MCLEAN, VA.—Travel industry professionals understand that green initiatives are good for the environment, but may find themselves wondering, especially in the current economic climate, is green good for business? The recently released study, “Going Green: The Business Impact of Environmental Awareness on Travel,” from PhoCusWright, with industry partners The Hospitality Sales and Marketing Association International (HSMAI) Foundation and Sustainable Travel International, evaluates U.S. consumer values and attitudes surrounding green travel to help companies understand how best to design their initiatives and communications to match consumer expectations. “This report was designed to give companies insight into what consumers expect of...

NEWPORT BEACH, CALIF.—Earlier this week the first ever Green Travel Summit was held at the Fairmont Hotel in Newport Beach, Calif. It was attended by more than 100 of the travel industry’s top executives. The overarching sentiment of the conference was that “green” is not a destination but a concept that will continue to evolve. On the second day of the conference the leading corporate travel executives and meeting professionals in attendance collectively arrived at the Top 10 Challenges Facing the Green Travel Industry. The challenges included: how to elevate “green” as a priority for both the consumer and supplier;...

CHICAGO—Environmentally-conscious visitors to Illinois can now StayGreen at hotels throughout the Land of Lincoln. Launched by the Illinois Hotel & Lodging Assn. (IHLA), the StayGreen program recognizes hotels that proactively use eco-friendly products and services to help protect the environment. With 16,175 StayGreen rooms available across the state, IHLA is confident the StayGreen designation will help visitors better understand their choices in green lodging in Illinois. For the first year of the program, IHLA is focusing on two areas in which hotels must meet specific criteria in order to be awarded StayGreen designations: saving energy and recycling. IHLA will re-evaluate...

INTERNATIONAL REPORT—In recognition of the need to take action on climate change, hotels around the world will turn their lights off for one hour on March 28 at 8:30 p.m. Earth Hour, as the event is called, is a global initiative of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), one of the world’s leading conservation organizations with almost 5 million members worldwide. Companies ranging from Accor to the InterContinental Hotels Group will participate in the event and will ask their guests to participate as well. Even the sky above the Las Vegas Strip will be a little darker for an hour...

GUANGZHOU, CHINA—Mayland Seaside Hotel, a five-star hotel project to be situated along the Zhujiang River, will feature an architecture style focused on sensibility to social responsiveness, energy use, urbanism and ecological awareness. The hotel is currently in the design phase and is due to be completed in 2012-2013, according to Narendra Patel, Patel Architecture, Rancho Mirage, Calif. The design provides for wind turbines on the upper portion of the tower and a massive array of photovoltaic panels covering the entire south façade. In the basement is a provision to incorporate a fuel cell power generator that would run on clean...

CONCORD, N.H.—The New England-wide Eco-Hospitality Expo is less than a month away. The New Hampshire Lodging & Restaurant Association will host the event scheduled for April 14 at the Radisson Hotel in Nashua, N.H. The expo will be the first of its kind in New Hampshire and for New England. It will focus on advancing green initiatives and sustainability practices, raising environmental consciousness and promoting eco-tourism throughout the hospitality industry in New England. Through NHLRA’s Sustainable Lodging & Restaurant Program, NHLRA has seen the impact the hospitality industry can have on valuable natural resources. Therefore, its members decided to bring...

ATLANTA—The Emory Conference Center Hotel is in the final phase of a major renovation and expansion that was started in March 2008. The multi-million dollar expansion is expected to be completed in May of this year and includes a new five-story structure to be certified LEED Silver (Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design) by the U.S. Green Building Council. The new building is connected to the existing hotel by a pedestrian bridge and includes 127 new guestrooms, 6,000 square feet of additional meeting space, and a six-lane bowling alley with retro decor that includes a full bar and game...

HOLLAND, MICH.—CityFlats Hotel is one of three new construction hotels in the world to receive the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Gold Certification in the Hotel/Resort Category. CityFlats, located on the corner of 7th St. and College Ave. in downtown Holland, is also the first hotel in the Midwest to be awarded this certification by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC). According to USGBC, LEED is a third-party certification program and the nationally accepted benchmark for the design, construction and operation of high performance green buildings. LEED certification provides independent, third-party verification that a building project is environmentally...

LONDON—Mega-resorts are destroying communities and are environmentally unsustainable and lead to widespread alienation and displacement of people from their land, according to a new report from lobby group Tourism Concern. Poor communities in developing countries, which depend heavily upon their natural resources for their livelihoods, are the hardest hit. Huge tracts of public and privately owned land are being “grabbed” and sold off to real estate developers by governments keen to expand tourism in pursuit of economic growth. In reality, little of the profit from internationally managed resorts stays in the local economy, Tourism Concern says. The trickle down of...

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y.—Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. announces the opening of Element Houston Vintage Park, the first Element hotel to open in Texas. Inspired by Westin Hotels & Resorts, Element invites guests to check in to a new travel experience with comfortable public spaces, modern style and eco-friendly design. Owned by Condor Hospitality, LLC and managed by InterMountain Management, LLC of Louisiana, the newly constructed, 123-room hotel is a key part of the new Vintage Park lifestyle center located in bustling northwest Houston. The general contractor for the Element is Benchmark Development Corp. of Dallas. This is the...