 2011 Edition profiles 308 institutions of higher education in the United States and three in Canada that demonstrate notable commitments to sustainability in their academic offerings, campus infrastructure, activities and career preparation. Forty of the schools appearing in the guidebook also appear on the Council on Hotel, Restaurant and Institutional Education’s (CHRIE) Guide to College Programs in...