SCOTTSDALE, ARIZ.—Despite its sensational natural environment, neither the City of Scottsdale nor the State of Arizona have a luxury eco-resort. That’s all about to change thanks to a unanimous approval from the Scottsdale City Council. Planned close to Scottsdale’s 20,000-acre McDowell Sonoran Preserve, one of the largest natural parks and preserves in the county featuring the scenic Sonoran Desert, the project is being promoted by developer Lyle Anderson Co. A member of the Scottsdale Hall of Fame, Anderson was the developer behind Desert Highlands and Desert Mountain. Combined they offer seven Jack Nicklaus golf courses with Desert Highlands being...

WASHINGTON, D.C.—In one respect, this year has been a good one for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and its Energy Star for Hospitality and Entertainment program. In another respect, the year has not been so impressive. According to the EPA’s most recent report on Energy Star hotel benchmarking activity, as of July 2010 there were 5,262 hotels using the Energy Star Portfolio Manager to benchmark their energy performance. That is up from 3,123 buildings in 2007, 3,685 buildings in 2008, and 4,920 in 2009. Participating hotels are located in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and...

WASHINGTON, D.C.—To help find solutions to the nation’s bed bug problem, the Federal Bed Bug Workgroup is convening a second national summit set for February 1 to 2, 2011, in Washington, D.C. The summit is open to the public and will focus on ways the federal government and others can continue to work together on management and control of these pests. The first federal bed bug summit was held by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in April 2009. Since then, EPA has helped organize the Federal Bed Bug Workgroup, which consists of EPA, the Department of Housing and Urban...

PARK RIDGE, N.J.—The Hertz Corporation, the world’s largest general use airport car rental brand, and Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. announced a joint partnership to bring in Hertz Global EV, a program developed by Hertz using 100 percent electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles, to key Starwood select-service hotels in North America. Starwood’s select-service portfolio includes the Element Hotels, Aloft Hotels and Four Points by Sheraton Hotels brands. “Hertz’s partnership with Starwood is a natural step in the development of our Global EV program,” said Mark P. Frissora, Hertz chairman and CEO. “As we expand our EV network, we are...

NEW YORK CITY—While guests and other stakeholders make it clear that they expect hotels and restaurants to improve the sustainability of their operations, hospitality managers are grappling with the many aspects of sustainability, including customer demand, cost effectiveness, supplier and stakeholder engagement, global trends, and system-wide implementation. The latest Sustainability Roundtable, held at Proskauer in New York City in November 2010 and produced by the Cornell Center for Hospitality Research, brought together corporate management, owners, operators, and suppliers to discuss those issues and myriad other aspects of sustainability. Chaired by associate professor Alex Susskind, of the Cornell School of Hotel...

PHOENIX—The Arizona Hotel & Lodging Assn. (AzHLA), in partnership with the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) and the Arizona Office of Tourism (AOT), has officially launched the state’s first “Certified Green Lodging” program, which streamlines the requirements for Arizona hotels to designate themselves as environmental stewards. This new program was conceptualized by AzHLA and was developed due to the demand from hotel members and visitors looking for a consistent application that could measure green hotel efforts. After conducting extensive research of other statewide green lodging programs, AzHLA selected a model that provides a workbook where hotels accumulate a certain...

LAKE BUENA VISTA, FLA.—Walt Disney World Resort recently launched its annual Toys for Tots collection drive with a little help from Duffy the Disney Bear and his pals Mickey and Minnie, creating the “Cuddliest Christmas Tree,” a 20-foot-high, 10-foot-wide Christmas tree made of 1,200 stuffed Duffy bears. Topping the Cuddliest Christmas Tree with a giant red bow at the ceremony were members of the U.S. Marine Corps, Walt Disney World ambassador Clay Shoemaker and Walt Disney World VoluntEARS. Each year, Walt Disney World VoluntEARS donate thousands of hours of service and tens of thousands of toys to Toys for Tots—all...

SAN FRANCISCO—Community Marketing, Inc. has released the results of its CMIGreen 2nd Annual Green Traveler Survey Report. A total of 2,768 adults across the United States were surveyed from July 15, 2010 through August 31, 2010. The report focuses on the 951 respondents who consider themselves to be “extremely” or “very” eco-conscious and who took at least one overnight vacation in the past year. The survey provides a wealth of information on attitudes toward green travel, green hotel practices, marketing and green meetings. The survey included questions that appeared in the first survey in 2009 as well as new...

NATIONAL REPORT—Stack all the pillows thrown away by hotels each year and you have got one mighty high mountain of cotton, polyester, down and feathers. Given the volume of pillow waste sent to landfills each year, it certainly makes sense to choose “green” pillow options when possible. What makes a pillow eco-friendly? The materials a pillow is made of certainly matters but so does where it is made, how well it is maintained throughout its life, and what happens to it at the end of its life. Vendors may argue about which materials are the most eco-friendly but the...

WESTPORT, CONN.—Solar products, trends and technologies and their role in the HVACR marketplace will take center stage at the 2011 AHR Expo in Las Vegas, January 31 to February 2. In addition to many new solar products on display, there will be more than a dozen seminars focused on solar topics, as well as demonstrations of solar technology, provided throughout the three days of the world’s largest HVACR exposition and conference. “Solar is one of the fastest-growing segments of the many sustainable technologies featured at the show,” said Clay Stevens, president of International Exposition Company, which produces and manages the...