MINNEAPOLIS—Graves Hospitality Corporation, which owns and manages hotels nationwide, recently announced an overnight-stay, room package initiative called the “Giving Room,” designed to give back to local communities. This room package caters to the growing number of socially conscious guests, and for each overnight stay booked under the Giving Room package, Graves Hospitality Corporation will donate the cost of an overnight stay for a homeless child or family in need at a local shelter. Every day, a limited number of packages will be available on each of the hotel’s websites, based on availability, and they will be priced exactly the...

BLACKSBURG, VA.—A significant gap lies between consumers’ attitudes towards “green” initiatives in the hospitality industry and their actual behavior, says a recent study by two hospitality and tourism management graduate students at Virginia Tech’s Pamplin College of Business. Moreover, consumers who engage in environmentally friendly behavior at home behave differently when staying at a hotel, their study found. Master’s students Melissa Baker, of Marshfield, Mass., and Eric Davis, of Lorton, Va., in a project supervised by hospitality and tourism management professor Pamela Weaver, say that while more hotels are adopting green practices, few scholars have examined the relationships between such...

NEW YORK—The 1,980-room Hilton New York has been awarded the 2008-2009 Environmental Recognition Program “Green Street” Award by the Avenue of the Americas Association. The award was presented at a gala reception held recently at the hotel’s Trianon Ballroom in celebration of the organization’s 83rd Anniversary Dinner/Dance. The Hilton New York received the award in recognition of its environmentally-friendly energy fuel cell, which sits atop the building’s fifth floor roof. The Green Street Award was created to recognize members of the Association and other owners and tenants along the Avenue of the Americas for their efforts in adopting...

SILVER SPRING, MD.—Choice Hotels International is doubling its philanthropic contributions in 2009. Heading into the busiest fundraising time of year, nonprofits are feeling the pinch of the economic downturn. Charitable giving fell last year by the largest percentage in five decades, according to a study by the Giving USA Foundation. The Foundation Center expects foundation giving to decrease 8 to 13 percent this year. Despite the recession, Choice Hotels will increase its charitable donations by 55 percent this year over last. With Americans struggling from job losses and rising prices for household necessities, the company focuses its giving on organizations...

LAS VEGAS—Crystals, the retail and entertainment district at CityCenter, has achieved LEED Gold Core & Shell certification from the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), making it the world’s largest retail district to receive this level of recognition. Opening in December, CityCenter was created with a vision to introduce a new level of environmental consciousness to the world-famous Strip and has emerged as a leader in sustainable urban development. Crystals’ achievement marks the fourth LEED Gold certification for CityCenter; previous recipients included 1. ARIA Resort’s hotel tower, 2. ARIA’s convention center and theater, and 3. Vdara Hotel & Spa. CityCenter...

NEW YORK—The latest and best efforts at cultural preservation, environmental conservation, and community building through tourism have been recognized in Travel + Leisure’s 2009 Global Vision Awards. Selected by a jury of eight members including Dan Barber, Céline Simone Cousteau, Bruce Mau, and Dr. Joseph E. Stiglitz, the fifth annual Global Vision Award winners include the Rainforest Alliance for setting the bar for green travel, Element Hotels for its commitment to achieving LEED certification at all of its properties, Ecoventura for charting a new course for travel to the Galápagos Islands, and Sassi di Matera Albergo Diffuso in Italy...

BUFFALO, N.Y.—The Buffalo Green Hospitality Initiative, formed in August 2007 to develop and maintain environmentally responsible practices and promote a green experience for travelers and conventioneers visiting the Buffalo Niagara region, is expanding with the launch of “Green & Mean (It).” Led by the Buffalo Niagara Convention & Visitors Bureau, the purpose of the program is to help make Buffalo Niagara a more environmentally responsible meeting destination. As part of Green & Mean (It), a comprehensive lodging certification program has been introduced. It is now available to lodging establishments in the Buffalo Niagara area. A corresponding website, www.greenandmeanit.com, will...

WASHINGTON, D.C.—The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) in conjunction with the American Society of Interior Designers (ASID) and NEWH announced the winner of the first-ever Sustainable Suite Design Competition—a competition for interior designers to showcase the best hospitality design strategies that boast environmental responsibility while enhancing the guest experience. Because the hospitality industry is a large consumer of energy and water use, this competition aims to motivate sustainable practices industrywide among newly built and existing hotels. Submissions from 65 professional designers and aspiring young professionals were received, each one redefining how a high-performance, energy-and-resource-efficient hotel suite should look...

BURGAW, N.C.—LightGuard’s new full-color product catalog demonstrates the company’s continued commitment to bring a complete product offering of life safety products to the market. The catalog details LightGuard’s extensive line of emergency lighting and exit signs designed to meet any facility’s life safety needs. Catalog readers will also find some of the company’s newest architectural white LED solid state luminaires that serve as security and emergency lighting (Unity, Grafix and Illusion III). The catalog is divided into 10 sections for easy access to each product grouping. Ordering information is given for each product, making placing orders for life safety...

WASHINGTON, D.C.—The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has released its first WaterSense specification for a commercial building product. WaterSense labeled flushing urinals will use 50 percent less water than standard urinals, saving businesses 4,000 gallons of water per year for every model installed. While current federal standards set the maximum allowable flush volume at one gallon per flush, an estimated 7.8 million urinals in use today are older inefficient models. In addition to using no more than a half gallon per flush, urinals bearing the WaterSense label must meet EPA’s performance requirements, ensuring they work as well or better than...