PITTSBURGH—Fairmont Hotels & Resorts announced the opening of the Fairmont Pittsburgh, the city’s first premier luxury hotel. Featuring 185 guestrooms, 12,000 square feet of event space and a 6,000 square-foot health club, Fairmont Pittsburgh has made its home at Three PNC Plaza, one of the largest mixed-use buildings to be certified by the United States Green Building Council in accordance with its LEED rating system. Later this year, Fairmont Pittsburgh expects to receive LEED certification at a Gold level, which complements the company’s industry leading Green Partnership, a program focused on operational sustainability and responsible tourism practices. Guestrooms...

KIAWAH ISLAND, S.C.—Kiawah Island Golf Resort announced that its second annual Earth Day celebration will take place on April 24, 2010 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Night Heron Park. The Kiawah Island Earth Fest features local vendors selling eco-friendly products, artists showcasing works based on the environment, and live entertainment. The event includes the Trashformation Station, where guests can spark their creativity by using clean recyclables and various donated items to construct pieces of art. Trashformation judging and a grand prizewinner will be announced at the end of the festival on the Night Heron Park Stage. Recycling...

LAS VEGAS—Considered the only conference dedicated solely to sustainable hospitality design, Hospitality Design Green Day (HD Green Day) will be presented by Hospitality Design (HD) magazine at the Sands Expo & Convention Center and Venetian Conference Center in Las Vegas on Tuesday, May 18, 2010. HD Green Day is the industry’s leading event focused on idea exchange, education and trends related to sustainable design and operations. Co-located with Hospitality Design Exposition & Conference (HD Expo), the event will take place from noon to 4:15 p.m. “HD Green Day provides a unique opportunity to connect with the companies and individuals who...

YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK—Yellowstone’s newest gift store—“For Future Generations: Yellowstone Gifts”—has received a special sustainability award from the Association for Retail Environments (A.R.E.) in the category “Consumer Education & Outreach.” A.R.E. is a nonprofit trade association representing the retail environments industry. More than 800 member companies include store fixture suppliers, retail design firms, suppliers of visual merchandising products, and suppliers of materials and equipment for the retail environments industry. Conceived, designed and operated by Xanterra Parks & Resorts, the store opened in 2009 and was dedicated in January 2010. Xanterra converted an existing gift shop in the Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel...

AUSTIN, TEXAS—Hospitality technology products and solutions are all in one location at the 2010 Hospitality Industry Technology Exposition and Conference (HITEC). The conference and exhibition provides easy access to vendors and experts for those looking for new technology and those needing to make the best of what they already have. Qualified buyers can take advantage of this smart business opportunity with complimentary exhibit hall passes, now available. HITEC 2010, a service of Hospitality Financial and Technology Professionals (HFTP), is the world’s largest hospitality technology exposition and conference, with an approximately 150,000-square-foot exhibit hall. The event will be held June...

LOGAN, OHIO—The Hocking Hills Tourism Association, located in Southeast Ohio, has launched Hocking Hills Green, a voluntary environmental certification program for the local tourism industry. Twenty-three lodging establishments have already signed up for the program. Participants represent cabins and cottages, campgrounds and horse camps, hotels and motels, and inns and B&Bs. One of the goals of the program is to reduce the environmental footprint of the Hocking Hills travel and hospitality industry. An additional goal is to help promote the Southeast Ohio region—known for its parks, forests, hiking, canoeing, canopy tours, and attractions such as Old Man’s Cave—as a...

BRADENTON, FLA.—Visitors to Florida’s Anna Maria Island and Longboat Key, and on the mainland, in Bradenton and Lakewood Ranch, have discovered the destination’s commitment to green lodging. Known collectively as Florida’s Gulf Islands, the area has 29 hotels and resorts participating in the Southwest Florida Water Management District water conservation program, and 11 other properties that are certified Green Lodging by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. Together these properties offer a variety of recycling and towel and linen reuse programs, and utilize eco-friendly cleaning agents, Energy Star appliances and energy-efficient light bulbs. A few select accommodators, however, have...

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y.—A leading light in hospitality is about to go dark. But just for an hour—and for a good cause. For the second year, hundreds of hotels in the Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. portfolio will participate in Earth Hour, the global environmental awareness event created by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), to send a powerful global message about the importance of environmental sustainability and caring for the planet. On March 27, from Beijing and Brussels to Baltimore and Buenos Aires, Starwood hotels flying brand flags, including St. Regis, The Luxury Collection, W, Westin, Le Méridien, Sheraton, Four...

CORAL GABLES, FLA.—The Caribbean Alliance for Sustainable Tourism (CAST) and Confederación de Organizaciones Turísticas de América Latina (COTAL) have signed a Memorandum of Cooperation to jointly support both institutions’ initiatives that promote the sustainability of the Caribbean tourism industry. As a first joint project, the agreement provides the potential for an initiative to raise awareness of the use of regulations to apply in visits to areas declared as World Heritage sites or protected national parks. To achieve this goal, operators as well as tour guides will be trained to teach tourists the importance of conservation ecology, provide information to...

LAS VEGAS—Las Vegas Sands Corp., a leading international developer of multi-use integrated resorts, has launched its Sands Eco 360° Global Sustainable Development program. The program’s launch was highlighted by an announcement that the company’s Venetian Resort and Sands Expo and Convention Center in Las Vegas have achieved LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) for Existing Buildings Gold as part of the U.S. Green Building Council’s building certification program. The combined Venetian, Sands Expo, and Palazzo Las Vegas, which in 2008 received LEED for New Construction Silver certification, now comprise the largest LEED building in the world. “The launch of...